Nelson Madela

Nelson Mandela: leader among leader

The first black president of South Africa credited with ending apartheid there, died Thursday (05.12.13) in South Africa. He was 95 years old.

Chief among African leaders, Nelson Mandela is one of few statesmen to have achieved almost universal respect around the world and across the political spectrum.

His role in fighting apartheid, his imprisonment on Robben Island - where he came to symbolise the struggle of oppressed people around the world - and his ability to steer South Africa through the crisis of its rebirth earned him the international reputation of benevolent negotiator and quintessential peacemaker.

Imprisoned for 27 years for his opposition to apartheid, Mandela came out of prison in 1990 expressing no bitterness towards his tormentors. Instead, he championed reconciliation among South Africa's polarised races, espousing the principles of nation-building and cooperative governance.

 Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela;( born 18 July 1918, at Mvezo, Umtatu, South Africa)  is a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary and politician who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the first black South African to hold the office, and the first elected in a fully representative, multiracial election. His government focused on dismantling the legacy of apartheid through tackling institutionalised racism, poverty and inequality, and fostering racial reconciliation. Politically an African nationalist and democratic socialist, he served as the President of the African National Congress (ANC) from 1991 to 1997. Internationally, Mandela was the Secretary General of the Non-Aligned Movement from 1998 to 1999.

“ No one in my family had ever attended school. …. On the first day of school my teacher, Miss Mdingane, gave each of us an English name, This was the custom among Africans in those days and was undoubtedly due to the British bias of our education. That day, Miss Midingane told me that my name was Nelson. Why this particular name I have no idea.” Mandela, 1994.

In the early 1950s, Mandela was influenced by left-wing, anti-colonialist thought, including figures like Karl Marx.

Inspired by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement in the Cuban Revolution, in 1961 Mandela co-founded Umkhonto we Sizwe ("Spear of the Nation", abbreviated MK) with Sisulu and the communist Joe Slovo. Becoming chairman of the militant group, he gained ideas from illegal literature on guerilla warfare by Mao and Che Guevara. Officially separate from the ANC, in later years MK became the group's armed wing. Most early MK members were white communists; after hiding in communist Wolfie Kodesh's flat in Berea, Mandela moved to the communist-owned Liliesleaf Farm in Rivonia, there joined by Raymond Mhlaba, Slovo and Bernstein, who put together the MK constitution. Operating through a cell structure, the MK agreed to acts of sabotage to exert maximum pressure on the government with minimum casualties, bombing military installations, power plants, telephone lines and transport links at night, when civilians were not present. Mandela noted that should these tactics fail, MK would resort to "guerilla warfare and terrorism."Soon after ANC leader Luthuli was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the MK publicly announced its existence with 57 bombings on Dingane's Day (16 December) 1961, followed by further attacks on New Year's Eve.

Mandela was one of the few leaders cabable of inspiring confidence both inside and outside the country. Few others would have managed to unite the disparate warring parties and steer South Africa from what seemed to be the brink of civil war.

To some, Mandela had a near-omnipotent power at the negotiating table, carrying with him an indubitable moral authority and gentle but firm sense of fairness. In 1993, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, which he shared with former South African president FW de Klerk.

As South Africa's first democratically elected President in 1994, Mandela tackled the challenge of uniting both the country's racial groupings and a fragmented public service whose delivery mandate was skewed in favour of the white population.

A significant milestone of his presidency was the exemplary constitution-making process, which delivered a document that is the envy of the democratic world.

Mandela is equally known for taking a strong stand against the giant world powers - especially in defence of Africa. As President, he was unrestrained in embracing the ANC's former allies, such as Libya's Muammar Gadaffi and Palestinian Liberation Organisation leader Yasser Arafat, in spite of criticism from the United States.

His position also made for fluid relationships with both Russia and China, former communist allies of the ANC.

After handing over the reigns of the presidency to Thabo Mbeki in 1999, Mandela played a key role as middleman in crisis-hit areas such as Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Besides campaigning globally for peace, Mandela focused his still prodigious energies increasingly on empowering disadvantaged children and fighting against HIV/Aids.

In June 2004, Mandela officially retired from public life. His parting gift - a R1-billion endowment to South Africa, to be raised by the three charitable organisations that bear his name: the Nelson Mandela Foundation, the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund and the Nelson Mandela Rhodes Foundation.

RED SALUTE

C.SUNISH.