We Can Learn From Madiba's Humility

It was heartwarming to watch this great man making an appearance on television after a long period of in activity. I was particularly pleased because I thought of how blessed we are in Kwa Zulu-Natal to have a man of his stature linked to the province. Mandela has always had a special relationship with this city. In one of his speeches he once said that when he left his hometown as a young man he was torn between coming to Durban and going to Johannesburg.

He decided on Johannesburg because he had friends and relatives who worked on the mines there. Durban was the first city to give him the freedom of the city in 1999. He made the Kwa Zulu-Natal province proud when, in our first democratic elections in 1994, he cast his vote at Inanda’s Ohlange Institute, which is in eThekwini.

Mandela’s association with this province dates back to the early 1960s, when he surprised everyone by showing up at a meeting –The All Africa Symposium, where no one expected him because of the risks involved in him attending. At that meeting, in Pietermaritzburg, he made a moving speech, which sent a chill down the spines of many attending. Afterwards, he was smuggled out to avoid the police security branch.

Upon his release in 1990, he spent some time before coming to Durban and in one of his interviews when he was asked if he had any plans of visiting the leader of the IFP, Inkosi Mangosuthu Buthelezi, he said he needed to collect himself before coming to Durban. And when he came to Durban it was not an in-and-out situation like he did in other cities. He spent a night in this city.

We are indeed blessed to have a man of his calibre and humility associated with our city.

- Mayor Obed Mlaba