A giant passes

Dr. Fraser- Point of View

December 13, 2013

A giant passes

How does one begin to write about Nelson Mandela who, in my view, was the most outstanding personality of the 20th and 21st centuries? Here was a man who came to personify the anti-apartheid struggle, a man who after over 20 years of imprisonment was offered his freedom once he renounced violence but refused to compromise, declaring that his freedom was linked to the freedom of his people.{{more}} Their freedom and his could not be separated, he said. The world stood transfixed when on February 11, 1990, he took those giant steps that brought him to freedom, a man about whom much had been heard but few had seen.

Four years later he became president and served for only one term before relinquishing the presidency, in the process lifting the barrier and setting a high moral tone for political leadership the world over. When you look at the motley gathering of political heads from all over the world that attended the memorial service held in his honour, one has to wonder what it was about him that appealed to them. Clearly he meant different things to different people. Many of them do not stand for his political ideals, but nonetheless felt it necessary to pay tribute to him. That was the power of the man.

The reaction to his death around the world and particularly in South Africa, where people of all colours, class and creed, black and white, young and old, the rich and the powerless felt it necessary to salute what he had done for their country and the example he had set for the rest of the world, was testimony to the kind of person he was. Many of those today professing high regard for him were critical of his failure to lift the poor and powerless out of the depths of poverty. But to take that position was to fail to understand what was happening in South Africa then and the state of the society he inherited. Mandela had to deal with a society that was quite fractured.

His priority, and this is what was necessary, was to stabilise his country and to lay the foundation for its survival and to build the base that would in the future serve to meet the expectations of the millions whom the apartheid regime had placed in poverty and put under sub-human conditions. Let us not forget that major investors in the country were getting ready to leave and some even did, while others waited for a signal as to what the new South Africa was going to be and to mean. To many of them, the example of Idi Amin was still fresh in their minds. The African National Congress was divided on how to respond to what many hoped would be the dawn of a new day. The ruling party, itself, was divided on how to meet the new challenges that came with the release of Mandela. His path was one that was aimed at holding the society together and setting a standard for Africa and for the rest of the world.

His truth and reconciliation path was painful, because no one was penalised for the crimes that they had committed under the apartheid regime. But if the society was to move forward and the state not become a failed one, then unfortunately, one had to let go of some things, painful though it might have been. There was really no other way and no one else had the moral authority to do what he attempted to do. He spent 27 years in gaol, but in the interest of creating a new society, was prepared to forgive those under whom he had suffered, being separated from his family, living in isolation for a great part of his imprisonment, not even being allowed to attend his mother’s funeral. Not only was he prepared to forgive those who brought him and his society so much pain, but in the process he humanised them. His relationship with his gaolers was a point to be noted. They came to respect him and some of them, even before he left Robben Island where he was imprisoned, were so captivated by the nature of the man that they provided him with special “favours” that went against what he was allowed. He showed them a civility and humanity that they never understood and demonstrated the power of the moral authority with which he was garbed.

When Mandela was released from prison the Cold War was coming to an end, but the political tensions remained. He became president of a country where tensions were still high, with even some of his supporters being very sceptical of what he was attempting. Only a man of Mandela’s stature could have done what he did without splitting the country apart. One only has to look at how he dealt with Mangosuthu Buthelezi of the Zulus, dismantling a powerful force that could have caused the crumbling of the State, to appreciate what he was about. He took a pro-Western path, but was critical of the West and embraced those who stood by him and the struggle in its darkest days. Fidel Castro and Colonel Qadaffi held a special place in his heart. He was at the same time critical of Western leaders and had harsh words for George Bush and Tony Blair for their invasion of Iraq.

The Mandela symbol, created out of the bowels of imprisonment, mobilised people all over the world and gave them something with which they could identify. It was Amandala at play, borne not out of the barrel of a gun, but through moral authority. A giant has indeed passed! Long may his legacy live!

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Dr Adrian Fraser is a social commentator and historian.

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