EDITION 344 DECEMBER INTERVIEWS INSIGHTS INTELLIGENCE. The world mourns

Transcription

1 EDITION 344 DECEMBER INTERVIEWS INSIGHTS INTELLIGENCE The world mourns

2 Long day s journey into light From humble herd-boy to international icon. From prisoner to President. From lawyer to legend. Nelson Mandela s journey is so extraordinary as to almost defy belief. This is our tribute. T he world stopped.as with few other events in human history, the passing of South Africa s greatest ever son left billions stunned with grief, and a nation in mourning. As the tributes poured in from across the globe, one stood out. Appropriately, it came from the organisation to which he devoted his life the ANC: The large African Boabab, who loved Africa as much as he loved South Africa, has fallen. Its trunk and seeds will nourish the earth for decades to come. Dwarfing, by its sheer magnitude the deaths of other great men through the ages Winston Churchill, John F Kennedy and Gandhi among them the passing of this outstanding icon of our times brought with it an outpouring of emotion the likes of which defies words. Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela stood alone. He was the greatest South African of his time. As Archbishop Emeritus, Desmond Tutu said: The sun will rise tomorrow, and the next day and the next. It may not appear as bright as yesterday, but life will carry on. As we enter the mourning period, as a nation, we do so with the greatest dignity and respect, because that is what we owe Madiba and ourselves. Tutu prayed that God would dry the family s tears and renew their strength. We thank you for sharing utata with us and we thank God for him. Tutu said Mandela had transcended race and class in his personal actions, through his willingness to listen. We are relieved that his suffering is over, but our relief is drowned by our grief. May he rest in peace and rise in glory, he said. Nelson Mandela embodied and reflected a nation s collective greatness. He reflected all our hopes and dreams, and gave us the belief that we could rise from the ashes of apartheid and become great and good. Tributes and tears The tributes came in in their thousands. Here are a few: The ANC: We recall the strength of his fist punching the air as he stepped out of prison after 27 years; and his sternness during the negotiations for the freedom of our beloved country. We celebrate his ever-present smile, the cheerful Madiba 2

3 Nelson Mandela embodied and reflected a nation s collective greatness. He reflected all our hopes and dreams, and gave us the belief that we could rise from the ashes of apartheid and become great and good. 3

