Nelson Mandela: Dignity and the Duty to Inform

It is not news that we become frail, as we get older. Permit the pun. But Nelson Mandela isn’t any ordinary old person. He is Mandela. One of the few people famous enough – for the right reasons I should add – to be known by their mononym. It is therefore news that he is ill, but do we really need a timeline of his illness? The role of the media is vital at any time, especially during delicate situations, such as reporting the illness of a public personality. And in such situations, journalists are torn between professional demands and maintaining a person’s right to dignity and privacy. If any lessons were learnt from the coverage of Princess Diana’s death, a wise journalist would know that the latter should take precedence over the former. The lines between public and private may not always be clear but a person’s right to dignity and privacy in times of illness should usurp any public interest or selfish interest to be first to break the news.

Mandela is public property. But for a man who, for the sake of racial equality, suffered the indignity of being Robben Island Prison’s most famous occupant, he appears to be treated with so much indignity in his ill state. The nature of the media and ‘its beast’; the equally derided and celebrated 24-hour news has meant little or no privacy for this nearly saintly man. Speaking to the South African public broadcaster SABC, Makaziwe; Mandela’s daughter expressed frustration at the ‘crass’ intrusion of privacy by the foreign media. She likened the situation to “vultures waiting when a lion has devoured a buffalo, waiting for the last carcasses.” Despite acknowledging that his situation doesn’t “look good”, through small gestures such as the flicker of the eye lids, she expresses hope that the bravest of fighters hasn’t given up on life. Mandela and his family deserve dignity, privacy and respect.

Australian resources minister, Gary Gray, incorrectly announced that Mandela was dead although he later apologized for the misinformation. But worse are the carelessly morbid speculations about his death on numerous social networks and the suggestive articles on news websites forecasting his demise. Such is the vulturous nature of the beast that has led to articles on the BBC, no less with titles such as “Nelson Mandela’s life and times”. Type in “Mandela” into Google’s search engine, you will find two of the top five search terms are “Mandela dies” and “Mandela death”. He is not dead yet. And for millions in the Rainbow nation and around the world, we hope not any time soon. But when his time comes to face the inevitable, I hope it is with as much dignity, charisma and bravery as were his days fighting apartheid in South Africa.

“Don’t call me, I will call you”. The Elder Statesman famously warned on retiring from public life aged 85 in 2004. The media and the self-appointed grim reapers should take heed. Mandela whose youthful years were spent fighting with dignity should not expend his latter years fighting for dignity. As a Yoruba proverb loosely translates, “One does not fight to save another person’s head only to have a kite carry one’s own away.” Let’s give his family the space to look after him outside of the ever-prying lenses. Get well soon Isithwalandwe Madiba. The bravest of the people’s warriors, “who wears the plumes of the rare bird.” I pray God gives you the grace to bounce back.