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As the world marked International Nelson Mandela Day, the question is no longer whether people remember South Africa’s first democratically elected president but whether each new generation is prepared to reinterpret his legacy for the challenges of its own time.
Held two days before Saturday’s International Nelson Mandela Day, the inaugural Nelson Mandela Global Leadership Forum at The Town Hall in New York City brought together political leaders, academics, business executives, civil society representatives and young leaders to explore ethical leadership inspired by Mandela’s enduring example.
New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani, who spent part of his childhood in South Africa, delivered the inaugural Nelson Mandela Global Leadership Forum keynote address.
Among those attending were deputy minister of international relations and co-operation Alvin Botes; journalist Redi Tlhabi; Brand South Africa general manager for stakeholder relations Mphumi Mabuza; and Richard Stengel, former managing editor of Time magazine, who collaborated with Nelson Mandela on his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom.
“We don’t have to defend his legacy as a foundation,” said Mbongiseni Buthelezi, CEO of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, to the audience. “He gave us the duty to open his own legacy for reinterpretation by successive generations.”
Rather than preserving Mandela as an untouchable icon, Buthelezi said the foundation’s responsibility is to encourage each generation to engage honestly with his ideas, his leadership and even his imperfections.
Buthelezi said Mandela welcomed honest scrutiny rather than protection. Recalling conversations with his long-time archivist, Verne Harris, he said colleagues would sometimes question whether sensitive papers should remain private.
“‘You don’t have to protect me,’ Mandela would tell them. ‘You take the decision based on your own professional judgment.’ And so to me, that is one of the most amazing things about Madiba — that he was not defensive about his own failures.”
Former anti-apartheid activist and film producer Firdoze Bulbulia, who was imprisoned at the age of 17, said Mandela’s message remains as relevant today as it was during South Africa’s struggle for freedom.
“I think Mamdani is probably the present-day kind of Nelson Mandela for this generation,” said Bulbulia to the Sunday Times. “His community work has been amazing. Without hope, nothing else matters. I feel that kind of connection again, that excitement about change.”
New York educator and social justice advocate Jose Vilson said Mandela’s influence reaches far beyond South Africa.
“Mandela Day is a day to remember that our struggles are connected, but also our hope is interconnected with the ways we envision a better world,” he said. “It starts with each of us, but it also is about that collective mindset that’s necessary towards a better future.”
That spirit of collaboration also resonated with Rosleny Ubinas, the only North American participant in the Nelson Mandela Global Academy for Social Change Leadership developed by the UN System Staff College in partnership with the Nelson Mandela Foundation.
“I appreciated the fact that we were all just active leaders, but we had a space to come together and collaborate,” said Ubinas. “We read Long Walk to Freedom and studied his early life, his time in prison, and learning how to collaborate with people across divides.”
Dr Wale Idris Ajibade, founder of the New York-based NPO African Views, said his organisation has spent the past 15 years marking Nelson Mandela Day by bringing together scholars, community leaders and faith leaders to promote dialogue and peace.
“Through our years of collaboration every Mandela Day, we’ve developed a book called Waging Peace — to continue to remind ourselves about the challenges we face and the legacy that Nelson Mandela left for us to continue peace.”
TimesLIVE
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