Editor,

In your editorial, "Today’s world demands we uphold values Nelson Mandela stood for” (December 9), you wrote:

"It has been said that the world was unlikely to see people like Nelson Mandela again. The former South African leader, who passed on last Thursday, was revered around the world not just for his selfless, peaceful campaign against apartheid and how he managed its aftermath, but also for his humility in his public life before and after he famously rose to the presidency in 1994.”

That’s very true. Mandela was a great man who charted a democratic path for his country and people. He was a selfless leader and indeed a hero.

After his release from an apartheid prison (after 27 years), he chose not to retaliate. He knew it was not the ordinary white population who were responsible for apartheid. It’s a sick system created by greedy politicians who were happy to dehumanise fellow countrymen, the black people.

These are qualities that other African leaders should be learning from. Unfortunately, most have not. Many have chosen the path of autocracy. They oppress and kill their own people, instead of delivering them to true democracy and prosperity.

In other words, many of our leaders on the continent have disappointed Madiba (Mandela’s clan name). He wished to live to see the whole of Africa flourish on democracy and human rights, but it’s not the case in many places.

Like The New Times said in its editorial, we surely need to uphold the values that Nelson Mandela stood for. Of course, it’s ironical that the black people are always referred to as undemocratic and oppressors, yet it was the white minority who were the oppressors during apartheid South Africa. Not to mention what the whites did during the slave trade era, etc.

Even then, African leaders need to learn from Mandela for the good of their people. They should not be impoverishing the ones they are supposed to lead.

We wouldn’t do that if we really knew who Nelson Mandela was.

Mutara Intore, Kigali