Amidst the hype, trauma, media, tears and tweets… there is a man.
We should all take a moment, and ponder on this reality.
Before I continue, I just have to establish a view points:
- I have a whole heap of respect for Mandela.
- I do not idolise him.
- I do, however, believe that he could run South Africa better in his sleep than Zuma, Mbeki and Obama put together.
- I can do a mean Mandela-accent
Now that I have established the above points, let me tell you why I won’t blog about him.
- The media is already vulturing his personal life so much, and I wouldn’t like to add to the frenzy
- In my mind, above any of of his accomplishments, he is still a husband, father, grandfather etc. Heaven forbid that my dad end up in hospital, I would NOT like to be harassed like his family
- I do not want to turn Madiba into Bieber – Just another trending topic, popular hashtag, or icon-of-the-moment.
- I do not have to use Madiba to make a political statement. And yes, I do believe that that is exactly what a lot of the “concerned” people will do/are doing.
Why am I telling you this? Well, I have had quite a few people ask me in the last day or so whether or not I intend to do a Madiba-post. And I had to say no, and each time explain myself.
Now, for the irony part of it all, I suppose that I just did blog about Madiba. I apologise.
Amandla.
