Today marks the 20th anniversary of the release of Nelson Mandela from Victor Verster Prison (although now it's known as Groot Drakenstein Prison (which means "Big Dragon" something or other) - you know, name changes and all that). So in the last 20 years we've seen Nelson Mandela freed, the first democratic elections (4 years after that), 4 presidents (although one served more or less the same amount of time it takes for Jacob Zuma to find a new girlfriend), a broken Eskom, a twice bankrupted South African Airways and of course a president with the equivalent of a grade 8 education.

There is no doubt Nelson Mandela left enourmous shoes to fill, and quite honestly none of his successors have managed to fill even one (unless you count quick drying cement).

Thabo Mbeki was about as useful as a set of left hand golf clubs is to a right hand golfer with one arm. His "legacy" includes the fastest spreading HIV prevalence of any country - in the world - and an almost irreversible collapse in Zimbabwe as a result of his "quiet diplomacy".

When Thabo was recalled in a mammoth power struggle with Jacob Zuma, he was replaced by Kgalema Motlanthe. Motlanthe was barely in office long enough to sit down when he was booted out by Jacob Zuma following yet another resounding ANC election victory. And so the people's most popular machine-gun-song singing Zulu took to the office. So far he has actually been quite a quiet president, staying out of the spotlight for the most part - except when he is getting married yet again or adding to his out-of-wedlock litter or apologising for his promiscuous activities. Since political freedom 20 years ago, JZ has married twice (and there's another trot down the aisle on the way soon) and fathered 13 children (that we know about). He also had unprotected sex with an HIV positive woman and was accused of fraud (although the charges were conveniently dropped when he was elected president).

So as I look back to that walk Nelson Mandela took out of Big Dragonsomething prison 20 years ago (admittedly back then I had no idea what the fuss was all about though), I realise that Nelson Mandela helped put South Africa on a path to freedom. He created a legacy that even the most popular of world leaders cannot hope to touch. He inspired a broken nation of resentful factions to unite and build a country where all can walk, work and live together. He showed that humility, grace and patience was a virtue and that greed had no place in a functional democratic society. He helped shaped a nation for better in spite of worse. Too bad that all his successors have managed to do is screw that all up.