As the world mourns Nelson Mandela…

The whole world is mourning as I write following the death of a hero,father,unifer,political legend and an icon of quality leadership Comrade Nelson Mandela who passed on a couple of days ago. My heart bleeds as I see different states around the world putting down their flags in respect of Nelson Mandela popularly known as Tata (father) in Africa. All races have joined hands in mourning Nelson Mandela to an extent that you can hardly know which country he belonged to. That was a life well lived, full of lessons to those in leadership and those who will take up leadership in future. However I have seen it proper to draw a few lessons (though they are many) from the life of this great hero Nelson Mandela which I think might can be useful to the African leaders in power today.

Firstly Mandela stayed in prison for twenty seven years or ten thousand days of hard labor at the Robben Island prison. The apartheid government was trying to silence his dissenting voice which was calling for anti-apartheid or equality between the whites and the black people. He was (in the Rivonia Trial) sentenced to life imprisonment. Just think about spending twenty seven years of hard labor in an island away from your loved ones, paying the price for demanding the freedom of your people. As a person who also served political imprisonment I really understand how painful life is in prison. After serving twenty seven years in prison, Mandela was released. If you were the one who spent so much years behind bars for a trumped up charge am sure you would have came out a bitter man/woman. But the first lesson that I learnt from Mandela is the importance of forgiveness. He came out and united the Boers (former colonizers) and the South African people. He preached the gospel of unity and reconciliation which resulted into Africa joining hands with the Boers for a better South Africa. That's one of the biggest lessons that we ought to learn from this man. In Zimbabwe we are reminded everyday on ZTV (Zimbabwe Television) that the British through Cecil John Rhodes colonized our country and did this and that to our forefathers. Yes it true it happened in the 17th century, true but what is the way forward?, and how do you want a white man/woman born in the 80s here in Zimbabwe to live?.Pay the price for the sins committed by his forefathers in the 17th century? I wonder.

Secondly Mandela did not chase the white people like what other leaders did in their countries after attaining independence. He said, 'We don't have whites or blacks we only have South African'. Such sentiments helped both whites and blacks to work together in building a better South Africa, wonder why it has one of the best economies in Africa. Now in different countries today there is now what I call 'Africanized modern apartheid' where the blacks are discriminating the whites making sure they pay the price for the sins committed by their forefathers five hundred years ago. It's like arresting Robert Mugabe Junior(the son of the Zimbabwean President) over Gukurahundi massacre a sin his father committed decades of years before he was born. I do not think that will be fair.The concept of co-existence which Mandela preached in South Africa is a very important lesson that all leaders must learn for the betterment of their respective countries.

Lastly, after spending twenty seven years in jail he only ruled South Africa for five years (1994-99).What exactly did people like Mobuto Seseseko (Zaire),Kamuzu Banda (Malawi),Omar Bongo (Gabon),Robert Mugabe (Zimbabwe),Eduardo Dos Santos (Angola) only to mention  a few, did to think that they deserve to be life Presidents of their respective countries. At first these people were liberators like Mandela but they later on turned out to be dictators, yes there is no way you can cling to power without becoming a dictator first. That's where many African leaders lost it, clinging to power and thinking that because they liberated that country they now own it like their private properties-NO. In short am trying to bring out a point and a lesson to those in power that in politics make sure you do not overstay your welcome. Do you think if Mandela wanted to be the life President of South Africa who would have contested him, absolutely none. He would have died in office today. But he left all the sweetness of power and opened the doors to those who were younger and energetic to take the country forward. What a great leader?. Today we have people like Robert Mugabe who at 90 years contested for another five year term as the President of Zimbabwe. Such caliber of leadership will not take Africa anywhere.Thats a painful and dangerous truth that I have penned as one of the things Africa needs to consider seriously.

As the world mourns Mandela let's try to take stock of the road walked by this great man and find lessons for our future. More lessons in the party 2 of this article which will be released soon.
 - May God bless Africa.

Nkosilathi Emmanuel Moyo is a human rights defender based in the small mining town of Kwekwe. You can write to him on sirnemoyo@gmail.com