4 jive, his love for children and great respect for the women of this country. Former President Thabo Mbeki: President Mandela, Madiba, and his generation of freedom fighters walked their long walk and made enormous sacrifices which eventually led to our freedom in His passing signals the end of an historic era represented by the heroic deeds of his generation. President Mandela and his generation discovered the mission of their generation. They were at all times faithful to it, as a result of which they fulfilled it. As we mourn President Mandela s passing we must ask ourselves the fundamental question - what shall we do to respond to the tasks of building a democratic, non-racial, non-sexist and prosperous South Africa, a people centred society free of hunger, poverty, disease and inequality, as well as Africa s renaissance, to whose attainment President Nelson Mandela dedicated his whole life? US President Barack Obama: He achieved more than could be expected of any man. Today he has gone home. He no longer belongs to us; he belongs to the ages. I cannot fully imagine my own life without the example that Nelson Mandela set. So as long as I live, I will do what I can to learn from him. We will not likely see the likes of Nelson Mandela again, So it falls to us as best we can to forward the example that he set. Former President F W de Klerk: It was with the greatest sadness that I have learned of the death of Nelson Mandela. My wife, Elita, and I would like to convey our deepest condolences to his wife Graça Machel, the Mandela family and their friends, to the ANC and indeed to the entire South African nation. During his presidency, Mr Mandela did indeed use his great responsibility to assure South Africans from all our communities that he had all their interests at heart. He made a unique contribution not only to the establishment of our constitutional democracy but also to the cause of national reconciliation and nation-building. Nelson Mandela s courage, charm and commitment to reconciliation and to the Constitution, were an inspiration not only for South Africans but for the whole world. I believe that his example will live on and that it will continue to inspire all South Africans to achieve his vision of non-racialism, justice, human dignity and equality for all. British Prime Minister David Cameron: A great light has gone out in the world. Nelson Mandela was a hero of our time. Nelson Mandela was a towering figure in our time; a legend in life and now in death - a true global hero. Across the country he loved they will be mourning a man who was the embodiment of grace. Meeting him was one of the great honours of my life. My heart goes out to his family - and to all in We thank you for sharing utata with us and we thank God for him. Archbishop Emeritus, Desmond Tutu South Africa and around the world whose lives were changed through his courage. Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown: Nelson Mandela was the greatest leader of our generation. A leader of magnanimity, fortitude, unshakeable optimism and most of all, the most courageous man I ever met. What motivated Nelson Mandela and drove him to risk his life for freedom was a burning passion that irrespective of colour, race and background, all people are created equal - and his list of historic achievements starts with a multiracial South Africa. Tata, we honour you As a man, he was remarkable. As a South African, he was a giant of our times. Nelson Mandela s place in history is unique, and his legacy is carved in every nook and cranny of the country that gave him birth. Of him it can truly be said that he walked with kings, but never lost the common touch, to paraphrase Rudyard Kipling. Revered, exalted, almost immortalised, few would argue that he was the greatest statesman our world has known. Now a nation and indeed the world mourns the death of a man who lived to the fullest a life of rare devotion, bravery, and, indeed, of heroism in the truest sense. A life that changed the world we live in for the better. As the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory put it, Nelson Mandela never wavered in his devotion to democracy, equality and learning. Despite terrible provocation, he never answered racism with racism. His life has been an inspiration to all who are oppressed and deprived, to all who are opposed to oppression and deprivation. As renowned journalist, John Carlin, also writer of Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game that Made a Nation, says: Mandela s wisdom in reaching out to the old enemy, repressing any vengeful impulses he might have accumulated during his twenty-seven years in prison, is the principal reason why South Africa has consolidated its transition from tyranny to democracy, and done so not, in the timehonoured style of revolutions, through repression, but by persuasion. Carlin s book about Mandela is also he basis for the 2009 film, Invictus. The triumphant expression of Mandela s life s work, says Carlin, is seen in a political system that, seventeen years (at the time of writing) after he took power, remains as stable as it is authentically democratic. The rule of law, freedom of speech, free and fair elections: these are the gifts Mandela has bequeathed his nation. 4

5 Beyond Madiba The challenge after Mandela s passing is clear: How will South Africa counter the insidious corruption that has taken the nation by the jugular? How will we ensure that the democracy Mandela built will be protected, nurtured and valued for generations to come? But, as Carlin opines, although in time corruption with all its creeping manifestations, could destroy the edifice Mandela built, (it) will not undermine Mandela s place in history, which is more durable than any political construct. As with Abraham Lincoln, his deeper legacy lies in the example he has left for succeeding generations. Carlin adds: Mandela is Africa s Lincoln. You don t do Lincoln too many favours if you scrutinise the detail of what came after him: he fought against slavery, yet black Americans would remain second-class citizens for more than one hundred more years; he appealed to the better angels of our nature, yet genocidal massacres of American Indians continued for some time after his death. It would be as unfair to tarnish Lincoln s memory with the shortcomings of those that followed him as it would be to question Mandela s lasting value by pointing to the mediocrity or venality of his successors. The big truth is that Mandela, like Lincoln, achieved the historically rare feat of uniting a fiercely divided country. The feat is rare because what ordinary politicians have always done is seek power by highlighting difference and fueling antagonism. Mandela sought it by appealing to people s common humanity. Back from the abyss Mandela s most compelling utterance and the one which, perhaps, best epitomises the man was probably the one articulated at the Rivonia trial, which saw him being interned for 27 years: I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die. There can be no doubt that prison made him the leader and statesman he was so destined to become. Indeed, it was here that he learnt his most valuable lessons in leadership. As he himself has acknowledged, prison shaped him. What the experience of prison did was elevate Mandela to a higher political plain, setting him apart from the great mass of ordinarily brave, ordinarily principled freedom fighters within his country and beyond. He learnt that succumbing to the vengeful passions brought fleeting joys at the cost of lasting benefits; he learnt, through studying his jailers closely, that black and white people had far more in common, at bottom, than they had points of difference; he learnt that forgiveness and generosity and, above all, respect were weapons of political persuasion as powerful as any gun, says Carlin. Perhaps, adds Carlin, more than anything Mandela s single most important contribution to South Africa was that he recognised that there could be no democracy without reconciliation, no justice without peace. And he spent his life utterly devoted to this principle, refusing ever to waver, even in the face of provocation so severe it would have shaken the equilibrium of a saint. 5

