KENYA NEWS DAILY

Few were less comfortable with the prospect of sainthood than Nelson Mandela himself. “One issue that deeply worried me in prison,” he wrote in Conversations with Myself, a collection of his writings published in 2010 “was the false image that I unwittingly projected to the outside world: of being regarded as a saint. I never was one, even on the basis of an earthly definition of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying.”

A rush to secular canonization would squander Mandela’s memory to unquestioning adulation. If we are to learn from his extraordinary legacy—and, as leaders, to act on what we learn—we are surely obliged to reckon fully with its layers and nuance. Symbolism must not crowd out substance while we reflect on the depth and range of Mandela’s contributions, to South Africa and to the world.

Take as an example his legendary refusal to exact revenge on those who imprisoned and humiliated him during the Apartheid years, culminating in the appointment of former white supremacist F.W. de Klerk as his deputy president. It is true that this was an act of admirable personal magnanimity, and a great testament to Mandela’s character. But, as a straightforward matter of politics, it was also both pragmatic and necessary. No other path could have ensured South Africa’s viability as an incipient democracy under ANC rule, not to mention protect its short- and  long-term economic prospects. Continue reading…