26 July 2012: South Africa Transforming Tomorrow and the Madiba Legacy

On July 26^th at the Woodrow Wilson International Centre IN Washington DC, United States of America, we as the SAWIP family hosted a conference. The purpose of the conference was focusing on Transforming the tomorrow of South Africa as well as looking at the Legacy of the former president of the Republic of South Africa, Tata Nelson Rholihlahla Mandela. Thanks to technology, we had the privilege of having Rev. Frank Chikane joining us on our discussion on the topic of Transforming Tomorrow via satellite as he was in South Africa. We also had an incredible panellists on our discussion, such as John Carlin who is the author of the book Playing the enemy: Nelson Mandela and the game that changed a nation and also our own SAWIP team member Kgotsi Chikane and team manager and alumni of SAWIP 2011, Dinika Govender gracing us with their views as young South Africans on the legacy of Tata uMandela.

I consider this day as one of the most amazing days of my life, I was so inspired by the discussions and peoples views. I was once again reminded by the legacy of Nelson Mandela what it truly means to be a South African. The event itself was so perfectly organised. Our management team never fail to show us how great they are, they organisation and management skills was proven that day to be second to none. Not to mention my fellow team mates who spoke that day, Saif Islam, Daniel Hagan and Makhosazana Sika stood up proudly on the stage and shared their stories and hopes for South Africa as well as the role that they are playing as young South Africans into bettering South Africa`s tomorrow.

We also had the honour of having our South African ambassador to the United States Mr Ibrahim Rasool speaking at our conference. He was one of my favourite speakers of the day. He talked about South Africa needing to move from transition to transformation. He said that since South Africa shifted from Apartheid to Democracy in 1994 a lot of change has took place in our country. He further continues to say that the Government has done a great job into ensuring that young people of South Africa have access to education. However, it is about time that we transform as a country and shift from transition to transformation. The greatest challenge that we have now is quality, we require transformation in the education system. He highlights that we have a very strong economy but yet our neighbouring countries that have weaker economies have a far better education system then ours, their students are doing far better than ours although they are studying and living in worst conditions. It is because of this that we need to ensure that we provide a better quality of education for our youth; we need transformation in the education system. His closing words that touched me were that “South Africa needs a broadly educated population that will contribute collectively to the growth of our country and to the success of our people”.

Mr Chikane`s comments on the current status of South Africa was that, eighteen years ago when South Africa became a democratic country, people of South Africa were promised better living conditions. For years our citizens remain patient waiting for those better living conditions but yet nothing has happened, things remain the same for many citizens, they are still living in poverty. He says that, there are limits to every patience, people are soon going to get tired of being patient and are going to demand answers. The reverend further provides that it would be good if America and South Africa could collaborate in economic integration. We need young people with skills and knowledge, young entrepreneurs that will contribute to the development of our country, he says. He further states that South Africa needs commitment from those who have the means to invest in the economic growth of our country to do so.

On the topic of Nelson Mandela`s legacy, Kgotsi Chikane shared with us what Madiba`s legacy meant to him as a young South African. We also watched a clip from the movie Invictus which tells the story of how Nelson Mandela united the nation and the role that sports played, particularly rugby in uniting South Africans. The writer of the movie as part of our Panelists for the day explained to the room the process he went through when making the movie and his experiences when interviewing the players of the springbok rugby national team. He jokingly says that he had never seen strong man such as those of our national rugby team, crying during an interview. When I was watching the clip, I was probably watching it for the fourth time but I still couldn’t stop my tears from running down my cheeks. Those were not tears of anger but tears of pride and joy that I have for my country and its people. I remember Kgotsi saying that when he gets back to South Africa, he is going to buy a big South African flag and putt it outside his house, just to simbolise how proud he is to be a young South African. I found myself thinking the same thing. There was just something special about that day, I could feel Madiba magic in the conference room. When I looked around the conference room after watching the clip of the movie, I saw people who knew little or less about the South African history crying, that is how significant Madiba`s legacy is.

For me as a young South African the legacy of Tata is one of those things that inspire me to go on doing positive things for my country no matter how tough it is. His legacy has taught me about the importance of forgiveness. I remember Madiba saying “I knew that the moment I left prison, I must leave all anger and hatred behind or else I will always be in prison”. Those words have stuck with me and are words that I use to motivate myself to forgive. Nelson Mandela Is the greatest person I know, they call him a genius in politics, but I call him the genius of life in general. His legacy lives on and will continue for years to come.

Proudly South African!!! Keyona!!........AMANDLA!!!