Nelson Rolihlahla Dalibhunga Mandela a.k.a Madiba the first president of a democratic south Africa turns 94 years to day, .Nelson Mandera’s life is an inspiration, and he has set a benchmark for compassionate leadership.
Born on 18th July 1918 in little village of mvezo in quni in southern transkei south Africa into the royal family of the Tembu axhosa-speaking tribe He is one of the 13children and the youngest of four boys of his father’s four wives.
His father died when he was nine years old and his uncle the ruler of his tribe became his guardian.
He was the first of his family to go to school and begun his primary education when he was seven years at a Methodist missionary school where he was given the name Nelson.
His education continued at the Clarkebury School and later at all-British Healdton high school, a strict Methodist college and it is at this high school that Mandera heard of the African national congress (ANC) for the first time.
Nelson later joined African native college of fort Hare to pursue a Bachelor of Arts degree only to be expelled for participating in a student strike.
It was not until 1944 that Mandela joined ANC together with comrades Walter Sisulu and Tambo this group formed ANC youth league and by 1947 he was its secretary General who was later elected its national president in 1951, hence marking the beginning of his struggle and fight against Apartheid, independence and white domination in his country.
He became instrumental in the fight against racial segregation, independence of his country, rule of law, human rights, freedom of speech and expression among others in his country this costed most of his early years in prison and in July 1962 he was arrested and imprisoned for five years on his way back from a freedom conference in Algeria whereby on 20th April 1964 at the opening of his defense case he remarked:
“ The ANC has spent half a century fighting against racialism, when it triumphs it will not change that policy-This then is what the ANC is fighting-their struggle is truly a national one. it is a struggle of the African people inspired by their own suffering and their own experience. It is a struggle for the right to live”
All this suffering and torture inflicted on him never changed his zeal and charisma to fight for the African cause and he was once quoted as saying;
“During my life time, I have dedicated my self to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against black domination I have cherished the I deal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an Ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve.
But if needs be, it is an ideal for which Iam prepared to die”.
But this didn’t stop his enemies and enemies of black race to continue executing their duties and on 11th June 1964 he was convicted and sentenced to a life imprisonment and incarcerated at Robbin Island prison, a former leper colony 7km off the coast from capetown, but never gave up and accelerated his struggle to end apartheid.
By 1982 tougher with Sisulu he was transfered to Robbin island Prison to the maximum-security polls moor prison on the main land, and on 2nd Feb 1990, F.W.de Klerk a moderate National party president who replaced P.W.Botha announced that Mandela will be released and finally good news broke the world on Sunday 11th feb when he was finally released at the age of 71 years after spending almost three decades in custody ( 27 years).
While rembering 94 years of his existence, am privileged to say that;
Mandela’s life is a story of hardship, resilience and ultimate triumph told with a rare clarity and matching eloquence, a true man by conviction, a military man by necessity and a leader by commitment with a posture of a family man.
Nelson after all these struggles, he ended the Apartheid era on April 27th 1994 and was unanimously elected the president of South Africa by the national assembly on 9th may1994 and a day after inaugurated at a ceremony in Pretoria, and remarked;
“We dedicate this day to all the heroes and heroines in this country and the rest of the world who sacrificed in many ways and surrendered their lives so that we should be free’’ he continued “Their dream have become reality”
Nelson Mandela is one of the great moral and political leaders of our time: an international hero whose lifelong dedication to the fight against racial oppression in South Africa won him the Nobel Peace Prize and the presidency of his country.
Since his triumphant release in 1990 from more than a quarter-century of imprisonment, Mandela has been at the center of the most compelling and inspiring political drama in the world.
As president of the African National Congress and head of South Africa’s antiapartheid movement, he was instrumental in moving the nation toward multiracial government and majority rule. He is revered everywhere as a vital force in the fight for human rights and racial equality.
Am therefore appealing to all pan-Africanists, nationalists and other peace lovers that while celebrating this extra-ordinary day of Mandela, we should let reverence for our independence, freedom, laws, rights, togetherness, reconciliation, sovereignty and self reliance among others be breathed by every African mother, to the lisping babe, that prattles on her lap—let it be taught in schools, in seminaries, and in colleges; let it be written in primers, spelling books, and in almanacs;–let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls, and enforced in courts of justice.
And, in short, let it become the political religion of our continent; and let the old and the young, the rich and the poor, the grave and the gay, of all sexes and toungues, and colors and conditions, sacrifice unceasingly upon its altars, then we shall have a better Africa to live in.
In 1997, Mandera resigned as the president and bowed out of politics, stepping down as president of south Africa and returning to live at his birth place in transkei where he now enjoys his last days.
To me, Nelson Mandela stands, as no other living figure does, for the triumph of dignity and hope over despair and hatred, of self-discipline and love over persecution and evil.
We should therefore not forget that he lived a life full of sympathy, love and compassion for others.
He has been a selfish less man that his achievements can only be achieved by those probably sent far away not in terms of planets but in terms of human thinking. My grandfather Madiba happy birth day and May Almighty God grant you more years!
