Africa: Bush And Mandela's Moral Challenge

3 February 2003
opinion

US President, George W. Bush "has no foresight" and "cannot think properly." And that is official and authoritative. The authoritative verdict is that of Nobel Peace laureate and former South African President, Nelson Mandela. Perhaps there can be no such authority on foresight than Mandela himself who as far back as 1961 when others were blind to see it all declared; "No power on earth can stop an oppressed people determined to win their freedom." His foresight and deep-seated resolve together with that of millions of other compatriots saw South African black people through the tyranny of apartheid, notwithstanding his exceptional singular sacrifice of 27 years in prison. Bush can certainly ignore rhetoric from Iraq and North Korea to his own chosen war-path but he can only ignore this exceptional moral challenge from Mandela at his own moral peril and consequent political decline.

It is not just that the message comes from Madiba but precisely because true to most of his worthy interventions since retirement (without being tired) the latest from Mandela carries similar words of wisdom meant to rescue humanity form those bent on destroying it.

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