Hannatu Musawa
Nelson
Mandela is ageing and his ‘spirit and sparkle’ is fading, his wife has
said, as it is disclosed that South Africa’s former president is
hospitalized on life support, suffering from a recurring lung infection.
Millions all over the world yet again hold their breath at the news
that the Madiba, one of the greatest moral and political international
heroes of our time, is ill and fighting for his life.
Nelson Mandela feels more like a father
than a famous figure to the likes of myself, who throughout our lives
recognize him as the central persona in one of the most gripping and
moving political dramas in the world. His story has been one of strife,
great effort, obstacle, new hope, and the ultimate achievement. And even
in the midst of his darkest days, he demonstrated with vigour the task
of a great leader, by leading his country from the shallow hole it was
in, to the elevated heights of freedom. He did this with the spirit of a
saint and a perception of strength, bravery, generosity, courage and
forgiveness. Nelson Mandela is a true freedom fighter whose love for his
people has no end and whose life and personal success will be
remembered long after the world has forgotten the evils of the
oppression that once engulfed his people. He is a star who has
brightened the lives of many and set the ultimate example for all
leaders in Africa, because he is one who will not compromise his
people’s cause for self-interest. The radiance of his personality has
touched the lives of many over the years and we hope to continue
drinking from his river of humanity as we pray he pulls through.
In a role seldom witnessed in Africa, he
selflessly dedicated his life to fight against one of the most powerful
systems of oppression ever conceived, and today he stands as a decisive
testimony to the victory of nobility and hope over desolation and
odium, of forgiveness and love over revenge and hate. His life
personifies what a true patriot should do and how they should behave
under the most trying of circumstances. The spirits of all the
revolutionaries and freedom fighters of this world, past and present,
surely would smile blessings upon him because he always stood fair
against all kinds of domination and was willing to give his life for it.
In his own words, Nelson Mandela once said, “I have fought against
white domination and against black domination. I have cherished the
ideal of a free society in which all live together in harmony, with
equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and
achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to
die”.
Growing up in South Africa as a young
black boy in the first half of the last century must have been a real
ordeal as a result of apartheid. Blacks were segregated, abused,
persecuted and treated little better than animals. The apartheid regime
enacted laws that regarded them accordingly. But despite such adversity,
Nelson Mandela was always a fighter from a young age. Instead of
accepting this unreasonable system of government, he made the decision
to resist and began his lifelong journey to free South Africa from the
shackles of repression. Little did he know that his resolve back then
would lead to the demise of apartheid, pave the road to the presidency
and the ultimate honor of a Nobel Peace Award. Today, thanks to the
personal effort and sacrifice of men such as Mandela, South Africa is a
free state with equal opportunities for all its citizens and the pride
of Africa.
Of all his sacrifices, the most
heart-wrenching is without a doubt the sacrifice of his private life and
youth for his people. I once read an interview with one of his
daughters in which she described the solitude of growing up with a
father that was incarcerated and branded terrorist by the government,
and the loneliness of having to share him with the whole of South Africa
upon his release. But even before his incarceration, Mandela was forced
to live apart from his family. In an attempt to survive and evade the
authorities, Mandela moved from place to place and adopted a number of
camouflages. He became so good at avoiding the authorities that were
stationed in every nook and cranny that at a point he was labeled the
‘black pimpernel’.
His childhood and upbringing could not
have been more apt for the life-role he was to play. He was born in the
South African town of Qunu, Transkei in 1918. His father, Henry Mandela,
was chief councillor to the acting paramount chief in his town. When
his father died, Mandela became the chief’s ward and was groomed for the
chieftainship. From a young age he and his lifelong friend and fellow
freedom fighter Oliver Tambo were driven to participate in the fight to
free their people. As a student he was said to both be extremely
studious and ambitious and eventually ended up starting a BA degree.
However in 1940, during the course of his degree, he was expelled from
University for actively participating in a student strike. He went on to
complete his degree by doing a correspondence course after which he
enrolled to become a lawyer. After joining the ANC, he helped found the
youth league of the party in 1944. He put in many years of dedication to
his cause and eventually became head of the defiance-campaign of the
party. This empowered him to travel across the country to organize a
resistance to discriminatory legislation campaign. During this period he
was arrested and confined a couple of times but that didn’t stop him
from forming individual underground cells of the ANC upon his release.
