Former President, Thabo Mbeki has called on South Africans to move away from the “notion” that Nelson Mandela sold-out the country.
Mbeki celebrates his 76th birthday on Monday.
Due to what he calls “miss-interpretation” of the negotiation process leading up to democracy in the 1990s, he says it’s disappointing that the younger generation believes Madiba could have done such a thing to the country.
He says the ANC, as a collective, had to take certain decisions that were proper for a new South Africa.
“It’s also important to understand why certain decisions were taken, and some were not taken… for instance you had this argument, some people saying, Nelson Mandela sold out because of the negotiations.”
“…Which is a very false preposition, it’s very wrong… If there was any mistake, it was not Mandela’s mistake, it was the mistake of the ANC. But the documentation would then be able to show why I am saying certain decisions were not taken, which the present generation think were a mistake.”
Political Analyst Somaboda Fikeni says: “Searching for perfection, or assuming that Mandela is an angel who lost his wings in an accident, will not answer the real concrete questions. But if we understand, whether it was a Mahatma Gandhi or Kwame Nkruma, leaders have their short-comings, but the key is how they transcend those short comings and have an impact in the world.”
Despite on-going criticism towards the former President’s legacy, the Nelson Mandela Foundation continues encouraging South Africans to do good for others during Madiba’s Birthday celebrations in July.
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