RIP Nelson Mandela

The first time I heard about Nelson Mandela was when I was a student at university, and his daughter Zinzi Mandela came to talk to us. While the white South African students said ‘who is Zinzi Mandela?’, our fellow Zimbabwean students, still raw and embittered from the Rhodesian Bush War that they had just spent a couple of years of their youth fighting in, said ‘let’s go throw rotten tomatoes at her’. Such was the mind-set of the country at that time. It was then that I learnt about Nelson Mandela.

Growing up in the cushioned-for-whites apartheid South Africa, Mandela was not a household subject in my non-political home. In fact in the 70’s, he and his political party the ANC were feared as terrorists who were responsible for the deaths of many with their bombs and other acts of violence. There was no freedom of the press and propaganda and strict censorship was rife, so it is not surprising that most white South Africans were ignorant as to who he really was, as we were kept in the fog of silence and lack of knowledge perpetuated by the white government. While people all over the world were campaigning for the release of Mandela, in South Africa you could get arrested for doing so.

Then the unbelievable happened in 1990, when he was finally released from prison after 27 years of incarceration. It was the birth of a new era of racial harmony and unity. I remember watching the event on television, having invited our gardener to come inside and watch with us – he who had hardly ever seen a TV before was so moved to see his lifelong hero on the screen. It was a moment of true unity for us. Then four years later, I vividly remember standing in the long queues at sunset with the African sky sinking behind the Johannesburg skyline, waiting to vote in the first democratically free election - it was a poignant and memorable occasion. People were singing and dancing and the foreign press were there interviewing many people, and the promise of a bright future for the country was almost tangible.

Years later Gavin was fortunate enough to meet him. Many South Africans did, he was a true leader of his nation, yet a man of his people.

When one thinks of Nelson Mandela today a string of positive adjectives spring to mind – dignified, compassionate, forgiving, inspirational, humane, courageous, idealist, visionary….. He is truly a legend who passing will leave the world without a hero.

This is for you Madiba, "Hamba kahle, Tata, your long walk is done’