6 His handling of the assassination of Chris Hani on 10 April 1993 is perhaps the seminal example of Mandela s unshakeable commitment to reconciliation. It is not hyperbole to suggest that this event, more than any other, brought South Africa to the very brink of the proverbial precipice. It was only Mandela s wise, insightful and calm intervention that averted a bloodbath. His address to the nation, on live television that night, is unforgettable, and etched into the very fabric of South African history: Tonight I am reaching out to every single South African, black and white, from the very depths of my being. A white man, full of prejudice and hate, came to our country and committed a deed so foul that our whole nation now teeters on the brink of disaster. A white woman, of Afrikaner origin, risked her life so that we may know, and bring to justice, this assassin. The cold-blooded murder of Chris Hani has sent shock waves throughout the country and the world. Our grief and anger is tearing us apart. What has happened is a national tragedy that has touched millions of people, across the political and colour divide. Now is the time for all South Africans to stand together against those who, from any quarter, wish to destroy what Chris Hani gave his life for the freedom of all of us. Now is the time for our white compatriots, from whom messages of condolence continue to pour in, to reach out with an understanding of the grievous loss to our nation, to join in the memorial services and the funeral commemorations. Now is the time for the police to act with sensitivity and restraint, to be real community policemen and women who serve the population as a whole. There must be no further loss of life at this tragic time. This is a watershed moment for all of us. These immortal words pulled South Africa back from the abyss. And there was only one man who could achieve that. Cometh the hour, cometh the man... Says Carlin: Mandela s legacy, the imperishable lesson he holds for the ages, and the reason why he stands head and shoulders above every leader of his generation, or practically every leader there has ever been, is that he showed it is possible to be a great human being and a great politician at the same time; that showing respect to friends and enemies alike can get you a long, long way; and that nothing beats the combination in Mandela s case, the seamless convergence of magnanimity and power. Now the big question the world is asking: How will South Africa do without him? In many ways, though, it is a question that does not really need to be asked. In reality, we have been doing without him for more than a decade already. Now we need to come to terms with the fact that he is gone for ever. In the words of widely renowned journalist, Gwynne Dyer: For all its many faults and failures, post-apartheid South Africa is a miracle that few expected to happen. Although Mandela retired from the presidency in 1999, 14 years later he is still seen as the man who made the magic work, and somehow the guarantor that it will go on working. If only in some vague and formless way, a great many people fear that his death will remove that safety net. And he adds: People can argue about whether or not South Africa is doing as well as it should, but they can at least agree that Mandela got the country safely through the most dangerous phase of the transition, and that they can carry on with the job of building a just and democratic society without him. Mandela is one of few statesmen to have achieved almost universal respect around the world and across the political spectrum. He is known across the globe as the man who delivered South Africa from the ravages of apartheid, against seemingly impossible odds as a peacemaker and statesman of the highest possible calibre. Around the world, he is seen as a man of impeccable moral character and authority, as a man of fairness, compassion and boundless wisdom. He has taken on an almost omnipotent quality in the eyes of many. At the end of the day, though, Mandela was a servant, not a saint a man destined to lead a country out of oppression and into freedom and democracy. That he did so with such humility, never failing to point out that he was merely part of a collective, and never wishing to take credit for his phenomenal contribution, epitomises the essence of the man. No doubt in time his faults and foibles will be more objectively scrutinised. That time is not now, though. Now is the time to begin the difficult journey towards believing the unbelievable, and accepting the unacceptable: Madiba, the father of democratic South Africa and a man beloved by billions across the globe, is dead. To paraphrase Kipling once again: All men counted with him, but none too much; he filled the unforgiving minute, with sixty seconds worth of distance run... His was the earth, and everything in it. And, which is more, he was a man, my son. p David Capel 6