Rolihlahla
Mandela was born on 18 July 1918 in a small village in South Africa, called
Mvezo, to Xhosa parents. The village is
located about 2.5 hours north of a larger, perhaps more familiar coastal
city - East London - which in turn is located on the east coast of South
Africa, between Port Elizabeth and Durban.
English
colonization of Southern Africa may be evident from the above, if only as a
result of the city names mentioned.
These cities are dotted along the eastern coastline featuring beautiful
beaches, spectacular fauna and flora, occasional great white shark sightings,
and many other exciting things! The Indian Ocean
water along the eastern coast is warm, thanks to the northward flowing Benguela Current.
References to the English-named cities above may provide some superficial insight
into the troubled and checkered history of this young country. English (and other) influencers disrupted
centuries of ongoing harmony and/or hostility between many African tribal peoples, or clans,
over the last few centuries!
That
name – Rolihlahla – colloquially translates to meaning
"troublemaker" in local Xhosa tongue. Later in life, Mandela became better known as
Madiba, his Xhosa clan name.
Mandela
was quoted as stating that his early life was dominated by "custom, ritual
and taboo." He grew up with two
sisters in his mother's village (Qunu: can you click your tongue
when you try to say this word?), and tended herds as a youngster.
Both
Mandela’s parents were illiterate. His
mother was a devout Christian and she sent him to a Methodist school to begin
his education, aged 7. A teacher gave him the English forename
"Nelson" during the time he was baptized a Methodist.
His
father died in Qunu when Nelson was about 9 years old. Mandela believed the death, undiagnosed, to have been lung disease. Later, Mandela would say
that he had inherited his father's "proud rebelliousness," but also
his "stubborn sense of fairness."
The
Ugly
In
1961 Mandela co-founded Umkhonto we Sizwe
("Spear of the Nation", or MK), launching the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC). He had been inspired by the 26th of July Movement of the Cuban Revolution, of Fidel Castro. He became chairman of the militant group,
basing his ideas on illegal literature about guerrilla warfare, by Mao
and Che Guevara. At first MK was
officially separate from the ANC, but in later years it became the group's
armed wing. Not the first political movement to feature its own army, one would guess?
Early
members of MK were actually mostly white communists. Mandela himself denied ever being a Communist
Party member, but research suggests that he might have been - albeit for a
short period - between the late '50s or early '60s.
At
first, MK committed acts of sabotage aimed at exerting maximum pressure on the
government, with minimum casualties.
They therefore resorted to bombing military installations, power plants,
telephone lines and transport links at night, when civilians were typically not
present.
As
leader of MK, Mandela had decreed that should these tactics fail, MK would
resort to "guerrilla warfare and terrorism." Somewhat ironically, soon after (then) ANC
leader Luthuli was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 1961, MK publicly announced -
or celebrated - its existence with 57 bombings on a single day, 16 Dec 1961...
followed by even more bombings on New Year's Eve.
Landmark
events in MK's military activity inside South Africa consisted of actions
designed to intimidate the ruling power.
By way of one example, in 1983, a bomb was detonated in Pretoria inside
a family restaurant near the South African Air Force Headquarters, resulting in
19 deaths and 217 injuries. I personally had the misfortune of being
assigned to Medical Ops "clean-up duty" following this event.
You can likely imagine this to have been at least a somewhat unsavory task for
a 21 year old kid, delivering military service to his country.
During
the next 10 years, bombings occurred all over South Africa, conducted mainly by
MK, which was now shamelessly
targeting civilians, and mostly in public places like restaurants and bars. Not dissimilar to any other terrorist
organization!
The
Bad
On
11 July 1963, police raided Liliesleaf Farm, arresting those they found there
and uncovering paperwork documenting MK's activities, several of which
mentioned Mandela.
The
now well-known Rivonia Trial began
on 9 October 1963, with Mandela and his comrades charged with four counts of
sabotage and conspiracy to violently overthrow the government. The chief prosecutor called for the accused
to receive the death penalty. However,
the judge soon threw out the prosecution's case due to insufficient
evidence. The prosecution simply
reformulated the charges, calling 173 witnesses, and bringing thousands of
documents and photographs to the trial as evidence, to support the charges
filed.
