The life and achievements of the former president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, have been praised in the academic Commonwealth Journal for International Affairs, The Round Table.
The life and achievements of the former president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela, have been praised in the academic Commonwealth Journal for International Affairs, The Round Table.
The Round Table’s former Chairman Stuart Mole guest-edited the latest edition, which honoured Mandela’s work across the Commonwealth and included testimonies by three former Secretaries-General of the Commonwealth, Shridath Ramphal, Chief Emeka Anyaoki and Sir Don McKinnon.
Ramphal served the Commonwealth from 1975 and was heavily involved in the campaign against apartheid, whilst Chief Anyaoki became Secretary-General in 1990 in the year Mandela was released from prison and began his five-year term as President of South Africa.
McKinnon served as the fourth Secretary-General and recounted his time involved in Mandela’s presidency and that of his successor, Thabo Mbeki.
Mole stated that Mandela’s experience of the Commonwealth reached beyond apartheid to a wider re-evaluation of the role and purpose of the Commonwealth and its struggle through the legacies of the five preceding decades.
He reiterated Mandela’s belief that the Commonwealth would only have meaning if its members showed a clear desire to influence the organisation as a collective.
Mole also wrote on the significant role Mandela played in the Commonwealth history through his practical assistance on a range of issues, including the transition to multiparty rule in Zambia and the extension of membership to Mozambique.
Mole concluded: “The Commonwealth’s relationship with Nelson Mandela was both less – and more – than the history of the Commonwealth and apartheid.
“Mandela’s experience of the Commonwealth…illuminates some of the hitherto neglected areas of Commonwealth involvement in the struggle.
“Through the person of Mandela, the Commonwealth was able to reach further in the cause of racial justice.
“After apartheid’s end, Mandela helped point the Commonwealth towards a changed future.”
