By ANC has failed South Africans – Nelson Mandela Foundation
By John Eche
Apparently responding to developments within South Africa in recent times, Mrs Graca Machel, former wife of late Mozambican President, Samora Machel, and who was later to also become the wife of iconic South African leader, Nelson Mandela, has made a call for better, inspirational leadership in the country.
She was speaking at an occasion to mark the fourth anniversary of the death of Nelson Mandela that was held in Houghton and organised by the Nelson Mandela Foundation.
Mandela, a long-standing activist of the ruling African National Congress, ANC, had been incarcerated for 27 years in the course of the anti-apartheid struggle and upon his release, was to be elected as the first President of a non-racial South Africa.
In the years following his exit from office and death however, there has been strident criticism that his successors, and most notably, the incumbent Jacob Zuma, have not measured to the higher standards of leadership and performance that he had striven for.
“South Africa, it’s in your hands. Stand up and take it…We should get to 2018, having some kind of clarity of who the new crop of leaders are, standing on the shoulders of those we are celebrating,” the Mozambique-born Graca Machel-Mandela said.
Speaking at the event also, Sello Hatang, CEO of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, was most categorical that the present crop pf ANC leaders had failed in promoting and further advancing Mandela’s legacy.
At the moment, a fierce contest within the ANC to elect a successor for Zuma is underway, with the incumbent’s former wife and immediate past Chairperson of the African Union Commission, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa being the front-runners.
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