Booing on the World Stage

Maybe there is hope for us, just maybe. I tend not to get political in my blog posts but today is a special day in the history of the world as South Africa took centre stage.

Today the very earth shed tears as the Nelson Mandela's Memorial was held at the Calabash and 91 heads of state turned up to show respect. And there was I stuck at work looking through the lens of the media as history was made. Obama's speech along with Tutu's Benediction was the best of the day but there was some interesting observations. Such as Obama getting stuck in Johannesburg's traffic; the late arrival of many of the foreign dignitaries; a fake sign language interpreter; Obama and Castro shaking hands; Ramaphosa stopping the Indian Prime Minister mid speech to chastise groups in the crowd; the snub from Israel; the Dali Lama not making it but from China only the Vice President could come; cheering for Ban Ki-moon and Thabo Mbeki; and best of all the booing of our President Jacob Zuma.

The rain in Africa is a blessing but today it kept many away from the stadium which turned out to be the ANC's attempt to honour their beloved statesman but somehow forgot us South Africans. From what I could see, the crowd wanted to celebrate the memory of Madeba with dance and singing, rain or no rain. And worse of all no children where to be seen. Didn't Madeba go out his way for the children?

And in all this, the heckling of Zuma, brings it all back to earth that maybe there is hope for us, just maybe. We must remember that this was a political event and we all have to say goodbye to Madeba in our own way as we listen for that pin to drop.