Last week, the death of ex-British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, had the UK divided about her legacy once more. Depending on the position of the commentator on the political spectrum, this division ranged from “The Woman who Divided a Nation” to “The Woman who Saved Britain.” Further south, in South Africa, the legacy of Nelson Mandela is undergoing a division of a different sort.
Wonkie was quite fascinated by the recent headlines about Madiba appearing in the international press: “Nelson Mandela’s family at war over his millions” and “Madiba money row is painful” to name a couple. It is ironic that a man that has dedicated his life to freedom, has inspired his family to be such dedicated slaves to material wealth.
It is obvious that Mandela’s political legacy will be nowhere as divided as Iron Lady Thatcher’s – at the very least, people will acknowledge that he made a positive contribution to South Africa, even if they may quite rightly debate just how much of a contribution he made. In fact, the poll on Wonkie’s previous post on the topic (see What will happen when Nelson Mandela dies) yielded some interesting results about his forecasted legacy.
Mandela has certainly left his mark on the world. Rightly, or wrongly, he has become a symbol of peace, forgiveness and reconciliation – of stepping up and being a better human being, in the face of those that have wronged you. This is a legacy that South Africans can certainly be proud of. Wonkie imagines that the tacky squabbling over money and his brand between his family and friends will probably serve only to tarnish their names, not his.
What is interesting for Wonkie, is that Madiba is not even dead yet, and already he is being considered to be no more than a brand – like Coca-Cola. Yes, it’s valuable but it’s also not a human being. It can be bought, sold, traded, shared, gambled away or marketed. It generates wealth for many, but it’s not a human being. And it’s not just his family that treat him that way. The South African media do too – besides the rights battle to cover his funeral, the media is gagging at every opportunity to increase sales at his expense. Pretty sad, is it not?
A left-wing anti-Thatcher campaign in the UK last week saw the song Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead from the Wizard of Oz shoot up the charts – it ended all the way up at number 2. Perhaps it would be wise for Nelson Mandela to pick and promote his own theme song before he dies. If he waits too long it may likely end up being Mo Money, Mo Problems by Notorious B.I.G.!
Have you given any thought to your own legacy? If not, you may want to consider going for some legacy coaching with a professional coach. If you’re still hoping to start your charitable foundation after your unlikely winnings from playing lottery online or at some South African online casino, then you probably need a better plan – you should consider getting a life coach instead!
For those of you who are determined to gamble their legacy away (and in the process make sure you don’t accidentally leave anything for your familial ingrates), you should probably check out this great casino directory or try this excellent review for some entertaining options if shopping is not your thing!
Related articles on UK political leaders and Nelson Mandela:
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LOL… nice one guys. I think it’s quite pathetic that his own family are scavenging whilst he’s still alive. As for Thatcher, I think if we had someone like her in SA right now, it would probably set Cosatu straight!
is this not in bad taste, Wonkie.??
The unsung HERO, a Hero is someone who saves lives and their is only ONE that does that and sadly most in the whole world rejects HIM and yet HE is still alive and rose from the dead. His Name is JESUS
@notaround – Wonkie is just reporting on what’s actually happening. If it’s in bad taste, then it accurately depicts the bad taste currently being exhibited by Madiba’s family members.
Not sure whether the taste would be much better if they waited until after his death to squabble over his millions!
@ notaround – Oops; a Madiba fan!!! Well, so am I.
Almost every cartoon Wonkie puts out is, in someone’s eyes, bad taste. Just like Zapiro’s cartoons. What Wonkie is doing is being a provocateur of lively reaction and debate – with, hopefully, a load of humour thrown in for good measure.
So – get over it and join in.
Do Tempur actually make “death beds”? If so, what a way to die! It must feel almost like dying in the middle of an orgasm!
And is George Bizos their “mouthpiece”?
Thatcher, branded ANC as a gang of terrorists…..was against re-unification of Germany. My moral upbringing as an African child forbids me from celebrating the death of a fellow human-being, regardless is a witch or enemy.
@ a-maize-ingly-corny *smile*
I think it is sad that Madiba is now being treated like Deity in SA. What exactly did he do for the South Africans. SA is one of the countries with leading inequalities in the world and surely if Madiba had done half of what he is being given credit for SA would be a different place for the former marginalized people.
@ Lulu, without Madiba, we would have had a civil war here and a massacre. The reason the people has not got what they should have is the current leadership lining their pockets instead of passing it on where it should go to. Same old, same old, all over Africa.
