A SMALL group of government ministers, diplomats and clergy descended on the Nelson Mandela Foundation’s Centre of Memory on Wednesday evening to pay tribute to the former president.
The Rev Jesse Jackson, who met Mandela on a couple of occasions after his release, compared the former president to Dr Martin Luther King. Rev Jackson said: "The issue is not how much he changed in jail but how much South Africa changed because he was jailed."
Mandela died last Thursday, the birth date of another struggle hero, Robert Sobukwe, who founded the Pan Africanist Congress.
Activist Elinor Sisulu said that one of Mandela’s attributes was his gift of not taking himself too seriously.
"He was a humorous man and he didn’t take himself too seriously," Ms Sisulu said.
"On this continent we have a deficiency of leadership.
"It was nice to have a leader who could laugh at himself, it was nice to have a leader who loved his people, and it was nice to have a leader who gave up the presidency after one term at the height of his popularity," she said.
Ms Sisulu also said Mandela was a shining star in "a cohort of amazing leaders".
"Madiba was not the only great. We can’t mention him and give tribute to him without acknowledging our veterans.
"(Walter) Sisulu was the producer, Mandela the star and Oliver Tambo was the director," she said.
Home Affairs Minister Naledi Pandor said that while in the past few days the world has been reflecting on Mandela the man and the personality, he was so much more than that.
"Little has been said about his work as the president of the country and as the leader of the ANC (African National Congress).
"Apartheid was particularly cruel because of the government’s arbitrary use of its power.
"Madiba led the way, as the first democratically elected president, in removing the arbitrary power of the government through the constitution," she said.
