Nelson Mandela: “Leave me alone”

Nelson Mandela decided to retire from public life.
”Don’t call me, I’ll call myself “, he said at the meeting with businessmen in Johannesburg.

In July the first President of free South Africa will turn 86. He withdrew from politics in 1999 after his resigning from the post of the first President of South Africa liberated from the apartheid regime. However, Mr. Mandela has always been active in public life. He raised millions of dollars for the three charity organizations to build hospitals and schools in the remote areas of South Africa. Mr. Mandela donated money to fighting AIDS and was an intermediary in the civil war in Burundi.

In November 2003 he organized pop-concert in Cape Town to raise more money for fighting AIDS. 

Nelson Mandela did his best to make South Africa the host of the world soccer championship in 2010. 

Mr. Mandela probably became tired from his big publicity. When he told his assistant several months ago that he wanted to resign, the assistant objected, “You have resigned already”. “Now I want to resign from my resignation”, said Nelson Mandela with a smile.

He does not intend to go into hiding, but wants to have freedom to choose the public events to participate in, and not to answer the calls and invitations.

Mr. Mandela was fighting against apartheid all his life and spent 27 years in prison. “I have no health problems”, he said to reporters.

”I am sure nobody will say that I am an egotist for my desire to spend more time with my family, friends and myself”, said Mr. Mandela.
His friends and colleagues who call him Madiba, think that Mr. Mandela will not be able to stay at home long. He is likely to  go on with his public life, and nobody will stop him from this.

Nelson Mandela says that he is going to write memoirs about his years of Presidency. This will be the second volume of his autobiography “Long Way to Freedom”.

South African politicians believe that Nelson Mandela deserves a rest. But his retirement from public life will end the entire era connected with his name.

All the charity foundations he established, will continue their operations. There were many rich people donating money to the foundations, at the press-conference where Nelson Mandela announced his intention to resign. In the end, they gave Mr. Mandela a 5-minute standing ovation. “Thank you, it is very pleasant when so many millionaires applaud to you”, he said.

Sergey Borisov