Nelson Mandela recollections

Tue Dec 10, 2013

by Sir James Mitchell

I can never tire of thanking the people of St Vincent and the Grenadines for giving me the experience of representing them during the iconic changes at the end of the last century from colonialism to independence, from virulent communism to the collapse of the Berlin wall, and of working with our legends like Eric Williams, Errol Barrow, Eugenia Charles, John Compton, Cheddi Jagan, Michael Manley.{{more}} The list goes on beyond these Caribbean leaders who have passed away. On last count I have outlived some thirty-five Caribbean leaders with whom I worked. And beyond them all, working for the transition in South Africa, representing SVG at international fora with Nelson Mandela in jail, to finally being able to chat with him as President Mandela.

My theme at the UN and Commonwealth summits was simple and based on my own genetic composition. Why couldn’t the leadership of South Africa learn about the creation of harmony as we had done in the Caribbean, with our heritage from Africa, Europe and India. I am pleased that my time in parliament coincided with the period of Mandela’s incarceration to his time as president of the rainbow South Africa, as I was part of the Caribbean struggle for freedom, shaping resolutions in his support, and I was there in St Lucia when he came to thank us for our part in his liberation.

When the news broke that Mandela had been released from Robben Island prison, the next morning I ordered that all schools be closed for the balance of the day, signalling our solidarity with the freedom we all cherished. I wonder how many teachers and schoolchildren remember our historic stand.

One original decision Caricom made was the proposal to restrict the purchase of gold kruger rands.

I met President Mandela on three other occasions. Our first meeting was at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in New Zealand in 1995. We stood together at the subsequent CHOGM in Scotland in 1997, and on the train to the retreat at St Andrew’s, I shared a carriage with him and his then partner Graca Machel. We met again in New York celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations.

Our best dialogue was at the end of the New Zealand meeting. I had been invited by the prime minister of New Zealand, James Bolger, (now with me as a colleague on the InterAction Council), to be one of the concluding speakers at the conference, addressing the international media. The real accomplishment of that conference was the expulsion of Nigeria (the first chapter of my autobiography “Beyond the Islands” makes reference to it) and I chose to speak on South Africa’s stand on the suspension of Nigeria. I said that it must have been difficult for President Mandela to speak and vote against the powerful Nigeria, which had led the African fight for his release, and I thought I saw the pain in his face as he voted out Nigeria. As the formal session concluded, President Mandela sought me out to thank me, saying that I had truly reflected his thoughts and what he would have liked to say.

We went on to chat about his possible approval of the South African industrialist and insurance magnate Donald Gordon to be SVG’s honorary consul in South Africa. “You know Donald Gordon!” he exclaimed with enthusiasm, indicating approval. However, I discovered in a later meeting with Donald that he was organizing a home for his president and helping to launch his foundations, and was now too busy to take on our consular affairs.

I also told the president that I was once sailing with a white South African yachtsman, who told me that their yacht club had contemplated a mission to free him from Robben Island, but eventually dropped the idea as being too risky. That yachtsman had been at the gate with a flag to cheer Mandela on when he left Robben Island. The president said he would like to meet the individual, but before I could conclude this arrangement with my friend, he unfortunately died.

I remember as a young trade minister banning the importation of goods from South Africa, but we did not go the next step of prohibiting South African ships from our ports, as Trinidad had done. We had our international obligations as a flag of convenience, and so South African yachts visited us, but I met no South African yachtsman who was not disgusted with apartheid, and many were looking to change their nationality.

On my state visit to Zambia while Mandela was still imprisoned, the chief justice and other Zambians at a dinner were worried about the South African government’s intentions as they announced that they were looking after his health when he was suffering from pneumonia. I told them I took comfort from that attention as I interpreted it to mean that they did not want him to die in prison. Oliver Tambo was also at that meeting in Zambia and I wonder now what kind of leader he would have made for South Africa.

Throughout the ages there have been and will continue to be individuals who pay the price for principles that change their society – Socra­tes, Gandhi, Martin Luther King. We are all delighted that Nelson Mandela lived to fulfil his dream.

My own conclusion about the Mandela legacy is simple. It takes an exceptional man of real substance to show his oppressors the light.