Indeks
The past three days have been filled with mixed emotions and thoughts about the passing of Mandela and what it is that he has come to represent to the world. I have been irritated at the almost "Father Christmas" portrayal of the Man. I have tried to mellow myself out and remember the man, who along with others, defined my generation and who we became.
So today as South Africa gathers in the FNB stadium and I hear people sing those freedom songs that were on our lips as we grew up I took heart once more, because in the hearts of South Africans, this is what we remember Nelson Mandela as. I sing along with South Africans,
“Hamba kahle mkhonto we Sizwe, Tihna Abantu bomkhonto Sizimisele Ukuwa bulala woma lamabunu”
“Khwela phezukwendlu Ubutshele umanishaya Ibhunu umama vyajabula”
"Amabhunu ahlupha abazali Ekhaya bathi ziphi Izingane zabo Sizbashaya nge Nge bazooka”
I shed tears today for the first time since his death as I sing along this song that we chanted every time a comrade who had taken up arms had fallen at the hands of the oppressive regime. So this is the comrade I celebrate today. Comrade Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, from Qunu, that unsettled the ANC at the time and was called a rabble rouser. He was disturbed by the oppression of Africans in South Africa, was very frustrated at the "old leader" mentality in the ANC at the time and wanted to shake the comfort zones and believed that the pace and rhythm to obtain freedom must be intensified. It is out of this conviction that he formed Mkhonto we Sizwe the military wing of the African National Congress and took up arms to fight the regime. He was a bold and fearless freedom fighter. Without this move, and the formation of the Pan African Congress' Poqo, we would not be talking of a politically free South Africa today
In my book The Sabi I write of Mandela a lot. This is because he went to prison just over two years before my birth year and he was released a month before my daughter's birth. Although I had never seen or heard Mandela speak up until that point (all images were suppressed), we knew who he was. He was the man that was prepared to die so his people can be free. This galvanised us at the time and many of us were involved in student anti apartheid movements because the call "Free Mandela" was loud and clear. It came to signify "Free Us" "We deserve freedom" "We must have freedom"
The experience of seeing and hearing him for the first time was overwhelming, and I relate this adequately in the book. But it was when I met him face-to-face in Johannesburg that I felt the intense and calm power of the man called Mandela. It is a good memory for me, because he spoke to me directly, complimented me as only he could, and made me feel in that moment that life does have a way of sorting itself out.
He was nothing like the man we had conjured up in our imaginations. He was grey-haired and calm. There was no militant talk that we had recited in political rallies, or had read in the Rivonia Treason Trial documents. He had come out to try to bring peace to a bitter, broken, divided, tainted and unequal society. He became the President of South Africa and he tried his best. He thought that reaching out to the "enemy" as he called the white populace before, would do the magic. He thought that if he extended his hand and his heart, he would touch the heart of the oppressor and they would find the place inside of themselves, find the error of their ways and philosophies and that would transform them into a people that restored the land and wealth of this country back to its people.
In doing this he managed to get the FIFA World Soccer Cup to South Africa, he managed to usher the Rugby World Cup win with his famous #6 jersey cap, he made South Africa one of the most visited countries in the continent currently outperforming in-bound visitors internationally. Athletes could compete on the world stage where there were previous bans and sanctions against participation. He ensured that we got the vote and he ensured that politically we were free.
He appealed to us Africans that we should forgive, that we should join him in loving a sport that we hated, because it symbolised the regime that oppressed us. He asked us to be patient, he asked us to reach out to white people and he appealed to us not to take up arms against the people who had oppressed us for so very long. He told us to share with our oppressors. Being the powerful charismatic leader that he was, we listened and were patient, reached out and even began to wear the rugby jerseys and the springbok emblem and even incorporated the song of the oppressor's national anthem into our own - Nkosi Sikelele Afrika.
But he had miscalculated. He thought if we forgave and embraced them, that, they would share the wealth of our country with us. That they would realise the folly and egregiousness of their actions and a system that defiled the soul of the African people. He was a noble man with noble intentions but not many of those who had oppressed us before had the same heart. Maybe, just maybe Fredrick Douglas was right - priviledge can never be asked for or negotiated - perhaps it is not easy to just give away, no matter how revered and iconic the Man is who appeals
Less than ten percent of the land has been returned to the African, the economy still lies in the hands of those he had taken up arms against in the 1960s and racism is still rife in South Africa. Corporate South Africa is still largely untransformed and many of the African youth are unemployed with declining prospects. We are known as the rape capital of the world and we are the most unequal society on the globe. The majority of the white population despise affirmative action - even daring to call it Reverse Racism!
I will decide in my tribute to Nelson Mandela to remember a man:
· who was prepared to do what is necessary to upset the status quo in his own party at the time, the ANC - May those who call themselves leaders in the ANC remember that, and emerge from being shadows
· who employed radical means to change the political order - may we all remember that it is now our work to get the economic freedom that we must have, by the means that are necessary to engage the final leg of the long walk to freedom
· who chose a path of forgiveness and friendship - may we all remember that in the fight for our true liberation, that we may try by all means necessary not to become corrupt, power-hungry individuals with evil in our hearts
Hamba Kahle Comrade Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela. Sleep well knowing that you took us a long way on the road to freedom, and may we all take up the baton from you and finish the work that you and others, like Biko, Sobukwe, Tambo, Nkrume,Malcolm X, Sankara, Lumumba, Sisulu started
I along with other Africans will be forever grateful that you dared to begin this long road to freedom, that caused so much sacrifice for you individually, your children and Winnie Mandela.
