On the landscape of South Africa and the world at large, Nelson Mandela would always be rememebered as an epitome of consistant resistance against the Apartheid. The epic story of this extraordinary gentleman wouldn't have bothered me as much, had I not had the chance to go through Mandela: The Authorised Potrait - a widely publicised work on Mandela's life which gives an explicit view of his life-long efforts in freeing the wretched black majority of South Africa from the clutches of the white minority. The candid work, as it is, gives a solemn view of his struggle, thus giving an inexplicable opportunity to embrace the fact that standing tall against all odds is what engenders glory in the longer run.
Life and struggle of Madiba - as he was known - spans the face of the earth and has been a huge inspiration for people who wanted and still want changing the existing order. His political life, apart from his personal and private matters, is great deal of a lesson for people across the globe. His decency of conduct, his looks as a refined gentleman and his matchless wit were all but part of his selfless persona which he had cultivated over the years.
There is no denying that his struggle against the Apartheid while in African National Congress (ANC) is surely a great achievement. His efforts to strengthen the resistance, asking for international assistance, spearheading the process of carving out The Feedom Charter, being declared guilty in Rovinia Trial and subsequent incarceration on Roben Island are some of the aspects of his political life. His failed marriages to Evelyn Wase and Winnie Madikizela, his marrying Graça Machel later and the consistant separtions from his family, during which his son and mother died, are some of his personal life's glimpses. In fact there are several felicitous lessons which we can accrue from his arduous journey all along.
In the aftermath of his release from captivity, he was to lead a broken nation already divided on various lines. Apart from this, he had to strike a deal with the whites. And here, some critics say, he couldn't really win. His stature of a great revolutionary leader was besmirched to a great extent by going against the very ideals he had accepted a 27 years captivity for. His principles which he fought for all his life were never going to realise their full implementation. The Charter's preemble which said: share of all people in national assets; South Africa for all who live in it; distribution of land who till it; equality before the law, work security, houses and comfort were all but thrown to the winds when he became the leader. The minority whites again had underplayed the African nationalism as ravaged black people looked in awe. The white welathy elite were still going to hold on to the wealth, as against the charter which promised equality for all in land and assets of South Africa. Having instead a rubber-stamp role, the govt could never change the condition of the blacks who continued to live - among others - in Kliptown ghetto, in more miserabally squalid conditions.
Kliptown - a buffer zone township built during the Apartheid to protect the white residents of Johannesburg from the teeming masses of Soweto - was the place where The Freedom Charter was first ratified.
Now there stands a Freedom Charter Monument, a brick tower in which words of the Charter have been engraved on stone tablets around a flame of freedom. Adjacent to it are the Freedom Towers - a pavilion of black and white concrete pillars designed to symbolise the charter's famous clause that says, "South Africa belongs to all those who live in it, black and white." Though ostensibly too assuring, the blacks still are hoping for their dream of equality realised in Madiba's free South Africa.
Rest in Peace, Madiba!
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