The mound on his grave has long since subsided, yet isn’t it extraordinary how almost four years after his passing Nelson Mandela remains a gift to the nation and the world that keeps on giving.
For who else could attract some of humanity’s most respected leaders to democratic South Africa’s Mother City to continue his Long Walk to Freedom from the spot where he made his triumphant reappearance in public after 27 years in apartheid jails.
These leaders are grouped in an organisation Madiba formed 10 years ago of eminent persons called The Elders, tasked with helping to resolve conflicts around the world.
Made up of former heads of state, peace activists and human rights advocates, current Elders include Kofi Annan, Ban-ki Moon, Desmond Tutu, Graça Machel, Jimmy Carter, Hina Jilani, Mary Robinson and Ernesto Zedillo, among others. See http://www.theelders.org/about
As we reported yesterday, Mandela’s widow, Graça Machel, is to lead them in a highly symbolic, historic march and gathering in central Cape Town today on International Mandela Day.
It is to celebrate the 10th anniversary of The Elders and to launch the group’s new global project, "Walk Together", a continuation of Mandela’s Long Walk to Freedom, said Machel.
At around noon The Elders, alongside leaders from District Six forcibly removed from their homes by apartheid and 1 000 local residents, will walk from the Grand Parade outside the Cape Town City Hall, where Mandela made his celebrated Freedom speech in 1990 to a gathering at the Cape Town International Convention Centre.
The event will feature some of the world’s most notable political and community leaders, discussing the world’s ongoing humanitarian issues and celebrating The Elders’ work to date.
That all of this is inspired by the midwife-in-chief of our democracy, our founding President Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, the one unlike any other, who brought so much compassion and love to the world, must fill South Africans with pride and gratitude.
He was from among us, from our flesh and blood. We must be an equally extraordinary people to have given the world such exceptional leadership.
It is a paradox of our times, therefore, that post-Madiba we should be sitting with some leaders who are considered rather embarrassing.