10 top heroes (Part II)

Last week we — Sheikh Jean-Philippe LePoisson, SC (retired), Native Authority Mandela, Abiti Joyce Befu, MG 66, and I — promised to come back this week with a set of justifications and explanations as to why the people we listed there deserve to be called modern heroes. We have since received calls and SMS pleading with us to include some people that were not on that list. We already responded that that list was not exhaustive. Further, we have informed the concerned that people like Hastings Kamuzu Banda and John Chilembwe deserve no more praise because they have been praised enough already as though whatever they did for this federal republic, this peaceful but poorest country in the world, was done by them alone.
So, here are the brief profiles of the nominated heroes.

Juan Evo Morales: Believer in child labour as empowerment Juan Evo Morales is the president of Bolivia, in South America. A hardcore socialist and realist, President Morales has challenged the world of human rights theorists and policymakers to rethink the role of children in families, societies and in their own upbringing. He has argued that children are not half-people. They know their potential to contribute to social development. Morales argues that we cannot be talking about children as future leaders without making them understand the value of work, hard work and the need to earn a living while still young. This potential is denied or suppressed by international and national human rights charters and policies that prescribe things against children. As such, Bolivia is probably the only country in the world to legislate for paid employment for children between 14 and 18 years. Child labour is legal in Bolivia and it is a form of child empowerment.
President Morales would have been a very good accomplice of Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda, who also believed in making the most out of children and the youth through skills development and social projects like Youth Week. So, like him or not President Juan Evo Morales is in a class of his own.

George W Bush: Saviour of the HIV/Aids world Most people in the world would associate George Walker Bush, the 44th President of the USA, with wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Yes, he is hawkish and on the right side of most policies. He believes in America’s military might and he used it anytime he thought it was necessary. How he failed to get Osama bin Laden out of the Tora Bora mountain caves in Afghanistan, nobody really understands. Some people even argue that Bush and bin Laden were friends and that actually bin Laden received frequent warnings to run away whenever the American military neared him. If George W Bush were the president of the USA today, America would have already intervened militarily in the Syrian conflict.
However, for Africa and the developing world, George W Bush is a hero who set aside US$15 billion, through the President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (PEPFAR) to advance research on HIV and Aids and make ARVs affordable. Aids drugs became cheaper and today millions of Africans, Malawians included, are on HIV/Aids drugs and continue to live normal lives, principally because of George W Bush’s foresight and intervention. So, like him or hate him, George W Bush saved Africa from implosion and annihilation.

Frederik de Klerk: Breaker of stupid apartheid
Frederik Willem de Klerk was the last apartheid era president of South Africa. A Mikhail Gorbachev of Africa, Afrikaners accuse him of having betrayed them and the nationhood by releasing Nelson Mandela in 1990 and paving the way for full multiracial democratic elections to take place in South Africa from 1994. Although Nelson Mandela is more popular than de Klerk, it is de Klerk who actually dismantled apartheid and Mandela became one of the beneficiaries. Had de Klerk behaved like Benjamin Netanyahu (who does not believe in a Palestine state) and decided not to listen to worldwide appeals to end apartheid, South Africa would still be an apartheid, not xenophobia, country today with black people that country still living in Bantustans. Nelson Mandela would not have become president and would have died a prisoner.
In all likelihood, Namibia would not have gained its independence. In recognition of his efforts at racial reconciliation, de Klerk was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace jointly with Nelson Mandela in 1993. So, who are we not to agree that he is a modern hero.

Jacob Zuma: The realist African leaders loathe Jacob Zuma is the current president of South Africa and the ruling African National Congress. Unlike some politicians, President Jacob Zuma is not a diplomat because he is not good at hiding the truth. One day, he joked to the effect that Malawi’s roads are very bad. Many Malawians got angry. But are Malawi’s roads good? The truth pains.
In the aftermath of the xenophobia related mayhem in South Africa, Zuma (without necessarily supporting the sentiments of King Goodwill Zwelithini, which are said to have ignited the recent xenophobic attacks), asked a fundamental question to his fellow African leaders. Why are your people here if you have done anything worthwhile?
So, before we dismiss President Zuma as a villain, an anti-Pan-Africanist and a supporter of xenophobia, we need to do self-introspection. Why should our people migrate to South Africa only to wash nappies there? Where are the jobs for young people who have completed their skills and theory education? Why do we train people and expect them to be employed elsewhere? Why are civil service vacancies not filled in good time? Why have we failed to look after ourselves for over 50 years of peace and nationhood?