A Day With President Mandela
A Weekly Mail Television production
SBS, Friday, May 10, 8.30pm (8 in SA)
Previewed by Norm Dixon
The reactions of some on the left to criticism of Nelson Mandela and his government is not unlike the response when you fart in church. Few question that these noises must be made sometime, but is now really the time or place?
A recent editorial in the South Africa's respected liberal newspaper the Weekly Mail, whose television arm also produced this engaging documentary, highlights the dilemma faced by those attempting honestly to examine the record of South Africa's first democratic government. Defending itself against charges by the ANC Youth League that it was "insulting the president" by revealing the background to the recent sacking of Pallo Jordan, the newspaper wrote:
"We are passionate admirers of the president. His has been the most significant individual contribution to the liberation of South Africa and its present stability ... Our respect for Mandela is such that, at times, we find it difficult to avoid being swept away by the tide of national and international adulation. It takes an act of will to remind ourselves of the dangers of personality cults and of the tendency of political parties which enjoy the certainty of power — even if it derives from the ballot box — to silence criticism."
Timed to coincide with the second anniversary of the inauguration of Mandela as president, A Day With President Mandela is hardly a critical portrait, nor does it offer any deep insights into the workings of the ANC government. What it reveals, however, is some of the reasons it is difficult to criticise him.
Quite simply, Mandela is a nice bloke, almost a saint. Four camera crews followed Mandela around throughout a rather mundane 19-hour working day. The film makers assure us that none of it was scripted or prepared. They just "hung out" with the prez. What you see is what you get.
Mandela, 76 years old when the film was made, works very hard. An average day has him being briefed on government business by ministers, giving interviews, trying to locate deputy presidents, visiting several cities and autographing baseballs.
He is charming and devoid of arrogance or haughtiness. He enjoys the company of his staff in the office and at home, radiating genuine warmth and friendliness, which they reciprocate. Anybody in Mandela's presence, whether hardened apartheid-era soldiers, newspaper editors or the woman who brings him his tea, seems instantly reduced to grins and giggles.
But Mandela is also shown to be committed to working within, and compromising with, the institutions and limitations of a state that was shaped by apartheid privilege and which serves the needs of South African capital. While Mandela works hard, the environment he works in is totally alien to the lives and needs of the South African people.
No matter how hard working, charming, courageous and principled Mandela is, the simple fact is that as long as the president or his colleagues remain unprepared to go beyond the bounds of capitalism, things will not fundamentally change for the majority of South Africa's people. Excuse me.