Following
the utterances of the daughter of Nelson Mandela, Makaziwe Mandela that “the
fact that my dad is a global icon does not mean that people cannot respect the
privacy and dignity of my dad. “There’s
sort of a racist element with many of the foreign media, where they just cross
boundaries. You have no idea what’s happening at the hospital … You can’t even
enter the hospital or you can’t even go out of the hospital because they are
making themselves such a nuisance. It’s like truly vultures waiting when the
lion has devoured the buffalo, waiting there for the last carcass. That’s the
image that we have as a family. And we don’t mind the interest, but I just
think it has gone overboard” – (South African Broadcasting Corporation),
I honestly think that the issue of privacy of
public figures must seriously be reconsidered.
As much as I
share in the frustrations that the Mandela family are going through, I humbly
suggest that such a media blast will not help resolve matters. Nelson Mandela is
not only an African asset but a global icon, so the whole world is now interested
in his health matters which originally should have been his private issue.
There is
a thin line between public figures and their private matters and therefore
appropriate notice should be taken. This comes against the backdrop that public
figures in one way or the other affect the society and for that matter
everything about them should be made public.
But I
think that the stakeholders involved (the public figures, their families and
the media) should always maintain sanity by setting the boundaries without
stepping on toes.
I WISH
MY AFRICAN HERO A SPEEDY RECOVERY.
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