Excerpt: The Mandela That I Know
Editors’ Note:
In honor of Nelson Mandela International Day (July 18), we are publishing an excerpt of “The Mandela That I Know,” an article written by Siyabulela Mandela for our August 2020 issue of Freedom’s Plow.
In the piece, Siyabulela Mandela reflects on his great-grandfather’s legacy, arguing that it must be understood not as a singular story of forgiveness, but as a long, difficult journey for liberation that included nonviolent action, armed struggle, and pragmatic leadership.
Excerpt: “The Mandela That I Know” by Siyabulela Mandela
Introduction
Ah Dalibhunga![i]
Mandela was and will always be remembered as a pragmatic leader and a multifaceted individual who, upon studying the political and economic landscape of his era, made decisions based on balancing the forces and material conditions of his time in order to usher his people into the dawn of a democratic dispensation.
In this piece, I will attempt to address the deliberate agenda in many Western countries that seeks to present Mandela’s legacy as a singular story. As much as Mandela was a negotiator and peacemaker, he was also a pragmatic leader of the liberation movement, one who advocated for political violence when the nonviolent policy proved ineffective, while staying true to his ideals of freedom, co-existence of all races, and political and economic equality for all.
I write this exposition on Mandela’s legacy as a tribute to my great-grandfather Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, as a descendent of King Ngubengcuka of the Thembu Kingdom. I also write as a descendent of the House of Mandela and a son to the late Nosipho and Boy Mandela. I pledge my allegiance to my ancestors: Madiba, Sophitsho, Yem-Yem, Gqolomsila, Dlomo, Zondwa[ii], and the House of Mandela, from whom I draw inspiration, protection, and wisdom. I stand on the shoulders of my ancestors.
“On this day, we are called upon the world over to reminisce on the legacy of this giant of history and to emulate the ideals and values he dedicated his life to fighting for in order to create a better life for all. ”
On this day, the 18th of July, the world commemorates Mandela Day by dedicating 67 minutes to doing charitable work and service amongst our neighbours and communities in celebration of the 67 years that Nelson Mandela, as an advocate for peace and human rights, dedicated to a struggle against colonialism, Apartheid, and all forms of inequality and injustice. On this day, we are called upon the world over to reminisce on the legacy of this giant of history and to emulate the ideals and values he dedicated his life to fighting for in order to create a better life for all.
As I add my voice to many across the world who have studied and are inspired by Mandela, I endeavour to clarify some of the misconceptions and mistakes made with regard to remembering Mandela’s legacy, and I endeavour to put things into perspective in the scholarship around Mandela’s legacy.
Lastly, I endeavour to inspire my generation and the generation yet to come to understand the simple clarion call to action advanced by Frantz Fanon that ‘[e]ach generation must discover its mission, fulfill it or betray it, in relative opacity.’[iii] I hope this tribute to Mandela, titled “The Mandela I Know,” will inspire my generation in Africa and across the world to discover our mission, change the world, and fulfill Mandela’s vision of an Africa that is developed and at peace with itself.
The Leader of a Nonviolent Movement
In 1948, the Afrikaner National Party came into power and introduced the Apartheid system, which advanced an agenda for separate development of different racial groups in South Africa, one driven by an ideology of white supremacy and racism. Apartheid was a social system that severely disadvantaged the majority of the population on the basis of their pigmentation, which was different to the skin color of the ruling class (i.e., the English and Afrikaners).
In basic principles, Apartheid as a political and economic system adopted the same policy of segregation used under British colonial rule in South Africa. What was distinct about the Afrikaner National Party’s Apartheid system was that it made segregation part of the law, and Apartheid cruelly and forcibly separated people and adopted violent and punitive measures to punish those who were at odds with the system.
Following the introduction of the Apartheid system and its laws[iv], the African National Congress (ANC) responded by introducing their program of action in 1949, which included strike actions, protests, and other forms of nonviolent resistance.
In 1952, the ANC started the Defiance Campaign, led by Mandela as a volunteer-in-chief who played a significant role in organizing and coordinating its activities.[v] This campaign called on people to purposefully break the Apartheid laws and offer themselves for arrest. This strategy was informed by the idea to collapse the system from within by filling up prisons while mobilizing international support for the ANC-led struggle against Apartheid. As part of this campaign, Black people got onto ‘white buses,’ used ‘white toilets,’ entered into ‘white areas,’ and refused to use passes. The Defiance Campaign led to more than 8,000 people being arrested, yet still the Apartheid regime continued unabated its repressive, racist, and violent system. In the face of the regime’s brutal resilience, Nelson Mandela, Oliver Tambo, and Walter Sisulu became the catalysts for an armed resistance.
