Nelson Mandela's health scare

This morning I woke up to an interesting take on the whole Nelson Mandela debacle that took place in South Africa over the last week. It is certainly understandable for people to be sad or concerned for the wellbeing of Mr Mandela but one cannot help get the feeling right now that there are more consequences around the frail leader's passing. This seems to be the point of view of our favourite South African blog at least, and I have to agree.

So the interesting take was this: if the public knows that Madiba is 92 years old and weak, why panic? What impending disaster does his death bring to the country? Instead of allowing an old veteran his dignity (and yes, I do accept that he is an iconic leader - but he is still a human being!), it seems the press and other local drama queens and kings are intent on being the last person he speaks to before he dies. Surely Mr Mandela has effectively said his goodbyes already some time back? Why make a big scene about it at every possible opportunity?

Last week I came across an interesting article on legacy coaching. South Africa knows what legacy Madiba leaves behind. his life has been an impactful one in so many different ways. One can only hope that the remaining time he has left he can spend with some grace and dignity - and most importantly in a way that he chooses to. At this stage in life, he should not be pandering to the public and least of all to the media.

Be sure to check out the full article and leave your thoughts on what will happen in South Africa when Nelson Mandela dies. In the meantime, one can only hope that Nelson Mandela Foundation and the SA government have sorted themselves out and implemented an agreed upon policy to communicate news about Mandela and other future country leaders.

Happy New Year and Happy Birthday!

Thought I'd start this year off with a bang and a blog post - there's been some delay in posting over the last year mostly because I've been in Canada and other more exotic places around the world.

All is well and I'm back in South Africa at least for a few months before leaving on my travels and work abroad with the UN.

So in terms of New Year's resolutions I've been a little slack over the last umm... decade or so but I do hope to be more diligent this year.. at least one blog post per month in 2011 - should not be a huge stretch (except for laziness!) Needless to say I also continue to endeavour to write for our beloved South Africa news blog whenever I get a chance. I think there's going to be plenty of material coming forth over the next few months so certainly no shortage of writing topics.

All the very best for the New Year - 2011 is going to be a great year!