Who will be our heroes?

In his public explanation for firing his progressive AIDS realist Deputy Health Minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge back in 2007, former South African President Thabo Mbeki asked the question “Who will be our heroes and heroines?” President Mbeki raised this important question, noting that every culture defines its own heroes. He was making the point that Deputy Minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge was being held up as a heroine in the international community and South Africa should question whether outsiders should define their heroes. He stated in the African National Congress News letter, “Is it the case that to win the approval of the loudest voices in the world of the contemporary global communication system we must behave in a manner that is consistent with their stereotypes? Who will determine who our heroes and heroines will be?”