Mandela: The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces
There is a dominant mythology evident in both European and Western scholarship that seeks to present Mandela as only a chief advocate of forgiveness and nonviolent forms of resistance, while completely burying his pragmatic approach on the use of political violence as a Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces to compel the Apartheid regime to reconsider coming to the negotiation table.
In fact, in the 1980s, Mandela was regarded by Western countries like the United States and the United Kingdom as a terrorist advancing a communist agenda in Southern Africa. In this section on Mandela’s legacy, I endeavour to expose this mythology and present Mandela as a Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and a pragmatic leader that convinced the ANC to abandon the ineffective nonviolent approach against a government that had met any opposition to its illegitimate authority with brutal force.
“There are many people who feel that it is useless and futile for us to continue talking ‘peace and nonviolence’ against a government whose reply is only savage attacks on an unarmed and defenseless people.”
In June 1955, the ANC adopted the Freedom Charter in a conference in Kliptown, articulating the demands and crystallizing the aspirations of the oppressed peoples in South Africa. The Freedom Charter also served as a springboard for the ANC to launch a multiracial ideology and shift away from the perception that it was an African-only organisation.[vi]
Through its repressive laws, the Apartheid regime intensified its segregationist and racist policy. The events of the late 1950s and early 1960s compelled the ANC, through its Youth League led by Mandela, to reconsider the strategies and tactics used in advancing a relentless struggle for freedom and equality. The most significant catalyst that led to the armed struggle was the Sharpeville Massacre on March 21, 1960, during which the government violently crushed a peaceful anti-pass demonstration organized by the Pan-African Congress, resulting in the death of 67 people (with 186 wounded).
For Mandela, this was a turning point. Addressing the local and international press in a safe house, he argued that,
[t]here are many people who feel that the reaction of the government to our stay-at-home—ordering a general mobilization, arming the white community, arresting ten thousands of Africans—this show of force throughout the country, notwithstanding our clear declaration that this campaign is being run on peaceful and nonviolent lines, closes the chapter as far as our methods of political struggle are concerned.
There are many people who feel that it is useless and futile for us to continue talking ‘peace and nonviolence’ against a government whose reply is only savage attacks on an unarmed and defenseless people, and I think the time has come for us to consider, in the light of our experiences in this stay-at-home, whether the methods which we have applied so far are adequate.[vii]
The Freedom Fighter
Throughout his life, Mandela exhibited his pragmatic leadership style both within and outside the African National Congress, the executive committee of which Mandela was recruited to join in the 1950s. The ANC had engaged in a nonviolent approach to the struggle for liberation and equality since its inception in 1912. As a political organization established by Black educated elites, the ANC vehemently rejected armed action as a means to wage the struggle against British colonialism and Apartheid. However, after a critical examination of the tactics used by the government in response to the nonviolent resistance to Apartheid, Mandela convinced the ANC that it was time to resort to coordinated political violence and armed struggle against the minority regime.
“The narrative of political transition in South Africa in the popular imagination has become a tale of forgiveness rather than a story of justice. ”
Mandela was unequivocal about the meaning of freedom as a total dismantling of the Apartheid regime and its institutions, and his life was totally dedicated to uprooting oppression and restoring dignity. Yet when we talk of Mandela today, we focus on his message of peace and healing. Today, forgiveness is seen as a central component of Mandela’s legacy. However, this excessive focus on forgiveness diminishes Mandela’s political legacy and blunts his power.
The ‘rainbow nation’ and forgiveness narrative that is so dominant in South Africa when invoking Mandela’s legacy puts white people at the center of the frame. As a result, the narrative of political transition in South Africa in the popular imagination has become a tale of forgiveness rather than a story of justice. In Mandela’s 75-year career as a leader and an activist, he never dithered in his commitment to those who have been the greatest victims of Apartheid, and those victims were Black people.[viii]
Mandela was shaped by his experiences with Apartheid and his participation in both nonviolent and armed struggle against it. He later joined the National Executive ranks of the ANC and dedicated his life to dismantling the illegitimate regime and institutions of Apartheid and fighting for freedom and equality.
