President Thabo Mbeki has taken time off his busy schedule to catch a movie.
It wasn't any movie, but Gandhi My Father, which he described as a "truly excellent and extraordinary film".
The movie focuses on the relationship between Gandhi and his son Harailal. In the film, the son accuses his father of failing to ensure that he achieves the necessary education to follow in Gandhi's footsteps and become a lawyer.
The feud becomes ugly, and Harailal ends up abusing alcohol and stealing money by using his father's name to establish get-rich-quick investment companies. The situation gets so bad that Gandhi advises Harailal's victims to go to court and lay criminal charges against him.
After the viewing, Mbeki said: "The film presents a challenge to those of us who want to be called leaders that to earn that title means readiness to sacrifice."
Mbeki is in Ivory Coast to witness the destruction of arms used during the civil war in that country. He said he would encourage the Ivorians to watch the movie. - Daily News Correspondent