May total freedom come to the African in South Africa and around the globe!
So today as South Africa gathers in the FNB stadium and I hear people sing those freedom songs that were on our lips as we grew up I took heart once more, because in the hearts of South Africans, this is what we remember Nelson Mandela as. I sing along with South Africans,
“Hamba kahle mkhonto we Sizwe, Tihna Abantu bomkhonto Sizimisele Ukuwa bulala woma lamabunu”
“Khwela phezukwendlu Ubutshele umanishaya Ibhunu umama vyajabula”
"Amabhunu ahlupha abazali Ekhaya bathi ziphi Izingane zabo Sizbashaya nge Nge bazooka”
I shed tears today for the first time since his death as I sing along this song that we chanted every time a comrade who had taken up arms had fallen at the hands of the oppressive regime. So this is the comrade I celebrate today. Comrade Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, from Qunu, that unsettled the ANC at the time and was called a rabble rouser. He was disturbed by the oppression of Africans in South Africa, was very frustrated at the "old leader" mentality in the ANC at the time and wanted to shake the comfort zones and believed that the pace and rhythm to obtain freedom must be intensified. It is out of this conviction that he formed Mkhonto we Sizwe the military wing of the African National Congress and took up arms to fight the regime. He was a bold and fearless freedom fighter. Without this move, and the formation of the Pan African Congress' Poqo, we would not be talking of a politically free South Africa today
In my book The Sabi I write of Mandela a lot. This is because he went to prison just over two years before my birth year and he was released a month before my daughter's birth. Although I had never seen or heard Mandela speak up until that point (all images were suppressed), we knew who he was. He was the man that was prepared to die so his people can be free. This galvanised us at the time and many of us were involved in student anti apartheid movements because the call "Free Mandela" was loud and clear. It came to signify "Free Us" "We deserve freedom" "We must have freedom"
The experience of seeing and hearing him for the first time was overwhelming, and I relate this adequately in the book. But it was when I met him face-to-face in Johannesburg that I felt the intense and calm power of the man called Mandela. It is a good memory for me, because he spoke to me directly, complimented me as only he could, and made me feel in that moment that life does have a way of sorting itself out.
He was nothing like the man we had conjured up in our imaginations. He was grey-haired and calm. There was no militant talk that we had recited in political rallies, or had read in the Rivonia Treason Trial documents. He had come out to try to bring peace to a bitter, broken, divided, tainted and unequal society. He became the President of South Africa and he tried his best. He thought that reaching out to the "enemy" as he called the white populace before, would do the magic. He thought that if he extended his hand and his heart, he would touch the heart of the oppressor and they would find the place inside of themselves, find the error of their ways and philosophies and that would transform them into a people that restored the land and wealth of this country back to its people.
In doing this he managed to get the FIFA World Soccer Cup to South Africa, he managed to usher the Rugby World Cup win with his famous #6 jersey cap, he made South Africa one of the most visited countries in the continent currently outperforming in-bound visitors internationally. Athletes could compete on the world stage where there were previous bans and sanctions against participation. He ensured that we got the vote and he ensured that politically we were free.
He appealed to us Africans that we should forgive, that we should join him in loving a sport that we hated, because it symbolised the regime that oppressed us. He asked us to be patient, he asked us to reach out to white people and he appealed to us not to take up arms against the people who had oppressed us for so very long. He told us to share with our oppressors. Being the powerful charismatic leader that he was, we listened and were patient, reached out and even began to wear the rugby jerseys and the springbok emblem and even incorporated the song of the oppressor's national anthem into our own - Nkosi Sikelele Afrika.
But he had miscalculated. He thought if we forgave and embraced them, that, they would share the wealth of our country with us. That they would realise the folly and egregiousness of their actions and a system that defiled the soul of the African people. He was a noble man with noble intentions but not many of those who had oppressed us before had the same heart. Maybe, just maybe Fredrick Douglas was right - priviledge can never be asked for or negotiated - perhaps it is not easy to just give away, no matter how revered and iconic the Man is who appeals
Less than ten percent of the land has been returned to the African, the economy still lies in the hands of those he had taken up arms against in the 1960s and racism is still rife in South Africa. Corporate South Africa is still largely untransformed and many of the African youth are unemployed with declining prospects. We are known as the rape capital of the world and we are the most unequal society on the globe. The majority of the white population despise affirmative action - even daring to call it Reverse Racism!
I will decide in my tribute to Nelson Mandela to remember a man:
· who was prepared to do what is necessary to upset the status quo in his own party at the time, the ANC - May those who call themselves leaders in the ANC remember that, and emerge from being shadows
· who employed radical means to change the political order - may we all remember that it is now our work to get the economic freedom that we must have, by the means that are necessary to engage the final leg of the long walk to freedom
· who chose a path of forgiveness and friendship - may we all remember that in the fight for our true liberation, that we may try by all means necessary not to become corrupt, power-hungry individuals with evil in our hearts
Hamba Kahle Comrade Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela. Sleep well knowing that you took us a long way on the road to freedom, and may we all take up the baton from you and finish the work that you and others, like Biko, Sobukwe, Tambo, Nkrume,Malcolm X, Sankara, Lumumba, Sisulu started
I along with other Africans will be forever grateful that you dared to begin this long road to freedom, that caused so much sacrifice for you individually, your children and Winnie Mandela.
May total freedom come to the African in South Africa and around the globe!
