Madiba

I am not a political animal. I lean neither left nor right and I seldom go straight up the middle. Although I have admiration for many people, I don't necessarily read their life stories or slavishly follow their utterances.

And so it is with Nelson Mandela. I was 9 or 10, I think, when he was imprisoned and the South Africa I grew up in didn't allow its people to know anything about him or his political affiliations. I had never even seen a picture of him. When he was released 27 years later, I was eager to see what the man behind the name actually looked like.

He looked happy, smiling, triumphant to be free at last - and already old - a wasted life. But there was no sign of anger or bitterness on his face - only hope for the future of his country.

Due to my apolitical stance, I cannot claim to know anything about him except for the few brief glances I may have taken at media appearances or quotes from his speeches. His time as a leader of our country came too late for him to entrench his values with those who have followed.

Now it is up to the young people of South Africa to walk the talk of Madiba, to adopt his humble, generous and forgiving outlook on his fellow man as their own, and bring this country back to the place he envisioned for it, through quality education of all its people, a spirit of ubuntu and most of all, service to others without self-aggrandisement or self-enrichment at the expense of the common good.

I can only hope that age and infirmity served to shield him from the insult to his sacrificed years of freedom which is the current state of his beloved country.

The long walk to freedom is at last over for him and surely heaven awaits.

His soul now rests in peace.