Madiba's legacy: Time to reclaim the soul of the Struggle

AS THE world paused to observe Mandela Day on Friday, we are reminded that this day, solemnly declared by the UN in 2009, stands not as a decorative event on the calendar but as a global summons to political and ethical conscience.

- ZAMIKHAYA MASETI

Mandela Day was never meant to be reduced to a moment of philanthropy. It is a moral provocation. It demands reflection, honesty and action from all of us, particularly those who profess to walk in the shadows of the long and unfinished journey that began long before 1994.

On February 11, 1990, President Nelson Mandela emerged from Victor Verster Prison with his fist raised high in the air, a gesture that immediately entered the symbolic archive of revolutionary imagery. It was not a sign of triumphalism. It was a signal.

That image did not mark the end of the Struggle. It marked its transformation. It did not signify closure. It announced a continuation. It called on the oppressed and the marginalised, the landless and the working poor, to pick up where he and his fellow Rivonia Trialists had left off.

He did not emerge bitter after 27 years of carceral humiliation. He came out with the integrity of purpose intact, preaching reconciliation, peace and coexistence. The reconciliation was meant to be just, transformative and rooted in redress.

This year’s Mandela Day coincides with the buildup to what may become a defining moment in the life of our post-apartheid democratic project, the much-anticipated National Dialogue, now just a month away. In a previous reflection, | described the National Dialogue as a conversation we did not know we truly needed.

It is now apparent that we are a society adrift, lacking a common moral vocabulary and torn apart by deepening social fragmentation. In the context of Mandela Day, we must be courageous enough to pose the most uncomfortable but essential questions. Have we remained faithful to the founding ethos of our democratic transition? Have we honoured Mandela’s radical legacy, or have we betrayed it?