The Genius of Nelson Mandela
Five great “Madiba” truths, for the fifth anniversary of his death.
I remember exactly where I was in 2013 when I read the news that Nelson Mandela had died on December 5 at age 95. One month into the year I was based in Cape Town, I’d felt closer to the South African leader prior to his death than I ever had before, and not just because I was living in his country.
I stumbled upon the first obituary headline while I was sitting in front of my laptop about to consult Wikipedia for some random piece of pop-culture trivia that I’ve since forgotten. Although Mandela was close to a century old, I experienced that moment of shock many of us feel whenever any legend dies. I was so certain that he, if anyone, would live forever.
From my rental flat up in the hills of Tamboerskloof, a mostly white neighborhood in Cape Town’s City Bowl, I wondered what the mood would be like down below. Interestingly, despite the national grief, the South Africans I saw later on the streets were going about their business as usual, their faces betraying no national reaction to the breaking news about their icon, who also was known locally by his Xhosa clan name, Madiba.
I can’t speak for any of them, but I felt cheated. Gone was the remote possibility that someday, due to my physical proximity to…