Mandela
and his co-accused admitted sabotage, but denied that they had ever agreed to
initiate guerilla war against the government.
The trial garnered international attention with global calls for the
release of the accused. However, branding them as
violent communist agitators, South Africa's government ignored all calls
for clemency. On 12 June 1964 the judge found Mandela and two of his
co-accused guilty on four charges, and sentenced them to life imprisonment
rather than death.
In
1948, a South African general election had preceded the events above. Only whites were permitted to vote. An Afrikaner-dominated political party under
the leadership of Prime Minister D.F. Malan took power, shortly thereafter
uniting with another Afrikaner party, forming the National Party. Openly racist, the party codified and
expanded racial segregation under a new system referred to as apartheid (Afrikaans for separatism, or
separation).
Mandela had become increasing influential within the ANC. His cadres began advocating more direct
action against apartheid, such as boycotts and strikes, also influenced by the
tactics of South Africa's large and increasingly vocal Indian community (at the time).
The Good
In
1989, current South African President P.W. Botha suffered a stroke. He had initially retained the
state presidency, but stepped down as leader of the National Party. F.W. de Klerk replaced Botha as state president 6 weeks after his stroke. De Klerk was the man
ultimately responsible for freeing Mandela.
De
Klerk had concluded - relatively quickly - that apartheid would be unsustainable in
the future. He unconditionally released all ANC prisoners, except
Mandela. However, following the fall of
the Berlin Wall in November 1989, de Klerk called his cabinet together to
debate legalizing the ANC and freeing Mandela.
Mandela
left Victor Verster prison on 11 February 1990. The event was broadcast live across the
world. His first speech declared his
commitment to peace and reconciliation with the white minority, but also made
it clear that the ANC's armed struggle was not over, and would continue as
"a purely defensive action against the violence of apartheid."
He
expressed hope that the government would agree to negotiations, so that
"there may no longer be the need for the armed struggle", and
insisted that his main focus was to bring peace to the black majority and give
them the right to vote in national and local elections.
The ANC won 62% of the national vote in the first "free and fair" election held on 27 April 1994. His inauguration as first black president of the newly dubbed "rainbow nation," took place in Pretoria on 10 May 1994, televised to a more than a billion viewers globally.
Conclusion
Today - 20 years later - South Africa is still in somewhat of a state of turmoil, albeit perhaps less so
than some neighboring countries.
The binary old adage “One man’s freedom fighter is another man’s
terrorist,” perhaps aptly describes the love-hate relationship many people
experience when “Mandela” is raised as a topic for discussion and/or debate.
Regardless
of one’s opinion, Mandela’s nation-building examples of forgiveness represent the foundations that legends are built upon, justifying his legacy as one of the
greatest statesmen of our generation.
Disclosure
Historical
events referenced above are deemed to be facts as stated, and the research
included above is readily available to anyone via the Internet and many other sources.
I was born in Cape Town, South Africa in 1962. While in South Africa, I lived in East London, Pretoria and Johannesburg. I served 2 years as an Operations
Medic (South African Army), under a mandatory military service conscription policy
(‘82-’84). MK was domestic public enemy # 1.
My
myopic indoctrination experienced during the early part of my life was provided
by the Nationalist Government in power during that time.
This was complemented by ongoing government propaganda via their education
systems, military command, state-sponsored religious indoctrination (e.g.
via schools), public news broadcasts, etc.
Thankfully,
the latter have all successfully been replaced.
My domicile for the past two decades includes cities across Canada and the U.S.A. These have - in my view - delivered new-found personal freedom of expression, a quest for more education, and greater tolerance… in turn, allowing forgiveness, the ability to
remember the good, do good… and allow others to live and let live.
How
fortunate we are today… and Mandela, by his example, helped to lead the way...!
Viva Madiba, Viva!
