The Character of a Champion: Nelson Mandela at 93
Pan African Commentary From the Sixth Region Diaspora Caucus (SRDC)
By David L. Horne, Ph.D
On July 18, 2011 of this week, Mr. Nelson Mandela—Madiba—will have arrived at 93 years young. Such would not have been predicted when he was sentenced to life imprisonment in South Africa in June, 1964.
As one of the 13 major national holidays, and the only one dedicated to a Black South African, the Republic of South Africa will celebrate the continuing life and legacy of this great man all this week. It was he who came out of Robben Island and Victor Verster Prisons in February, 1990, after 27 years of incarceration with the wisdom, fortitude and non-bitterness necessary to become the chief reconciler and conscience of a new South Africa. Confounding virtually everyone, he demonstrated a strength of character and courage unheard of in political leadership to that time. He had to overcome and transcend the negativity of long years of entitled white privilege from the Afrikaners and the British, the continuing intra-ethnic rivalries (remember Gatsha Buthelezi and the Zulu Inkatha antagonists), and the strong need for revenge and retribution among indigenous South Africans for the abuses of apartheid and institutional racism in the country.
He was often the only one in the room who knew where he was leading the country. As Martin Luther King had to do in the USA, he marched to a recognizable cultural rhythm with a distinctly different beat. In the end, again as with Dr. King, character and focused vision prevailed.
Now he lives as the heart and soul of where South Africa is going, not just where it’s been. Clearly, he did not negotiate the perfect solution to South Africa’s very deep troubles, but he certainly led in crafting a pragmatic, practical approach forward that would allow time, increasing sophistication and skill, and greater opportunities for education and advancement to kick in and drive South Africa to ground higher than even most citizens expected.
Institutional racism and entrenched white privilege are yet alive in South Africa seventeen plus years after the new one man-one vote national constitution was adopted. Whites still own over 70% of the land, over 85% of the resources, still dominate in educational leadership, and too many Black South Africans remain poor, ill-housed and depressed. But apartheid, which was merely formalized in 1948 but which had been government policy and practice since the end of the first Anglo-Boer War in 1880, had not been erected in a day, a fortnight or two decades. Its eradication would also take some time.
Somebody had to stand up and consistently advocate patience, a subduing of passions for pay back, and clear thought in order for South Africa to save itself. As the saying goes—‘you cannot overcome if you are no longer here.’ With the help of many, Nelson Mandela saved South Africa.
In so doing, he earned worldwide acclaim and recognition. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993, and has collected over 250 other prestigious awards since. He has highways, streets, boulevards and avenues named after him. There are Nelson Mandela universities, villages, libraries and public schools. There are memorial lectures and international conferences in his honor, and naval ships and satellites named after him, as well as books, plays, stamps and other celebrations of his achievements.
Mandela Day was introduced as a new South African public holiday in current president Jacob Zuma’s inaugural State of the Nation address in June, 2009. In announcing it, Mr. Zuma said, "Mandela Day will be celebrated on the 18th of July each year. It will give people in South Africa and all over the world the opportunity to do something good to help others… Madiba was politically active for 67 years, and on Mandela Day people all over the world, in the workplace, at home and in schools, will be called upon to spend at least 67 minutes of their time doing something useful within their communities, especially among the less fortunate.”
At 93 years young, Mr. Mandela, South Africa’s first full-franchise democratically elected president, 1994-1999, is a bona fide hero. He could easily rest on his laurels, give occasional interviews in his trademark hand-painted Madiba shirts, and counsel the young.
Instead, he continues his activist tradition, regularly condemning international and national actions that he deems to be dishonest, immoral or just wrong-headed. Such was his major criticism of the Kosovo bombing under former President Clinton, and he railed consistently against the George Bush invasion of Iraq and other chicaneries.
Currently, he is adamantly opposed to President Obama’s bombing of Libya. He is a great admirer of Mr. Obama, but thinks that project is a major catastrophe for all concerned and should be terminated immediately. When she visited him in June of this year, Mr. Mandela reportedly told the president’s wife, FLOTUS Michelle Obama, to deliver that message to her husband and to do so with conviction. Mr. Mandela remains unafraid of taking the high road of integrity and sincerity, even when that means condemning his own ANC party, or some of his former Umkhonto we Sizwe (ANC armed wing, Spear of the Nation) colleagues like former South African president, Thabo Mbeki. He was reportedly incensed with South Africa’s vote in March, 2011, as part of the U.N. Security Council’s approval of the ‘no fly zone’ assault on Libya’s Moammar Qaddhafi and remains upset over it.
SRDC shares Madiba’s sentiment: the Libyan bombing campaign should stop immediately.
Mr. Mandela, Happy Birthday to Ya !! You remain a profile in courage and character we can all emulate and of which we can be proud. We salute you. For our own sakes, may there be many more like you among your far-flung Pan African progeny.
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