OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Sunday 7.00pm.
FORMER President Nelson Mandela levelled sharp criticism at Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe during a speech delivered in Johannesburg over the weekend. In a thinly-veiled attack on ‘the tyrants of the world’, Mandela slammed the leaders of countries who enriched themselves at the cost of the poor.
Asked whether this included Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe, Mandela skirted the issue saying: “Everybody here knows who I am talking. The situation exists in many parts of the world, especially Africa. If you don’t know who I am talking about there is no point in me telling you, because you will have forgotten about it in half an hour’s time.”
Speaking at the launch of the global partnership for Children of the United Nation’s Children Fund, Mandela urged the public to bring down these tyrants, by “picking up rifles to defeat the tyrants”.
“Although President Mbeki has mentioned that we have diplomatic relations with these countries where these tyrants prevail, the public must bring these tyrants down themselves,” he said.
Mandela said often these leaders had liberated their countries, but then after rubbing shoulders with the rich and powerful wanted to become like that themselves.
Tyrants like Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Pompey and Adolf Hitler had been brought down by the ordinary masses “like you and I”, he said. –AFP