Imtiaz Sooliman – on Madiba

Of gift of the givers. Dr silayman, thank you very much

indeed for joining us. We're in the middle of this 10 days of

mourning period. It is when the body is lying in states, in

Pretoria and tswane, and we've seen people coming in and viewing

the late Mandela. How does that make you feel seeing the body

lying in states now?

It's very dignified. Mandela was dignified when he was alive, and

is dignified even in passing. I don't think anyone has had a

funeral like this in the history of the world, you know, in the

history of this country, in this continent especially, and the

world leaders from great countries have been here to honor and

acknowledge the men. And that kind of acknowledgement doesn't come

cheaply. It comes because your spirit, your character, your

personality, excluded something in your lifetime, and people have

shown have acknowledged that spirit by being here and for the

whole world media to stop all news items and focus on one person

tells you a lot about the character of that personality.

It's almost like a saintly figure, but he hated being called a saint.

But it was hard not to idolize a man with such virtue. How much of

an inspiration when you do your work around the world, how much of

an inspiration was he to you? We can't avoid thinking of him,

because in every country that we go to, the more we get off the

plane. For example, you know, Saudi Arabia. Of course, we

haven't done any work there. But when early, in early years, when

you got off the plane, and you're telling me from South Africa, they

look confused the moment you say Mandela, the bells gone, they

understand where you're coming from, in terms of disasters, every

country we go to, the first question they ask us, How is

Mandela, even when he was well, how is Mandela? So in every area

that you go to, his name is worldwide. When you come from

South Africa, that's the first question they ask you. How is

Mandela? Have you come from Mandela's country?

It prompted you to write a tribute to Mandela. What is the theme of

this tribute, reconciliation, a man who can be incarcerated for 27

years, losing the best part of his youth, losing those that are close

to him, colleagues, family and friends, being isolated from his

family, from his wives and his children because of what had

happened to him, and to come out with no malice after 27 years. I

mean, that's an amazing feat. And to come out and then to ft what

for the world wife, to allow, to permit the playing of the stem in

the new anthem, because the stem was regarded as the anthem of the

oppressor, to allow that, I'm sure, to the disagreement of many

of his colleagues and many of the people in the country, by that

short class, it showed leadership. He had an aim, because we keep

going backwards by finding out all issues, it won't serve the

country. He realized both steps had to be taken to bring about

reconciliation, and part of reconciliation is to accommodate

other people. That's the way you build a country. And then, of

course, I think the greatest moment to me was the day he walked

into the rugby final wedding, the number six jersey. And what was

remarkable, I mean, only a year later, this man, the whole

country, the media, the textbooks, everybody called the terrorist.

And a year later, as he walked into the ground, of which probably

98% were white people in that stadium, and they were shouting,

Nelson, Nelson, Nelson. How do you achieve that in one year? It's

almost an impossibility. It was a tremendous time in history, isn't

it? And just going forward, would you put, obviously, reconciliation

by consensus as one of his legacies? But would you put it

down at that only? Or these are the facets of his legacy? No, his

intense compassion for those you know, the enemy and colleagues and

those who are downtrodden. I think what is very striking, I met him

for the first time in Peter mattersburg on the 25th of april

1997 he was granted the freedom of the city. And what amazed me that

this leader, with the whole world had now recognized, could take the

time to talk to ordinary people. You know, he, you say, you look up

at the leader. I can't say he was looking down at you. He was

looking up to us, and we were smaller in stature, in size and in

character to this man, but there was such humility that it was

making you melt at that moment when you met him and you felt

dwarfed by this stature. But truly, the thing that strikes you

most is the humility of this man and his compassion for the others

and his respect for other people and how he dignifies other human

beings. In spite of who he is, he was very humble. He, as President

Obama, did say, he had a certain element of mischief as well. Do

you remember any fond memories in terms of off camera, where you

guys met and had a had a bit of a chat? It was only that time, you

know, when I met him in Peter mattersburg, it was, it was always

serious. And I have a policy, you know, when heads of state,

although I had a chance to meet many of them, you know, they're

busy and you don't want to intervene and, you know, and

interrupt when they have such a busy schedule. So I had to add one

meeting that I met him on in Peter mattersburg, to me, that was a

great meeting. And I mean.

To me, his personality, even without speaking, said a lot.

There you go. Dr MJ Suleiman is from the gift of the givers, just

telling us a bit about the former, late, great statesman. Dr Nelson

Mandela. Back to Studio. You.