After years of building brands, I’ve seen how easily great brands lose their way. Twenty-seven years ago South Africa was the darling of the world. Millions of people tasted post-Apartheid prosperity as the Black middle class doubled. Diplomats from around the world lined up to make friends with s. Scores of international scholars studied the South African miracle with the hope of bottling and selling it as the new model for conflict resolution.

But nothing will set you up for failure more than your successes, and so as a nation we slipped. You could be the smartest person in the world, but if your country is a failure, you’ll fail. Just because you don not take an interest in politics it doesn’t mean that politics won’t take an interest in you, the ancient Greek statesman, Pericles warned us.

It’s now your turn to help create a free, healthy and wealthy nation where the human spirit can explore all its God given talents. Why should you be shackled to the frozen shadows of history that you can’t change when you can bask in the glory of the future that you can create?

This is a mini-manual for the new heroes and heroines that South Africa needs.

Muzi Kuzwayo