In addition, he and Oliver Tambo
proceeded to open the first black legal firm in the country and even
though the Law Society was petitioned to strike Mandela off the roll of
barristers, his law firm and career survived. In 1960, after the
Sharpeville massacre and after his release from yet another detention,
Mandela as leader of the military wing of the ANC went underground to
lead a campaign for a new national convention. By 1962 he went to
Algeria for military training and to build a militia but upon his return
he was arrested. On a charge of leaving the country illegally and
incitement to strike Mandela conducted his own defence but lost and was
convicted for five years in November 1962. It was during the service of
that sentence he and seven others, Walter Sisulu, Dennis Goldberg, Govan
Mbeki, Raymond Mhlaba, Elias Mosoaledi, Andrew Mlangeni and Ahmed
Kathrada, were charged with sabotage and sentenced to life imprisonment.
During this trial Mandela’s resolve never faulted and he continuously
told the court; “I do not deny that I planned sabotage. I did not plan
it in a spirit of recklessness nor for the love of violence but as a
result of a sober assessment of the political situation that had arisen
after many years of tyranny, exploitation and oppression of my people by
the whites.” But despite their defence the judge remained convinced
that their behaviour was not borne out of a need for the attainment of
equal rights for the African people but out of a warped desire for
revolution and personal ambition. Luckily for the world he stopped short
of imposing the supreme penalty of death and instead opted for life
imprisonment. While in prison, Mandela never compromised his political
principles and was always a source of strength for the other prisoners.
The apartheid government numerously offered Mandela the reduction of his
sentence as long as he abided by certain conditions, but every time
they offered, Mandela would refuse on the notion that “prisoners were
not able to enter into contracts, only free men could negotiate”.
Decades into his struggle for the
liberation of black and colored people in South Africa, Mandela,
together with Walter Sisulu, Dennis Goldberg, Govan Mbeki, Raymond
Mhlaba, Elias Mosoaledi, Andrew Mlangeni and Ahmed Kathrada, was charged
with sabotage and sentenced to life imprisonment. While in prison,
Mandela never compromised his political principles. The apartheid
government numerously offered Mandela the reduction of his sentence as
long as he abided by certain conditions, but every time they offered,
Mandela would refuse on the notion that ‘…only free men could
negotiate.’
After
decades of prison labor, Nelson Mandela and his colleagues were
eventually released on February 11, 1990. On that bright day, at 4:14pm,
almost an hour late, a jubilant Mandela, dressed in a light brown suit
and tie and holding Winnie’s hand, appeared at the gates of his prison,
smiled at the ecstatic crowds and punched the air in a victory salute
before taking a silver BMW Sedan to freedom. With his tenacity
unblemished, he went back to his life’s work, determined to end the
struggle he and others had set out to do almost four decades earlier. In
1991, at the first national conference of the ANC held inside South
Africa, Mandela was elected president of the party. On May 10, 1994, he
won and became the first democratically elected president of South
Africa. And, unlike most other African leaders, even though he was at
the apex, he retired in June 1999 and relinquished power with no fuss
after only one term in office.
Before being admitted to hospital, he
was known to peacefully reside in his birth place with his third wife,
Graca, where his most private moments were filled by his greatest
pleasure: watching the sun set while listening to classical music and
reading to his grandchildren. Accounts suggest he usually got up by
4:30am, exercised by 5am and took breakfast of plain porridge, fresh
fruit and fresh milk by 6:30am while reading the days newspapers.
Despite severe provocation, Mandela
never answered racism with racism but symbolized the triumph of the
human spirit over man’s inhumanity to man. His life has been an
inspiration to all who are oppressed and deprived and to all who are
opposed to oppression and deprivation. He has never wavered in his
devotion to democracy, equality and justice.
Words cannot describe how blessed this
generation is to have lived during the times of a man like Mandela. I
and millions of people around the world who love him dearly have learned
so much from him and will continue to cherish him. If the world can
have more people like him, it, indeed, would be a much better place to
live in. He reminds me of a late woman named Hajia Wowo that I loved so
much. But more than that, when I think of him, I do not see a person; I
see an institution of goodness and a beacon of strength…I see my
conscience!
In his autobiography, ‘Long Walk to
Freedom,’ Mandela describes his struggle as a journey, and of that
journey he says, “I have walked that long road to freedom. I have tried
not to falter; I have made missteps along the way. But I have discovered
the secret that after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there
are many more hills to climb. I have taken a moment here to rest, to
steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on
the distance I have come. But I can rest only for a moment, for with
freedom comes responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk
is not yet ended.”
And indeed, as we pray for his fast
recovery or peaceful passing, for the great Madiba it has been, for the
last nine decades, a walk well walked!
Nigeriaworld.com
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