Letters: No more Mandelas

Re “In South Africa, paralysis at the top,” Dec. 3

Several years ago, I read Nelson Mandela’s inspiring autobiography, “Long Walk to Freedom,” and Dominique Lapierre’s beautiful ode to the birth of a post-apartheid South Africa, “A Rainbow in the Night.” Recently, I finished Nobel laureate Nadine Gordimer’s “No Time Like the Present,” a novel set in post-apartheid South Africa concerning a mixed-race couple, former companions in “the struggle.” I am currently reading Douglas Foster’s “After Mandela.”

The two most recent books have several references to President Jacob Zuma and his baggage of criminal accusations that have followed him throughout his political career. Zuma’s presidency has indeed been a failure.

The rainbow country deserves better than Zuma, but alas, South Africa must deal with the frighteningly stark reality of there being no Mandelas after Mandela.

Stan Seidel

Rancho Palos Verdes

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