14 Aug 2018

South Africa’s chief justice has called on the African continent and other developing nations to live by Nelson Mandela’s ideals of social justice, non-segregation and equal opportunities as well as peaceful coexistence. 

Giving a public lecture on Nelson Mandela Centenary hosted by the South African embassy in Botswana at UB Conference Centre last Friday, Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng said Africa was living an obscure life as leaders continued to divide their people while at the same time looted from them and subjected people to servitude life. 

Justice Mogoeng noted that it was concerning that though Africa was endowed with many natural resources which could be generously used to sustain the lives of people as rightly advocated by both Mandela and Ms Albertina Sisulu in their various writings and visions, the opposite was true because people continued to wallow in abject poverty while leaders lived lavish lives. 

On another issue, Justice Mogoeng blamed some cultural practices for many brutalities meted out on women by their male counterparts in the name of male supremacy. 

He regretted that African countries continued to register untold upsurge of Gender Based Violence (GBV) cases which among others included gruesome killing of females by their lovers as well as raping toddlers sometimes on the foolish and uniformed belief that the perpetrator would be cured from HIV/AIDS and other ailments. 

Justice Mogoeng noted that unless African leaders and those holding high positions of influence in both public and corporate sector came to their senses, the situation which millions of dejected people lived under would not change for the better.

He however blamed the masses for electing “dictators and useless people” some of whom did not even have the prerequisite or knowhow of public office. 

Justice Mogoeng attributed some of the sufferings to lack of political will and determination to end them as instead leaders chose to line their pockets with public money and make some undercut contracts with their non-reputable international companies. 

Meanwhile the chief justice decried the practice where exceptionally excelling females were denied high posts in both the public and corporate sector.

He said positions of female chief executive officers even in South Africa were rare noting that even at Johannesburg Stock Exchange the high echelon was made  up of men with an exception of one white lady. 

As a solution, he suggested that there be a national dialogue on addressing all the negatives adding that the results would drive the countries to prosperity and equality which Mandela always advocated for and was prepared to die for. ENDS