anyone watching this must, primarily, focus on the fact that this is a political commentator who has agreed to chaperone CNN during this broadcast; and it is clear that these views are his own. Who knows whether Mandela sang this song around his dinner table with his family? He did, and that is my opinion. Secondly, the interpretation of these lyrics when sang by Mandela is "we have taken pain and suffering which was transformed into a hate - precipitated from the struggle, and we have built a country with reconciliation". There are examples of countries that have emerged without reconciliation or violence in africa, and maybe Tata focused on that too much. But this song is a totem to his accomplishments; so Jacob Zuma has done well. I, for one, am not too sure whether non-africans can understand the role of song-play in african cultures and the intuition therein conveyed, so let me try: this song could have been sung in another tone and the commentator points out that it was sung amongst gospels and at religious gatherings. the event of a religious gatherings, it must be noted, is closely associated with salvation of the individual and collective soul. maybe it would be possible for viewers to transport themselves into the mind of the funeral attendees, and sympathise with South Africans about who has been lost. We say things at funerals that should not be said but we say them anyway, as africans, and this is testament to what happened this day - we buried a man, not an idea. long live, tata madiba, long live.
as always, all annotation implied.
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