Nearly 13 years after his death at the age of 95, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela remains the gold standard against which servant leadership continues to be judged.
For the mere mortals who have and have had the dubious honour of trying to follow in his footsteps, it is proving almost humanly impossible to reach the lofty ideals of selflessness that was the hallmark of Mandela’s brand of leadership.
He served only one term of his presidency before making way for younger, ostensibly fresher, leadership. But alas, it was not to be.
As is their wont, his successor bid for a third term, unsuccessfully; and left blood on the floor of the plenary halls at the Polokwane Conference in 2007. If that were not enough, the next man at the Union Buildings wanted to “introduce his successor to other leaders on the African continent” before he could vacate office.
This was just a ploy to cling to power.
Of course, Mandela was, in his own words, no saint. But short of walking on water, he performed miracles for the good of all South Africans.
He had been clear from the outset. Upon his release from prison on 11 February 1990, he addressed the more than 100 000-strong crowd from the balcony of Cape Town
City Hall: “I stand before you, not as a leader but as a servant of you, the people.”
One of those expected to have taken Mandela’s words to heart was the man who held the microphone for Madiba on that day, the man who would himself later become president — Cyril Ramaphosa.
But like his predecessors, Ramaphosa has not really done well in emulating the example of “the sinner who kept on trying”.
The impeachment process he is trying to circumvent is just but one of the myriad ways Ramaphosa has failed in his presidency.
Before him, men who tried fitting into Mandela’s big shoes came up short — from Aids denialism to peddling the country to the Guptas, respectively. When it was still taboo to do so, it was Mandela who publicly announced the cause of his son Makgatho’s death. Following his example, the then-IFP leader, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, announced that one of his own children had died from an Aids-related illness.
This was leadership, not populism.
People mattered to Mandela. He put them first, unlike our current cohort of leaders who put their self-interests before everyone else’s.
The Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital is but one legacy of the altruism Mandela bequeathed to
the nation.
As we remember Madiba on the day of his birth, July 18, and throughout the month, let us take a moment to look in the mirror the great statesman held up to us and introspect.
It is no easy feat but it is worth making the effort.