Nelson Mandela died today. At 95 years old, he has seen many things and many changes. Some of those changes he helped to bring about.
He was a rare man for this world to behold and I can only think of one other person that was so beloved of this mortal coil and that was Mother Theresa.
I do not say that he was a saint but he did that rarest of things and saw something that hurt all his fellow South Africans and effected a change so profound that it rang around the world.
Apartheid was a division of his country that damaged everyone. The effects on the black members of this country were obvious with brutal beatings, oppression and a complete lack of representation. The effects on the white members were less obvious, but Mandela saw that apartheid was killing his country by degrees and helped to bring this odious system to an end.
But his effect on the rest of the world was equally profound. Anyone who wants to be a racist now has to deny Mandela and that is impossible.
Jacob Zuma is wrong as South Africa may have lost its greatest son, yet the world has lost its most precious one. Rest in peace Madiba.
