Mandela's policies still in place: Ahmed Kathrada

Although South Africans miss Nelson Mandela, the policies laid down by him for the first democratic government in the country in 1994 are still firmly in place, his long-time friend and Indian-origin anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Kathrada said here today.
Kathrada spoke to media after casting his vote in the elections which will usher in a fifth democratic-elected government since Mandela became President after 27 years as a political prisoner.
Kathrada served just two years less than Mandela after they were both convicted in the infamous Rivonia Treason trial in 1963.
"We miss him, not only today, but all the time," Kathrada said.

"But, he was a human being and the time comes when human beings are no longer with us," Kathrada said after voting at the University of Witwatersrand campus in Johannesburg, where he was mobbed by adoring students.
Mandela died in December last year after a long illness.

Patiently posing with the students who vied for selfies with him, Kathrada told them how important it was for the young generation to vote.
"They must exercise their vote. Many people sacrificed their lives to be able to vote and particularly we appeal to the young people because it is their future," he said.

There has been concern about apathy amongst the newest generation, called the Born Frees, because they were the first to be born in an apartheid-free South Africa.
"The policy that (Mandela) was wedded to is firmly in place. Although we miss him, we know President Zuma, and his fellow executive members are carrying out the policy that is laid down by the ANC, the same policy that Madiba and (former) president Mbeki carried out," Kathrada said.
Kathrada became a Member of Parliament in Mandela's government, but now occupies himself mainly with promoting democracy and non-racialism through a Foundation in his name, which is based in the mainly Indian residential suburb of Lenasia, south of Johannesburg.