Nelson Mandela: Death of an icon

THE PASSING of former president Nelson Mandela not only marks the end of one of the most illustrious political careers in the history of South Africa’s struggle to free itself from the legacy of apartheid, but also marks the end of the extraordinary life of an icon. One of the fiercest leaders of South Africa’s anti-apartheid liberation movement, Mandela fought against all odds to free his country from the oppression of white minority rule.

He paid a heavy price for his commitment to the cause, spending more than a third of his adult life in prison. He became South Africa’s first black president after its first democratic elections in 1994. By then his reputation as a liberator had been firmly cemented and he grew a new reputation as a man of peace and reconciliation.

Born Rolihlala Mandela in 1918 in the village of Mvezo in the Eastern Cape to the Thembu royal family, his political career took off after his arrival in Johannesburg in 1941 where he met Walter Sisulu, the local ANC leader, who arranged for him to clerk at a law firm and study for a law degree. He joined the organization in 1944, helping found the ANC Youth League and becoming its president in 1951. A year later he opened the first black legal firm in South Africa with fellow lawyer and comrade Oliver Tambo, providing free legal counsel to many black people.

After the National Party won elections on a platform of strict separation of the races in 1948, the government created the system of apartheid, institutionalising the racial oppression, segregation and inequality for the country’s black population.

Under the leadership of Sisulu, Oliver Tambo and Mandela, the anti-apartheid ANC issued a declaration of principles in 1956 called the Freedom Charter, which advocated racial equality, free education and medical care, and public ownership of mines, banks, and big industry.

The apartheid government saw the charter as a conspiracy to overthrow the state and Mandela was one of 156 resistance leaders arrested and charged with high treason, the penalty of which was death. The accused were acquitted, but the trial made Mandela public enemy number one, forcing him to go underground, living in hideouts and using disguises.

In 1961, he organized the ANC’s militant wing, Umkhonto Wesizwe, which he commanded until his arrest the following year. Accused of a conspiracy to overthrow the state, he and eight others were found guilty in 1964 and sentenced to life in prison on Robben Island.

As the apartheid system drew more international condemnation Mandela became the world’s most famous prisoner and an international symbol of South African oppression despite the government’s best efforts to portray him as a violent terrorist. For 27 years Mandela remained behind bars until his historic release in 1990.

During those heated times that would lead to the birth of a new South Africa, he provided an invaluable, gentle but firm guiding hand for a nation still trying to find its feet. Mandela led the tension-filled negotiations with the National Party which produced a new constitution, the founding document of a new South Africa.

This led to the first democratic elections, the result of which not only made Mandela the first democratically elected president in South Africa’s history, but also its first black president. Presiding over the transition from apartheid minority rule to a multicultural democracy, Mandela saw national reconciliation as the primary task of his presidency. His reconciliatory stance would see the name Mandela take on a new symbolism of peace, freedom and reconciliation. In 1999, Mandela finished his five-year presidential term and settled into a busy retirement, working on humanitarian causes, including the fight against HIV and AIDS through the Nelson Mandela Foundation.

An international icon and the world’s most beloved individual, Mandela received international acclaim for his anti-apartheid leadership and his humanitarianism, having received over 250 awards, including the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize, the US Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Soviet Order of Lenin. His indelible legacy has ensured that he will continue to occupy an untouched place in our national consciousness and in our hearts long after his passing. He’ll be remembered for his leadership, his humanitarianism, his kindness, his humility, his compassion and for his unwavering love for his country More than that, he will be remembered as a hero and the father of a nation. Our Tata. Our Madiba.

Lala kahle qhawe lamaqhawe. Lala kahle Madiba.