I say to all those leaders, do not look the other way. Do not hesitate... It is within your power to avoid a genocide of humanity.

The suffering inflicted, and more often than not on the most vulnerable sectors of society, demeans all of us as humanity. That it is invariably women, children, the aged and disabled who suffer in these conflicts stands to the added shame of humankind.

It is also the fate of leadership to be misunderstood. For historians, academics, writers and journalists to reflect great lives according to their own subjective canon.

During the years I lived here, the people of Alexandra ignored tribal and ethnic distinctions. Instead of being Xhosas, or Sothos, or Zulus, or Shangaans, we were Alexandrans. We were one people, and we undermined the distinctions that the apartheid government tried so hard to impose. It saddens and angers me to see the rising hatred of foreigners.

Let us remind ourselves that it is ordinary people - men and women, boys and girls - that make the world a special place

The habit of attending to small things and of appreciating small courtesies is one of the important marks of a good person.

There are few misfortunes in this world that you cannot turn into a personal trimuph if you have the iron will and the neccessary skill.