The road he traveled to achieve such an aim was long and difficult. Mandela was arrested on several occasions and stood trial four times between 1952 and 1964. It was during the Rivonia Trial of 1964 that Mandela faced the possibility of a death sentence. He delivered a powerful speech from the Dock on April 20, 1964, declaring, “I am prepared to die [for a democratic South Africa].”[ix] At this trial, Mandela was sentenced with seven of his comrades to life imprisonment and went on to serve 27 years of this sentence before he was unconditionally released.[x]
Conclusion
In 1985, the then president of the illegitimate Apartheid regime, P. W. Botha, offered to release Mandela on the condition that he denounce political violence and abandon the armed struggle.
As a response, Mandela delivered a letter outlining his rejection of Botha’s offer. It was read by his youngest daughter, Zindziswa Mandela, who died on July 13, 2020, four days before the writing of this paper.
In the letter, Mandela writes:
I cherish my own freedom dearly, but I care even more for your freedom. Too many have died since I went to prison. Too many have suffered for the love of freedom. I owe it to their widows, to their orphans, to their mothers and to their fathers who have grieved and wept for them. Not only I have suffered during these long, lonely, wasted years. I am not less life-loving than you are. But I cannot sell my birth right, nor am I prepared to sell the birth right of the people to be free. I am in prison as the representative of the people and of your organisation, the African National Congress, which was banned… I cannot and will not give any undertaking at a time when I and you, the people, are not free. Your freedom and mine cannot be separated. I will return.[xi]
Though Mandela was imprisoned for five more years after rejecting an offer to sell out the liberation struggle, the principled and pragmatic Mandela did return on February 11, 1990. When he did, he ushered his people to a democratic dispensation as their first democratically elected president, and went on to lead an ethical government answerable to the people.
It is important to note that the legacy of Mandela will never be complete without including the role that Winnie Madikizela-Mandela played before and after Mandela was imprisoned. It was Winnie, his wife, who kept the memory of Mandela alive—who ran the ‘Free Mandela’ Campaign and mobilized young people into persistent protests in defense of her husband. I suppose, in this exposition on Mandela’s legacy, the role of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela is among its limitations, including the understanding of Mandela as a lawyer, and of Mandela as a prisoner.
Despite these limitations, my main assertion remains: Mandela was a multifaceted individual and a pragmatic leader, and thus, any study of his life has to proceed from the premise that there is no singular understanding of his legacy.
“Not only I have suffered during these long, lonely, wasted years. I am not less life-loving than you are. But I cannot sell my birth right, nor am I prepared to sell the birth right of the people to be free.”
Read Siyabulela Mandela’s full article, “The Mandela That I Know,” in the August 2020 issue of Freedom’s Plow, released on August 15, 2020.
About the Author
Siyabulela Mandela is the Team Leader for Journalists for Human Rights in South Sudan and is currently a Ph.D. candidate in International Relations and Conflict Resolution in the Department of Politics and Conflict Studies at Nelson Mandela University, South Africa.
[i] Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela’s royal salutation as the traditional Chief of the House of Mandela within the Kingdom of the Thembu people.
[ii] These are the clan names commonly used by the people from the Thembu Kingdom, which are the names of the ancestors and Great Leaders of the Thembu Kingdom.
[iii] Frantz Fanon, Black Skin, White Masks,1952.
[iv] The most significant and violent laws introduced during the Apartheid system included the Group Areas Act of 1950, the Population Registration Act of 1950, the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act of 1949, the Immorality Amendment Act of 1950, and the Separate Representation of Voters Act of 1951.
[v] “Trials and Prisons Chronology,” Nelson Mandela Foundation Archives, https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/trials-and-prison-chronology.
[vi] The Freedom Charter, Kliptown, 1955. See https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/freedom-charter.
[vii] Mandela speaking underground with local and foreign press on the ANC adopting armed struggle against the Apartheid regime during his first TV interview in 1961 with ITN reporter Brian Widlake. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrBCgiFhmNA.
[viii] Nelson Mandela Lecture 2019 by Sisonke Msimang. See https://www.zammagazine.com/nelson-mandela-lecture/blog100/825-sisonke-msimang-live-stream.
[ix] Nelson Mandela, speech from the Dock, 20 April 1964. See https://www.un.org/en/events/mandeladay/court_statement_1964.shtml.
[x] “Trials and Prisons Chronology,” Nelson Mandela Foundation Archives, https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/trials-and-prison-chronology.
[xi] Statement by Nelson Mandela read on his behalf by his daughter Zindzi at a UDF Rally to celebrate Archbishop Tutu receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, Jabulani Stadium – Soweto, 10 February 1985. See http://www.mandela.gov.za/mandela_speeches/before/850210_udf.htm.
