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Last month, at a conference on African inequalities co-hosted by our school and the London School of Economics, the first issue of audience came from a young wife. Why, she asked, has the doctoral school been relaunched under the name of Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance, while Mandela's legacy of appeasement, says Does it root many economic structures of apartheid? Many students and young people struggle to reconcile the current need for significant transformation with Mandela's first steps towards his possibility.
This requirement for a more critical view of his heritage worries some who intend to preserve Madiba's mythology, or those who are focused solely on his remarkable personal and moral qualities. Young people are too radical, too eager to break up instead of consolidating, arguments are going.
But I believe that there is a healthy debate about his legacy. And it is only by taking a fresh look that we will be able to extract what is valuable and that young people will be able to take advantage of what he has accomplished best.
Mandela's greatest legacy is much larger than the merits – or not. his political decisions, which were limited by the circumstances of his time. His central legacy was the example of a bold leadership, dedicated, but ethical and responsible. Mandela's leadership is a beacon for our time, everywhere in Africa.
Increasingly, young people across the continent are meeting Mandela's challenge. Some already run powerful civic and political organizations and campaigns. For example, Sampson Itodo successfully ran a campaign for young Nigerians seeking political office. He is one of many innovative and effective young Africans
Youth activism is essential in this challenging era, where Africa is both the youngest and poorest continent .
would have been delighted by: a living memorial, made by young, politically engaged, pushing the imagination of what our continent can and should look like.
Reasons for Optimism
Itodo is Executive Director of YIAGA, an advocacy group that encourages youth to engage in governance. He also convened the not-too-young-to-run movement, which has spent years asking the Nigerian government to change the constitutional constraints on the age limits of those who come forward.
I met Sampson in 2016 when he was attending school. African Leaders Program – one of many programs offered to emerging African leaders, from mid-career officials to high-level experts. Known as the Graduate School of Development Policy and Practice, our work has always been inspired by the urgent call that Mandela made to the University of Cape Town in 1990 to [transform] learning centers in relevant institutions for the future of the country and the continent.
Sampson was one of 30 participants in the program this year, from 10 African countries. Among them, a transitional justice coordinator from Uganda, a South African human rights lawyer, a Kenyan food security activist and a Zimbabwean director of the public health program who are dedicated to eliminating malaria. Despite their geographical and professional differences, they were all pbadionate about creating and sustaining significant change – in their own countries and across the continent.
Investing in Young Leaders creates the kind of legacy I believe Mandela himself would have memorialized, achieved by politically engaged young people who are pushing the imagination of what our continent can and should look like .
For Sampson, as for so many young people on the continent, the legacy of Mandela's belief in the power of youth activism is alive and well
Actions speak louder than words
Mandela knew that actions spoke louder than words. This is evident from the fact that he was remarkably indifferent to the preservation of the heroic cult built around him. He left explicit instructions, regularly ignored, that he should not be treated as a demi-god and that no statue or monolithic structure should be erected in his memory.
On May 31 of this year, the Sampson bill was pbaded Senate and House of Representatives. President Muhammadu Buhari signed it. Any 35-year-old Nigerian can now stand for the presidency, and from age 25 for the House or the State Assembly.
Although he led the process, Sampson did not accomplish this remarkable feat alone. He did so over the course of two years of concerted strategic mobilization of young people who were concerned about representation and who wanted to have a voice in a political system that they felt they had missed.
For Sampson, as for many young people on the continent, the legacy of Mandela's belief in the power of youth activism is alive and well.
Alan Hirsch, Professor and Director of the Nelson Mandela School of Public Governance, University of Cape Town
This article was published in l & # 39, originally from The Conversation. Read the original article. It has been edited for HuffPost.
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