Mandela Foundation censures Trump over alleged disparaging remarks

A non-profit organization founded by former South African President Nelson Mandela has hit back at alleged remarks by US President Donald Trump that disparaged Black world leaders, including the late anti-apartheid icon.

The Washington Post reported at the weekend that Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal lawyer, alleged in a new book that the US president had described Mandela as a poor leader and said that South Africa deteriorated under his rule.

Cohen wrote in the 432-page book, due to be published this week, that Trump used expletives following Mandela’s death in 2013 and said, “Mandela f***ed the whole country up. Now it’s a s***hole. F*** Mandela. He was no leader.”

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The Nelson Mandela Foundation said in a statement on its website on Monday that, “We do not believe that leaders who conduct themselves in the way Mr. Trump does are in a position to offer authoritative commentary on the life and work” of Mandela.

Citing a quote by the former South African president on leadership, the foundation said, “A good leader can engage in a debate frankly and thoroughly, knowing that at the end he and the other side must be closer, and thus emerge stronger. You don’t have that idea when you are arrogant, superficial, and uninformed.”

“We would recommend these words to Mr. Trump for consideration,” the foundation added.

Mandela served as South Africa’s first Black president from 1994 to 1999. He was also the first elected head of state in a fully representative democratic election in the country. The anti-apartheid hero passed away in 2013.

Cohen also pointed in his book to Trump’s obsessive hatred of former US President Barack Obama, and claimed that the US president had once said while ranting about Obama, “Tell me one country run by a Black person that isn’t a s***hole. They are all complete f***ing toilets.”

Trump's former personal lawyer alleged that the US president was dismissive of minorities, and that the then-Republican nominee had said during his 2016 presidential campaign that he would not win the Hispanic vote.

Cohen, who was an intimate witness to Trump’s business dealings, has fallen out with the US president since pleading guilty in 2018 to financial fraud and lying to Congress. He is currently serving a three-year sentence.

Trump has called Cohen "a rat" and a liar, and the former presidential lawyer has said he faced repeated death threats from Trump supporters.

The Republican president is seeking re-election in a face-off with his Democratic rival, Joe Biden, at the polls on November 3.

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The election comes as the United States is gripped by months-long demonstrations condemning police violence and racial injustice against people of color.

The rallies were triggered by the brutal murder of unarmed African-American George Floyd in police custody on May 25 in Minneapolis, where he was pinned to the ground by a white officer for nine minutes and choked to death.

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