The Mandela cult My fellow Oz blogger Paul Wright is a braver man than me. He has a post aptly titled This will get me in trouble which pours cold water on Nelson Mandela's bona fides as elder statesman. While I would dispute his characterisation of an apartheid state as one possessing 'rule of law' (perhaps because as a Hayekian I tend to read more into the idea than what it seems to literally imply) I do agree with at least this part of his assessment:

It’s an awkward question to ask but can someone tell me why Nelson Mandela gets such a good press? It’s rare to see him referred to as anything but “statesman”, often with the “elder” tossed in. But seriously, what has he done to rank him as someone qualified to comment on world affairs? The world press waits one every word he speaks, like he is actually acquainted with the problem. Meantime his own people are dying like flies, due in no small part to the bizarre scientific beliefs of his hand-picked successor, Tabo Mbeki. Mandela refuses to condemn the policies, an attitude we would be unlikely to accept from our own politicians. The ANC remains close ties How does spending umpteen years in jail in South Africa, then five years of a medium-sized African nation, promote you to World Leader?