Zelda la Grange, South African author, motivational speaker and former executive secretary to late former President Nelson Mandela, shares more in her latest book.
“Madiba showed us that you can’t leave everything to someone else. You have to start with yourself. That’s how change happens,” Zelda la Grange tells FORBES AFRICA, referring to the South African apartheid activist and leader Nelson Mandela, before the launch of her new book in October.
With warm sunlight shining through the large glass windows at the Holiday Inn in Rosebank, a trendy suburb in South Africa’s Gauteng province, an equally illuminating conversation is happening within its walls.
“It’s a growth process, and this is my journey of growth,” la Grange adds, speaking of What Nelson Mandela Taught Me, Timeless Lessons on Leadership and Life.
“I want people just to be hopeful again, because if you speak to the poorest of the poor, you know they have the same hopes. They want to have a good education for their children. They want safety. They want running water. They want electricity. They want a job. They want dignity. Everyone wants that in life so the frustration is real, but I want people to think of Madiba… How do you remain hopeful? He did, and I hope that inspires people to be reminded.”
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In the book, la Grange presents a collection of lessons that she believes will encourage readers, including Every drop counts, More than one version of the truth, Looking at life from all angles and Our contradictions make us human.
However, la Grange, who wrote her first book, Good Morning, Mr Mandela in 2014, says that while the difficult conversations in our society have to happen, the lesson she has enjoyed sharing the most is on respect, compassion and empathy for others.
“When Hansie Cronje admitted to match fixing, he was canceled. It wasn’t known as ‘cancel culture’ [in] those days. But about six months later, Madiba announced that he wanted to go and see Hansie, and he had tea with him, and he said to him, ‘you’ve made a big mistake, and now you have to man up, because charges will be brought against you, you’ll have to face it. There’s nothing anyone can do about that, you know, it’s a process you have to go through.’ But then he reassured him of his love for him as a human being, despite his mistakes.
“We are so quick, because of social media, to judge people today based on whatever they say on one platform, whatever happens, people make mistakes. We are all very complex human beings. For me, that is something that stands out, and something that I definitely would want people to hold on to – let’s deal with each other with compassion, because no one is going to learn unless we do so in a compassionate and kind way.”
La Grange, who, currently, also does charitable projects and speaking engagements, where she shares Madiba’s love for South Africa with tourists and those who want to know more about the country’s history, hasn’t ruled out another book, adding, “Who knows? I also think there’s a book about ordinary people talking about their experiences with Nelson Mandela. That’s something that I’ve been toying with…maybe collecting all those stories.”
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