Yesterday Calvern Kuziyamisa and I had the privilege of listening to a talk by Clem Sunter at Cedara
College, just outside of Pietermaritzburg.

We had a brief chat to Clem after his talk. He has endorsed the initiative that Awesome SA is
launching in mid-April called TOGETHER SA – BUILDING OUR FUTURE. We wanted to get his
consent to go public with what he had to say which is as follows:

“I think that Together SA is a brilliant initiative because it combines the power of the social media
with the underground revolution that is taking place in this country- ordinary people rolling up
their sleeves to become active citizens in the pursuit of creating a better life for all. Well done in
giving real power to the real people”

Bono has recently given a TED Talk which we believe will go viral, especially as he mentions Nelson
Mandela’ s message to the world in 2005 – “Be that great generation that overcomes that most
awful offence of humanity, extreme poverty. ”

Our generation want s to be the generation that changes the world for good.

Have a look.

Source

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My aging mom shares a birthday with Nelson Mandela. On thinking about buying her a birthday
present for the 18th July, my thoughts turned to Nelson Mandela and the sacrifices he (and many
others) made for freedom over the years. My thoughts then turned to Camus, the Algerian born
author, journalist, and philosopher, who was awarded the 1957 Nobel Prize for Literature. Camus
was the first African-born writer to receive this Nobel Prize and he once said: “Freedom is nothing
but a chance to be better.”

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Former South African President Nelson Mandela. Photograph by Siphiwe Mhlambi

“What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.” – Nelson Mandela at the 80^th Birthday Celebration of Walter Sisulu 18^th May 2002.

We continually read about corruption, crime, absence of accountability and inefficiencies within both government and other sectors of our society. But how often do we read of the tools that we can use to rectify these wrongs?

Perhaps we should look again to the leadership that Nelson Mandela gave us in his time in office. His words linked directly to his values and the principles by which he lived his life. It is for this reason that he is one of the worlds’s most loved and admired individuals of the twenty-first century.

Regular Blog Posts

I have decided to write regular blog posts on his words and style of leadership in the hope that it will inspire South Africans to create the country that he so clearly visualised – a country that we can create through our individual choices and our collective leadership. These words spoken from the balcony of the Cape Town City Hall on Sunday 11 February 1990, to thousands gathered before him and to an audience of millions over radio and television form the foundation of his loyalty and service to South Africa.

Friends, comrades and fellow South Africans, I greet you all in the name of peace, democracy and freedom for all. I stand here before you not as a prophet but as a humble servant of you, the people. Your tireless and heroic sacrifices have made it possible for me to be here today. I therefore place the remaining years of my life in your hands.

 Imagine our country where democratic accountability fills every sphere of government, business and the private sector. Imagine the legacy we can leave when our people with determined action and deep commitment transform our society from the crises-ridden present into a South Africa we can all be proud of. Collectively we can be part of the solution. It will require that every person who is concerned about the future of South Africa achieves in some measure selfless service to the community and strives for justice and human dignity.

Call to Action - Follow in the Footsteps of  Nelson Mandela

This call to action is the first of many to encourage our people to follow in the footsteps of Nelson Mandela – one of the greatest leaders of our time. Let us collectively honour him in his twilight years by emulating his style of leadership and by living up to his ideals. Let us collectively create the country that we have it in us to become.

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Reconciliation before recrimination, healing before bitterness, peace before conflict…….

As the guest speaker at the St. Nicholas Diocesan School ‘s speech day on the 30th November in Pietermartizburg,  I was looking for inspiration for my talk and happened to pull off my book shelf the beautiful book called Mandela – The Authorised Portrait.

On reading the Foreword by Kofi Annan, I felt inspired to share the words of Nelson Mandela,

“As I sit in Qunu and grow as ancient as its hills, I will continue to entertain the hope that there has emerged a cadre of leaders in my own country and region, on my continent and in the world, which will not allow that any should be denied their freedom as we were; that any should be turned into refugees as we were; that any should be condemned to go hungry as we were; that any should be stripped of their dignity as we were”

Madiba remains probably the single most admired, most respected international figure in the entire world. He fought for reconciliation before recrimination, healing before bitterness, peace before conflict. He fought for health, for education, for the right of every child to have a better start in life; he fought against the destruction wrought by HIV/Aids;  he spelled out the right and duty of not only South Africa, but of all Africa, to take charge of its own future and fate.

I ask the people of my country to pay tribute to this great man’s lifetime contribution and truly express our gratitude by every one of us working every day to follow his example:

• reconciliation before recrimination
• healing before bitterness
• peace before conflict.
• work to create good health, good education and  the right of every child to have a better start in life
• build our communities where the destruction wrought by HIV/Aids has weakened our society.
• take charge of our own future and fate. The destiny of our country is in our own hands.

“The world marvels at South Africa for three things especially – our peaceful transition in 1994, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Nelson Mandela, and he is by far the most admired and revered statesperson in the world and one of the greatest human beings to walk this earth. God be praised.” – Archbishop Desmond Tutu

In 1994 we as South African’s were handed the gift of a free democracy. It is the duty of each and every one of us to do all in our power in our everyday lives to build a country that was the vision of the great leaders who went before us such as Nelson Mandela.

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Michelle Obama with Nelson Mandela pic by Debbie Yazbek from Nelson Mandela Foundation

By Guest Blogger Karen Lotter

There must be something quite special about US First Lady, Michelle Obama. Well not many people get to spend time with Nelson Mandela nowadays, and she and her family were invited yesterday to his home in Houghton, Johannesburg

A photo above by Debby Yazbek and from the Nelson Mandela Foundation shows the 92-year-old Mandela sitting on a couch next to Mrs Obama, pen in hand to sign an advance copy of his new book, Nelson Mandela By Himself: The Authorised Quotations Book.

Because Madiba is frail he has limited his public engagements, but he obviously felt that this wife of the first black president of the United States who came to South Africa with her mother, daughters and two young relatives to visit historical sites and talk about women’s leadership and HIV issues was someone he wanted to meet.

Madiba wanted to meet them

Mrs Obama, daughters Malia and Sasha, and her mother, Marian Robinson, and their niece and nephew, Leslie Robinson, 15, and Avery Robinson, 19, were viewing some of Mandela’s personal papers at his foundation on Tuesday when he sent word that he wanted to meet them at his home in a leafy Johannesburg neighbourhood. They spent about 20 precious moments with him and with his wife Graca Machel.

After an unplanned meeting with former president Nelson Mandela at his Houghton home on Tuesday, US First Lady Michelle Obama will be in Soweto on Wednesday.

Young African Women Leaders Forum

Michelle Obama, will deliver the key-note address to a US-sponsored Young African Women Leaders Forum in South Africa. Participants include women from across sub-Saharan Africa who are leading or involved in social and economic initiatives in their countries.

On Thursday she planned to see Mandela’s former prison at Robben Island and meet Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu in Cape Town

Enjoy this slideshow from BBC News of the Obama Family in South Africa.

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