Word: africa
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...Zimbabwe's Torment Readers may wonder how it is that Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has dragged his country into economic collapse and abject poverty, yet millions of Zimbabweans still support him [June 30]. This is because in Africa, tribal feeling remains powerful. The chief of your tribe can do no wrong, and African culture demands that he be supported at all costs. Western nations are justifiably horrified by what is happening in Zimbabwe, but they should bear in mind that the Mugabe regime came to power with their support. Watch South Africa: Its economy and social framework are rapidly following...
...also wanted to talk to him about leadership. Mandela is the closest thing the world has to a secular saint, but he would be the first to admit that he is something far more pedestrian: a politician. He overthrew apartheid and created a nonracial democratic South Africa by knowing precisely when and how to transition between his roles as warrior, martyr, diplomat and statesman. Uncomfortable with abstract philosophical concepts, he would often say to me that an issue "was not a question of principle; it was a question of tactics." He is a master tactician...
...first met Mandela at an Indian tailor's shop in the 1950s and that Mandela was the first black South African he had ever seen being fitted for a suit. Now Mandela's uniform is a series of exuberant-print shirts that declare him the joyous grandfather of modern Africa...
...Knowing how to abandon a failed idea, task or relationship is often the most difficult kind of decision a leader has to make. In many ways, Mandela's greatest legacy as President of South Africa is the way he chose to leave it. When he was elected in 1994, Mandela probably could have pressed to be President for life - and there were many who felt that in return for his years in prison, that was the least South Africa could...
...history of Africa, there have been only a handful of democratically elected leaders who willingly stood down from office. Mandela was determined to set a precedent for all who followed him - not only in South Africa but across the rest of the continent. He would be the anti-Mugabe, the man who gave birth to his country and refused to hold it hostage. "His job was to set the course," says Ramaphosa, "not to steer the ship." He knows that leaders lead as much by what they choose not to do as what they...