May she rot in hell
Two brilliant people who changed the world. One gentle and kind, the other feisty and tough. And, like Winston Churchill, cometh the hour, cometh the man/iron lady. People hate her because she broke the union’s stranglehold on the British economy. She stopped the tail wagging the dog!!
Margaret Thatcher saved the UK millions by taming the unions and of course made numerous enemies. Madiba on the other hand although treated as a Saint did nothing constructive, where did his millions come from? I imagine some of it his cut when he signed the highly inflated arms deal among things. His family is only doing what would be expected of them. Just imagine the “free for all” once Madiba passes on.
Mr Tev, the ANC WAS a gang of terrorists. Ask any of the people hurt by landmines, bombs in restaurants (Magoo’s Bar), or apartment blocks (Pointon’s Building in Pretoria). My wife escaped that one by seconds!
Vusi, obviously you did not live through the Thatcher years. She did Britain, and I think, the whole world a tremendous service. Please keep you vicious, uninformed comments to yourself.
@ Vusi – a sentiment shared by millions of Britons – especially those of the coal mining occupation who thought they were God’s gift to the nation and without whom the whole economy would crumble. Their own rigidity against Thatcher’s caused Britain almost irreparable harm and certainly was a major contributor in their own working future’s demise. After all, nearly a year without coal and the power stations had to be kept running, so alternative sources of energy (which also turned out to be cheaper than the pay rise the miners stubbornly demanded without any indication that they might accept a lower offer) proved to be the turning point and the miners got nothing – nothing but closed mines and unemployment queues.
Yes – many in Britain HATE Margaret Thatcher for her dogged yet brutal press forward in her pursuit of what she conceived to be the best for Britain.
I met her when she was Minister of Education and didn’t like her then. I loathed some of her policies and her methods of pushing them BUT there were also good things she did for Britain (unlike the “poll-tax” which finally brought her down) but, sorry – call me old-fashioned – there is no reason to cheer for the death of someone who has been unable to harm others for over 20 years.
To my mind the British public have turned into a base mob – and it offends my senses to see how many of that mob are so young that they weren’t even born when Maggie ruled the roost.
Yes, her “legacy” is mixed (probably more bad than good) but so is Madiba’s (more good than bad) and I’m sure there will be VERY few happy South Africans when Madiba’s death is announced. This will truly be a nation in mourning – and to HELL with those squabbling over his financial legacy – children and lawyers alike!
@Tev, I don’t need to live in Britain, you’re right when you say she branded ANC as terrorist group because she was opposing them when they wanted Mzansi to be free.
Even those incidents you mentioned were nothing compared to what apartheid did to our freedom fighters, so also keep your opinion to yourself too.
During the apartheids era the ANC was a terrorist group – at least most of the world thought so. Like the lot in the country where a lot of our soldiers just died. A lot of the governments of today was seen as terrorist groups at some stage. That is the world. I am sure that the English would have called the boers in the Anglo Boer War terrorists. Actually they called the boers worse things than terrorists. The fact is that Thatcher for good or bad would not let a bunch of hooligans dictate to her. Something that we urgently need in our Government today. We need a strong leader who will tell all the mob that enough is enough and will not allow them to destroy this beautiful country just because things are not going their way. But what does the Zuma government do, they give in to the unions and prices goes up with every salary increase and the homeless poor jobless people only gets more.
The ding dong choirs in Britain bring to mind an Oscar Wilde quote: “The emotions of man are stirred more quickly than man’s intelligence.”
All these true/false comments do stir the emotions……with every salary increase and the homeless poor jobless people only gets more…?? please elaborate.
The heartless zuma ANC government is AGAIN, about to hand over multi millions of our taxpayers money to Robert Magabe. This, while his billions of dollars (stolen from his people) lie gathering interest in Swiss banks, and our South African poor sit in rotten shacks, no water, no sanitation. Mandela should be very disturbed, if he was compis mentis.
In the past 500 years there has only be a few that led people to the real truth and freedom. Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Knox, Andrew Murray and John Wesley, there were a few others as well. Those are the ones that spoke truth against evil rulers.
Mandela and Thatcher are heroes. Mandela brought apartheid to an end in South Africa and Thatcher was a strong leader in Britain although she was a woman. She earned herself the nickname Iron Lady.
…….”although” she was a woman. Wow!