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In a word, Madiba – not a prophet, but a humble servant of you, the people

Michael Kahn
By Michael Kahn
18 Jul 2024
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Madiba was, is, unique. He recognised his failings and the colossal task that he and his team were charged to rectify. Like Mao Zedong, he understood the political moment.

This is the ninth in a series of columns on “What 10 words best describe our South Africa?” Today’s word is Madiba. Read the first eight parts of the series here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

In his book China in Ten Words, author Yu Hua critiqued Mao Zedong, the former president of the People’s Republic of China, in the chapter “Leader” as he whose command of the political moment was coupled with spontaneity. So (apparently) on a whim the 72-year-old leader joined the annual swim at Wuhan on the Yangtze River.

On completion (cue Russian President Vladimir Putin) he waved to a throng of nearby people in his swimsuit (bodyguards similarly attired). The Cultural Revolution, then in its first month, saw clapping replaced by the waving of the Little Red Book. Mao was revered, then displaced by China’s next leader Deng Xiaoping, and is today being restored by Chinese President Xi Jinping.

How now, our icon, Madiba, Nelson Rolihlala Mandela aka the Black Pimpernel? Madiba (18 July 1918-5 December 2013) stood and stands tall on our and the world stage. Pretty much every one of those who were asked for their list of 10 words to describe South Africa included Mandela, or Madiba.

Mandela first came to my attention across the dinner table when my dad, head buried in his hands, muttered at the Rivonia Trial revelations of the Black Pimpernel’s M-Plan as he read the Cape Argus of a November 1963 evening. That was perhaps the moment when this then teenager realised that  justice was something to fight for.

Madiba, he of Thembu royal lineage, lawyer, lover, husband, boxer, activist, radical leader of the ANC Youth League from 1950 to 1960, and soldier, was captured and spent 27 years in prison. He who was unafraid to die for the cause of freedom. Ah, Madiba.

Armed struggle


Armed struggle, agitprop, cultural upheaval, academic and economic boycotts, sanctions, disinvestment, geopolitics, military adventurism and economic meltdown followed. Eventually the apartheid regime was forced to parlay with Mandela whose response was given by his daughter Zindzi at the 10 February 1985 Soweto rally: “Only free men can negotiate. A prisoner cannot enter into contracts.” Power emanated from his Pollsmoor Prison cell.

Skip five years into the future and the late-night meeting of 10 February 1990 between FW de Klerk and Mandela that saw him walk free the next day. At an impromptu Cape Town City Hall rally, he proclaimed: “Comrades and fellow South Africans, I greet you all in the name of peace, democracy and freedom. I stand here before you not as a prophet, but as a humble servant of you, the people.”

From then on he maintained his poise, through the violence, internal differences, separation from Winnie Mandela, always guiding the framework toward a better life for all.

His next decisive moment came with the assassination of Chris Hani, when collapse into violent anarchy loomed. Then president De Klerk was forced to appeal to Mandela to calm the nation, which he did with presidential gravitas on evening television. That was the instant when political power shifted to the ANC. Victory became a certainty. Mandela and De Klerk duly joined Albert Luthuli as Nobel Peace Prize Laureates.

Read more: This week — Nelson Mandela Day, a climate change symposium and discussions on water privatisation

Prior to this, Mandela demonstrated the ability to think strategically and pragmatically, notably in his shift from doctrinaire endorsement of the Freedom Charter at the Grand Parade in Cape Town, to a balanced approach after his 1992 visit to the World Economic Forum where he met with senior Chinese ministers, economists and other world leaders.

His future imbongi (praise poet) Zolani Mkiva, who would celebrate President Mandela at his inauguration, recalls being unable to sleep the night before, thinking of the spiritual and cultural performance that he would be privileged to offer. Mkiva bellowed and shouted forth, calling upon the ancestors, showering adulation upon The Man.

And now the compromises. Appointing a Cabinet to please all people, Cyril Ramaphosa is sidelined, the UDF surrenders, and Lusaka Central gains the ascendancy. Then the triumph of the Rugby World Cup at Loftus Versfeld, with Mandela in the No 6 jersey holding the trophy aloft. And the provincial governments are functioning, and it is delivery time. Madiba dances, and can the man move! When he meets Britain’s Queen Elizabeth he sets the tone, walking into the reception room with a cheery “How are you?”

Tragic events in Biafra seize Madiba’s mind, and he petitions clemency for the life of environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa to General Sani Abacha, the Nigerian dictator. Abacha reacts with contempt and Deputy President Thabo Mbeki, effectively foreign minister, rushes to defuse the threat to diplomatic relations. Saro-Wiwa is executed.

Other tensions must be managed; amalgamating the apartheid-era departments; closing the RDP office; ANC brooms taking over finance, and trade and industry. Alongside, the Constitutional Assembly under Cyril Ramaphosa and Leon Wessels moves forward and is guided to finality by the steady hand of Madiba. In a fit of pique, De Klerk abandons the Government of National Unity and retires to his foundation and family life. The Arms Deal makes the news, competing for attention with the epidemic of HIV/Aids.

It is also comedy time, as SA Rugby boss Louis Luyt forces Mandela to another trial on the grounds that he deposed a false affidavit concerning alleged racism in the sport. Madiba has his day in court, and wins the case, solemnly shaking Luyt’s hand thereafter. Worth thinking about after yet another Rugby World Cup victory by our rainbow team.

Read more: Daily Maverick chooses South Africans embodying the spirit of Madiba

Back to the timeline. Rolihlala Mandela and Graça Machel marry shortly before he celebrates his 80th birthday with a gathering of school children in the Kruger National Park. Six months later he concludes his single term as founding president and the baton formally passes to Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma, both of the Lusaka Central days.  

Fallout. Aids is now killing about 20,000 people annually. Mbeki, an ardent nationalist, believes that external forces are at work and with the support of the health minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, aligns himself with Aids denialists. Mandela contradicts Mbeki, knowing that his son Makgatho is infected. Notably, then health Director-General Dr Ayanda Ntsaluba, formerly in charge of the ANC health desk in Lusaka, agrees with Madiba. Makgatho died of Aids in 2005.

By his 90th birthday it is clear that Madiba is visibly frail. This frailty does not deter the 2010 Fifa World Cup organisers from parading Tata to the crowds at the closing ceremony on a freezing July night. After that he withdraws from public life to his home in Houghton, Johannesburg.

Firebrand


One might assume that he is made aware of firebrand Julius Malema deriding him with the claim that his deviation from the Freedom Charter was the beginning of the selling out of the revolution. Other insults follow. Stranded for an hour in a military ambulance; the farrago of his official memorial when a fake sign language translator was on the platform among national and world leaders. Ineptness of staggering proportions; accountability, zero. The lack of care and maintenance of his homes. Why?

Mandela was, is, unique. He recognised his failings and the colossal task that he and his team were charged to rectify. In retrospect, we know one issue from which there was no deviation, namely the deep corruption of South African society, before formal apartheid, during apartheid, and since. It lurks everywhere, and Mandela surely knew this. Like Mao Zedong, he understood the political moment. However his whimsy was perhaps more carefully tempered.  

No easy walk to freedom.

Hamba ngoxolo bawo. DM

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