I accidentally met Nelson Mandela two years ago on a trip to Bangladesh.
He was there to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the founding of the
country. I was there leading a conference on child labor.
He gave a talk at a dinner meeting at the Dhaka Sheraton. In the middle,
he set aside his prepared comments and said this:
"Before we started negotiations with the enemy we made the following three
decisions:
"a) That from our negotiations NEITHER WE NOR OUR ENEMIES WILL EMERGE
VICTORIOUS, ONLY THE PEOPLE OF SOUTH AFRICA SHOULD EMERGE VICTORIOUS. We
decided from our work and from our struggle PEOPLE MUST WIN and NOT ONE
POLITICAL PARTY.
"b) That there are good people in all communities - black, white,
Afrikaans, coloured, Indians, etc. Not only that, we went one step further
and said that there are good people in all political parties, and not only
in the ANC.
"c) That smaller parties joining our government will be heard and their
views will be given due importance. There was to be a government of 27 in
which there will be 18 from ANC., 6 from the second largest party (de
Klerk's) and three from the smallest party (Inkatha). It was OUR
responsibility to convince the smaller parties that their views will get
due importance. This was we were able to isolate the extremists and the
fascists.
...
"Though is was this single party that led the freedom struggle, yet we
decided NOT to make South Africa a one-party state. We did not want to
abuse power, trust and confidence that were bestowed on us, not only by
our own people, but also by the whole international community.
"Finally I want to say that I have been elected the President of South
Africa. Anything that happens in South Africa NOW reflects on me.
REGARDLESS OF OUR HISTORY, I am responsible for everything that happens in
my country."
... as reported by Mahfuz Anam in The Daily Star, Dhaka, Friday, March 28,
1997 Capitalized emphasis above is the Star's.
Gil Steil
Gil Steil Associates
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Boston, MA 02118 USA
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Email: gilsteil@gilsteil.com
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