There is just something magical about Barack Obama. Apart from his peerless eloquence, simplicity and razor-sharp mind, his magnetic nature draws people to him.

There is just something magical about Barack Obama. Apart from his peerless eloquence, simplicity and razor-sharp mind, his magnetic nature draws people to him.

For almost two years, he has been addressing a variety of audiences across the US and irrespective of their colour, class or age, he has inspired them. Very few leaders in history have had such a profound impact, which transcends every boundary. He is indeed a phenomenal human being.

He has become a source of pride for millions of downtrodden blacks across the world and has smashed the perception of voter apathy in certain sections of American society. Whether you are black, white, rich, poor, capitalist or socialist, you cannot deny that this moment belongs to Obama.

Many of our own leaders can draw valuable leadership lessons from him. Under the Bushes, the world became a more violent and unsafe place.

We do not really know whether Obama will be a different breed of Democrat, whose presidency will indeed be characterised by his noble vision of change, which he so seductively articulates.

But he does come across as a decent human being, with a good heart. I pray to the heavens that the iniquitous neo-conservatives who control America's covert institutions do not do to him what they did to Martin Luther King and Malcolm X.

Obama is one of us and if anything were to happen to him, it will hurt us very deeply.

Veli Mbele, Tshwane