Nelson
Mandela has finally been put to rest, he was 95 years old; the tributes and
eulogies were all that we heard the past couple of weeks. From presidents to
celebrities they all paid glowing homage to the man whom the almost universally
accepted had no measure among us mortals who still walk this earth. Nelson
Mandela has been deemed as slightly below the heavenly angels. Here in Zambia,
we even honoured the man with seven days of national mourning. I only watched
part of his funeral on 8 December 2013. When our former president Kenneth
Kaunda took to the podium to add to the chorus of tributes, I thought to myself
why they haven’t ever made a movie about this man. He did more for the
liberation struggle in Southern Africa than any man. Then again our former
president had flaws. Nelson Mandela too had flaws, so why don’t we hear of
them.
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| Nelson Mandela |
I first came
to know that there was a man called Nelson Mandela from watching Sarafina. Then
he was just some figure in the song that went something like, “Bring back
Nelson Mandela. Bring him back to Soweto. I want to see him walking down the
streets tomorrow.” It took a Social Studies class in primary to finally put together
what the man did. Among the things that he was famous for was spending 27 years
on Robben Island. It was at such a point I thought that maybe if Kaunda spent
30 years in prison maybe he too would just have been as famous.
Nelson
Mandela arguably became famous because of what he did when he came out of
prison. In the case of most African leaders who had liberated their countries
from their colonialists the next thing that followed were years of turmoil.
Uganda’s Idi Amin chased the Asians, Nigeria had coup after coup, Democratic
Republic of Congo had a greedy dictator and Zambia had a president who declared
a one party state. Even though the world did not want to say it at the time,
they must have been anticipating a civil war after Mandela became the first
black president of South Africa in 1994. The expectation should have been that
the blacks would get sweet revenge for the apartheid torture they received. The
whites would also be bundled up and shacked up on Robben Island for 27 years
too.
The
reporters must have been preparing to write their headlines of doom, blood and
gloom for the gold rich African country. The world was just waiting for the man
called Madiba to make a declaration of retribution starting with the prison
wardens. Unfortunately, for the doomsayers none of that happened, instead the
aged man preached forgiveness, reconciliation and singing kumbaya while holding hands. It was billed the rainbow nation. It
was almost at this very moment that Nelson Mandela was catapulted into the
stratosphere of one of the greatest leaders the world has ever seen. He had a
forgiving, kind, generous, humble, loving personality. There is no amount of
hurt or damage that you could do to him that could make him hate, loathe or
pour his wrath on you. After 27 years in a cell and he was still able to
forgive his oppressors, he must have been a saint.
However,
this is where I attempt to flirt with my imagination. One of the possible
reasons Mandela came out as a forgiving and reconciliatory man by the time he
was released the brutal thing called age had caught up with him. He was already
72 years old the time we saw him walking and waving to the crowd with Winnie
Mandela. How many 72 year-olds do you know who still have the fight left in
them. Nelson Mandela was tired by this time. The 27 years on Robben Island must
have broken him in more ways than one. By the time he was released, he had
nothing left to give. Pretty much all the other African presidents at the helm
of their countries when they gained independence were between 40-60 years old.
These are ages that are fit enough to do damage. Kenneth Kaunda was 40 years
old, Idi Ami was 46 years, Julius Nyerere was 39 years, Robert Mugabe was 56
years, Mobutu Sese Seko was 35 years and the list goes on.
Had Nelson
Mandela stepped out of Robben Island during his prime and given the reins of
South Africa, we would have been paying different tributes. Over a quarter of a
century is a long time to hold a grudge. I have watched people who have been
acquitted from prison after decades of being locked up, and the moment they
come out they do not talk of revenge, or hatred. They are just grateful to be
out and want to live the remainder of their lives peacefully. This may have
been the case with the great Madiba. Perhaps it is only people who have been
locked away at some island for 27 years who would be able to relate and
probably come close to being the man that Mandela was if they too became
presidents.
Nelson
Mandela was a great man no doubt. He defied expectations and showed that
forgiveness has power to heal a nation, build bridges and make an impact on the
world beyond comprehension. One half of
me still thinks that Nelson Mandela may have been overrated. This was no fault
of his own, the world had chosen to gloss over his flaws and present a
superhuman. Therefore, the greatness of this man needs to be put in context of
the circumstances that surrounded him at the time of his release. Mandela’s age
can definitely not be ignored in many of the decisions he made after he walked
out of Robben Island an old man.
