I don't know a good deal about the man. Generally, I would consider him to be irrelevant and don't have any special feelings for him either way. Not just in the sense that I am indifferent to him but also that the present circumstances in South Africa would suggest that his role as a moral leader was considerably minor. It's highly questionable why he should be especially celebrated over others, many who are currently imprisoned. It's been a year since 43 miners were killed by police at Marikana, with several of them blatantly executed, and that should be of greater concern than whatever Mandela did or said. But that's just one incident. Ultimately I find it hard to believe that Mandela's moral import is anything more than a Lenin type of luster that just misdirects people's attention from reality. His larger than life story is reliable ground for people who will gravitate to that sort of thing anyway. Unfortunately, he is also a figure who can conveniently be made into a sedate caricature of "humanity" much like Martin Luther King, Jr.
