Life Magazine Commemorative on Mandela
odw now has a copy of the Life Magazine Commemorative on Mandela which can be borrowed.
Lacking in the Life Commemorative on Mandela which refreshed many memories including some not mentioned:
- The Inkatha Freedon Party's Buthelwzi's refusal to join the first free election and how Mandela worked to successfully include him and the party by promising him a position in the cabinet. ( In 1986 we experienced the violence Inkatha wreaked on ANC people in Natal when we joined the Quaker gathering there) and Vic was stationed the KwaZulu/Natal as a peace and election monitor in 1994 and saw the change of tactics of Inkatha as they suddenly posted signs urging people to vote and all election officials had to paste the Inkatha Party strip at the bottom of two ballots for every voter because it was too late to get all the ballots reprinted.
- Realizing that Chris Hani was generally viewed as Mandela's successor Mandela felt it so important to try to bring reconciliation after Hani's assassination outside his own home.
- The death of Joe Slovo ( Housing Minister) impacting the process of building housing as quickly as needed ( and still a problem)
- The lack of integration by Mbeki as VP of the ANC team of economists who studied the IMF from the inside and strongly recommended that SA NOT become affiliated with it which led to a far different economic system that had he followed the recommendation.
Important to note that it was Condoleeza Rice who noted that in 2008 Mandela was still on the terrorist list because he was a member of the ANC. She got GW Bush to delete him!
If someone would recognize that Hamas is the elected leading party not only in Gaza but in the Palestinian Parliament so it too should be removed from the terroist list so that Israel and the US could talk with the and they could be part of negotiations. . I think it was Mandela who suggested that we can't negotiate with our friends but need to do so with our enemies to make them partners in the solution. Certainly this was his approach and it worked!
Contact odw for borrowing a copy of the Life Magazine Commemorative on Mandela