“Respect a person’s time. That is the ultimate show of respect for a human being.” Zelda la Grange, the right hand of retired President Nelson Mandela for 18 years, shared some of his principles with an audience at the UFS Business School.

Zelda was Mr Mandela’s private secretary and became his private assistant on his retirement. At a lunch-time lecture she has shared her life with the global icon and believes his principles are also good business ethics.

Some of the principles are:

• The better thing to do is the right thing to do.
• If you are late, you are disrespecting other people. ‘What makes your time more precious than mine?’
• The way you approach people determines the way they will treat you.

She said Mr Mandela was like a grandfather to her. “He can probably do without me, but I cannot do without him.”