Leadership, forgiveness and accountability were the lessons stressed Wednesday night in a presentation about South Africa.

Craig Wilkerson, a white South African, and Abner Mariri, a Zulu, spoke to about 26 students and faculty members at 7 p.m. in Norris University Center about racial struggles in their home country.

Wilkerson and Mariri run a company called Empowa that helps South African businesses with diversity training to alleviate racial tensions in the recently democratized country.

They spoke to students about a South Africa – once torn by apartheid and racial discrimination – that today is struggling to overcome racism and inequality.

“South Africa has taken five steps forward, but almost 10 steps backward,” Mariri said.

Wilkerson and Mariri grew up in a South Africa that was divided by strict laws of racial segregation.

In 1990 their country experienced what Wilkerson called a “political miracle.” Nelson Mandela, leader of the African National Congress and the movement to end apartheid, was released from prison that year, unfolding a series of events that culminated in the country’s first free election in 1994.

In Mandela, Empowa found its message and its hero.

“You should have been there,” Mariri said of the 1994 election day, describing grandmothers who risked and, in some cases, gave their lives to vote for Mandela in the free election.

“They had seen the light at the end of the tunnel, and it was not an oncoming train,” he said.

Today South Africa is progressing, but it remains shackled to a tradition of intolerance and prejudice, Mariri said.

“There are pockets of growth … but there is generally still a lot of racism,” Wilkerson said.

Education and economics are issues of great concern in 21st-century South Africa, he said, and imbalance in these areas is creating obstacles in the path of progress.

After the presentation students spoke excitedly about studying abroad in South Africa to learn more about the cause of the racial equality.

“The experiences they shared made me just go, ‘Wow,'” said Shalonda Scott, a Speech freshman. “I learned a lot.”

As to the future of South Africa, Wilkerson and Mariri say they are optimistic.

“There is something in the air that says this country is destined for greatness,” Mariri said. “Africa will have its place in the sun.”

The Black History Month program was co-sponsored by African-American Student Affairs, African-American studies, Blackboard and the Multicultural Center.

Although designed as a multimedia presentation, the event took the form of a discussion because of equipment difficulties.