MANDELA WAS ‘HUMBLE, PRINCIPLED’
NELSON Mandela was humble and man of principle who stuck to the theory of revolution, Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation Minister Lindiwe Sisulu said yesterday.
Sisulu said Mandela was completely unapologetic about the position of the ANC and was always calm in everything he did.
She was addressing the Nelson Mandela memorial lecture to mark the Madiba Day.
Sisulu said Mandela, whom she rarely saw angry, once showed his anger towards her when he mistook her for interrupting him when he was addressing the ANC parliamentary caucus.
“I left the caucus and went to wait for him at his office and I was completely beside myself. I literally yelled at him because he heard the wrong person,” she said.
Sisulu said she was amazed that the following week he invited himself to the caucus and to her embarrassment, apologised for his outbursts.
Recalling Algerian general who trained Mandela in guerrilla tactics, she said the general let it be known that they were the people who trained Mandela. “It goes to show what impact the man made to the world that many people years later wanted to be known as the men who trained Madiba.”
She also said Mandela, who was arrested with notes he took on his Africa tour before his arrest, was not apologetic and did not deny he wrote those notes in the Rivonia Trial.
“From this man and his generation we have learnt all we needed to learn about revolutionary fervour and its all encompassing mindset that produces immense selflessness, readiness to commit to give up everything and ensure rights and justice for all and subordination to the course of the struggle for equality,” Sisulu said.
She, however, said she was unsure if their generation had defined what they were ready to die for and how the future generation would define them.
“Would they define us as revolutionaries that saved the country or failed them?”
Sisulu said the reflections on Mandela happened at a time the country was engulfed by an unprecedented high level of protests and violence.
“Who is the final arbiter of whether we got it right? Is it the people or have we handed over to other arbitrators? ”
She also said that never have they seen hunger, frustration, and criminality drive people into looting and destroying property on such a scale as in the past week.
Sisulu added that the most important attribute about Mandela was his ability to humble himself.
“I don’t not know if Madiba ever took a decision on his own. What marks him out as an outstanding leader is his ability to consult at all material times when he has to took a decision. Maybe, this was borne out of the time spent in prison. I am not sure, but this is the man who led us to where we are right now.”