10th December, 2013
By Tayo Ogunbiyi
“Our nation has lost its greatest son.” With these words, South African President, Jacob Zuma, announced the exit of celebrated African son, Nelson Mandela, on the night of Thursday, December 2013, at age 95. Loved and admired across the world for different reasons, Mandela was a global iconic figure. The Cable News Network, CNN, described him as the man who changed our world while President Barak Obama described him as the ‘man who belongs to all ages.’ ”Today he’s gone home, and we’ve lost one of the most influential, courageous and profoundly good human beings that any of us will share time with on this earth,” Obama said while paying tribute to the departed icon. Talk of a man who is widely respected, loved and idolized the world over, Nelson Mandela is it! He was so loved by his people that they wanted him to live forever. Even when it was obvious that his exit from the world of the mortals was imminent, they did all within human limit to keep him going. But all that is now history as Nelson Mandela, the mutinous African legendary freedom fighter is finally free from the troubles and worries of this mortal world.
Born Rolihlahla Mandela on July 18, 1918, in a remote village in South Africa, Mandela got his name Nelson from a teacher at a British colonial boarding school. Mandela lived and died for freedom. In the closing of his treason and sabotage trial in June 1964, during which he served as his own defence counsel, Mandela reiterated his stand on his ideas of democracy, freedom and equality. In the closing of his four-hour speech at the trial, he said: “I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”
In 1964, Mandela and eight other ANC leaders and members of the Umkhonto we Sizwe were sentenced to life in prison. For 18 years, Mandela was held on Robben Island before being transferred to Pollsmoor Prison on the mainland in 1982. Mandela recounted his prison experiences in “Long Walk to Freedom,” from the early wake-up calls to the food, which the authorities touted as a balanced diet. “It was indeed balanced between the unpalatable and the inedible,” he wrote. The meals consisted mostly of corn porridge with an occasional vegetable added and sometimes meat, which was mainly gristle, he recalled. For breakfast, the inmates received what was called coffee but was really ground up maize or corn, baked until black, and brewed with hot water. In all, Mandela spent 27 years in jail, only to regain his freedom in 1990 at age 71.
Undoubtedly, Mandela defined the history of his country and, indeed, that of Africa. Upon his release from prison in 1990, he entered into negotiation with South Africa’s ruling white elite for a period of four years before apartheid was finally dealt a final crushing blow in 1994. As the country’s first black president, Mandela became an apostle of national reconciliation. Irrespective of the ruthlessness of the apartheid regime in his country, he focused on uniting the various groups in the country together in order to achieve his dream of a prosperous South Africa. After retiring from active politics, Mandela continued to meet with world leaders, attend conferences and participate in peace negotiations with African countries. He also took on the fight against AIDS, despite many in South Africa regarding it as a taboo topic, and advised people to seek testing and treatment.
One intriguing part of Mandela’s life was his ability to unconditionally forgive the whites in South Africa in spite of the oppressive and dehumanized outlook of the defunct apartheid government towards the black South Africans. Mandela encouraged his people to forget the bitterness of the past to build a united South Africa where all would have a sense of belonging irrespective of race and other interrelated dynamics. Mandela was able to easily forgave his white oppressors because he understood that they resorted to the repressive apartheid government out of the fear of the unknown and he did all he could to allay their fears. This was the premise upon which he based his reconciliation process. This, of course, helped him to lay the foundation for a united and prosperous South Africa.
The result is that, today, South Africa is, unarguably, a giant in Africa, in many respects. To deny the country’s leadership position in Africa is to deny the existence of air. It enjoys a relatively buoyant economy while its technological advancement is almost second to none in the continent. Regrettably, same cannot be said of most African countries where a large chunk of the populace has continued to live in abject poverty.
One of the lessons that emerging African political leaders could learn from Mandela is his perception of leadership and power. In a continent where political leaders do many despicable things to perpetuate themselves in power, it is instructive that Mandela was contented with ruling for just a five-year term in office as he relinquished power in 1999. His argument then was that South Africa, being a young democracy, needs a younger and dynamic leadership to steer her ship. That was how Thambo Mbeki succeeded him. This singular move has continued to earn Mandela much respect across the globe. And this is where most African leaders get it wrong.
The tragedy of the African continent is that most of its leaders, especially those who have little or nothing to offer their people, have continued to tow the ignoble path of despotism. Is it not funny that most of the leaders’ whose stay in power have pauperized their people would rather prefer to die in power rather than giving opportunities to others with fresh ideas to rule? A good leader should know when to quit. Perhaps, more importantly, a good leader must invest quality time and resources in developing new crop of leaders for the purpose of progress and stability. For the unusual feat of relinquishing power despite constitutional provision that allows him to run for another term of five years, Mandela is today a global icon while his country has continued to make healthy progress in all spheres.
On a final note, Nelson Mandela’s willingness to forgive and eschew bitterness brings to mind the immortal words of The Kendricks: “strong relationships and marriages don’t happen because people never hurt each other. They happen because the people involved keep on forgiving.” If there is anything we owe the memory of this illustrious African son, it is to truly love one another, eschew bitterness, forgive and build a united world. Goodnight, Madiba.
•Ogunbiyi is of the Features Unit, Lagos State Ministry of Information and Strategy, Alausa, Ikeja