In Defense of Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela

Living in South Africa the name Nelson Mandela has become almost synonymous with the country’s identity. The legend and icon that was the country’s first democratic president is inseparable from the nations own international image, his own character having come to define our own ambitions and values. Indeed, Nelson Mandela is as much a symbolism of South African freedom, as he was a real psychical being, and that's where the conflict is. To many South Africans Nelson Mandela is no longer a person, but rather an idea.

With all iconic figures of human history there is always the open opportunity for hyperbole or the fuzzy-ing of memory that allows for error in recollection of events. Some might think that in the age of information that problem would be engineered out with shiny new interweb thingy’s, but I believe its just further mystified many of our leaders, and Nelson Mandela is a perfect example.

In reality there exists quite a few different Nelson Mandela’s, all very different in their values, agenda, or means of persuasion, but mostly I would like to discuss two: Historical Mandela and Practical Mandela.

Historical Mandela is most of what exists of Nelson Mandela’s legacy. Historical Mandela is the image of him emerging from Robben Island, Winne Mandela in hand, or of him addressing the nation on national television ushering in the end of the armed struggle, or of him being lifted into the air by the Springboks at the Rugby World Cup in 1995. Most millennial South Africans are introduced to this Mandela in their schooling years, with stories of him as a larger than life being who singlehandedly lifted South Africa out of Apartheid with his colorful shirts and impressive dancing skills.

Pictured here: Mandela giving the shuffle a new meaning

This Mandela is the embodiment, and not a contributor, of the rainbow nation. This may explain why many young South Africans have begun to turn on Mandela’s legacy with distaste and criticism. He embodies the exact system they hold so much frustration towards. Accusing Mandela of “selling out” or “being to soft on white people” are commonly heard statements at more radical gatherings, and this sentiment is on the rise.

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has been known to be especially critical of the Mandela legacy, although that seems to be changing.

In this we try to lay the blame for the issues facing our society at the feet of Nelson Mandela, since it was he who crafted and formed South African society with all its successes and failures.  All Mandela’s years of struggle and freedom fighting are reverted into the few years he spent both prior and during his presidency. Historical Mandela is either doted upon or despised, and for mostly the same reasons. His years at the helm of our nation were definitive of his public character. And for most people that’s all that mattered, what he did when he was no longer the mythical leader trapped on Robben Island.

But my favourite Mandela is the practical entity known as Rolihlahla Mandela. I admire this Mandela for his fierceness when elected into the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL), his courage when embarking upon the armed struggle, his persistence and belief when incarcerated on Robben Island, and his leadership in governing a young and divided nation with little to no experience.

This Mandela was deeply passionate, but also benefited from the excellence and intelligence that surrounded him. The Nelson Mandela story is a story of Sisulu’s, Thambo’s, Kathrada’s, Mbeki’s and many more leaders whom may not have even agreed with him, but respected his leadership. It is a story of immense struggle and compromises that shook at the very core values he had held onto for most of his life. A story of decisions made to secure the best possible future for many South Africans in a globalizing world; decisions that were contrary to Mandela’s own ideology of state governance, but were made with the understanding of very little room for flexibility and a considerable amount of external pressure and influence.

Some of the influence and friendship in his life

Nelson Mandela’s presidency was nowhere near transformative enough to create the needed change for millions of South Africans in poverty, but I implore you to ask the question; what presidency would have been, and would it have been sustainable? This question must be answered with the further consideration that Mandela did not run the country on his own, contrary to popular belief. There are many leaders, who played active roles in establishing the very same structures they now criticize as echoes of a failed Mandela administration (that they were part of!).

Nelson Mandela was a great leader, exceptional by any means of definition. And he, too, needs to be criticized and assessed in his historical context as a leader in South Africa’s most formative years. As a society we place too much upon the name “Mandela”, be it positive or negative.

For the “children of Mandela”, he is freedom and oppression, a guide and a deceiver. For his followers he was larger than life, and yet at some points, painfully human.  Whether it is a Practical or Historical Mandela you wish to speak of, know this. He was both men, and neither.

I end with a quote by Julius Malema: