3 years after, Mandela still ‘lives’ in South Africa

I was recently in South Africa and soon after we landed at the O. R. Tambo International Airport, in Johannesburg, it quickly dawned on me that the South Africans have a certain individual that is dear to all – in the person of the late Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela. From my  observation, the Great Mandela in […]

I was recently in South Africa and soon after we landed at the O. R. Tambo International Airport, in Johannesburg, it quickly dawned on me that the South Africans have a certain individual that is dear to all – in the person of the late Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela.

From my  observation, the Great Mandela in South Africa was not only a former president, a freedom fighter, a liberation advocate, a pacesetter, a father to all, a rallying point, but also a mirror upon which  everyone looks unto and gauge themselves.

So great was Mandela that almost everyone, irrespective of ethnic and other attachments uses him as the template for justifying actions.

Though those in the political class are struggling to outweigh one another in terms of power–sharing; the middle class competing  in the economic circle and the masses struggling to make ends meet, a point of convergence among all the groups is Mandela’s approach to life, love for the country and positive relationship.

As such, every other person has one thing or the other to do with anything Mandela, including his portraits, quotes, hairstyle, mode  of dressing, the way he  talked or danced and gestured.

With this in mind, it’s very common to “see” Mandela everywhere in government buildings,   malls, bus stations, restaurants, schools and even barbing saloons a development that reminds everyone how South Africa fought the Apartheid and about gave voice to the blacks.

It’s Mandela on all banknotes
Unlike what obtains in places like Nigeria, Ghana and other African countries, where pictures of notable personalities or landmarks are embossed on their currencies, everything money or legal tender in South Africa is about Mandela.

The Rand, which is the official name of the South African currency has the symbol “R” and is subdivided into 100 cents.
The coins, which are very much in use (probably because of the relative value of the money), are issued in 5c, 10c, 20c, 50c, R 1, R 2, and R 5 denominations.

On the other hand, the banknotes include R 10, R 20, R 50, R 100, R 200 denominations.
However, what grabbed my attention is that it’s only the smiling image of Mandela, with his grayish hair of wisdom that appears in obverse side of the banknotes, while various animals like lion, Rhinoceros, Cape buffalos, leopards and elephants on  the reverse.

Previous apartheid South African leaders are nowhere to be found on the banknotes, while post-apartheid leaders, though all of them are still alive, are not competing for space in the currency.

“I think our leaders have foresight in deciding to use the pictures of the Madiba (Mandela’s clan name),” said a lady, who worked at the restaurant of the hotel we were lodged in Johannesburg.

Her attention was drawn to my amazement on the day we arrived and she asked why I displayed some of the banknotes on the table and was looking at them.

I told her we’ve pictures of various past leaders or combination of representatives of various ethnic nationalities in our banknotes.

“No, everything here is Mandela, he’s with us all the time. You find him in the pockets and wallets of men as well as bags of women,” she said.

“Our banknotes remind us all the time that someone spent a whole lot of his life fighting for our liberation,” she added.
The  Rand is also legal tender in Swaziland and Lesotho, and is accepted in Namibia and during our stay in South Africa, about 14.12 Rand was the equivalent of 1 U.S. Dollar.

Conversely, 1 South African Rand equals 22.31 Nigerian Naira.
It was on 11 February, 2012 that President Jacob Zuma announced that the country would be issuing a complete set of banknotes bearing the image of  Mandela   and the new notes were released for transactions by the public on  November 6, 2012.

I gathered that soon after the “Mandela notes” were introduced, people from across the globe placed bids to get them.
During the ‘rush’ a full set of Mandela bank notes including a R200 note, a R100, a R50, a R20 and a R10 note costs R1, 200 even though they collectively  worth only R380.

It’s Madiba who welcomes visitors to the Presidency in Pretoria
A visitor to the Presidency, the seat of power in Pretoria is welcomed by the warm  embrace of Mandela’s statue.
 Invariably, you can’t see the incumbent in his office without saying ‘hello’ to Mandela, whose sculpture stands high and is seen from a distance as one approaches the palatial  building.

 South Africa’s Presidency is situated in the Union Buildings, Pretoria, and there’s a kind of an annex in Tuynhuys, Cape Town.

Mandela was the first post- Apartheid president to occupy the building after the African National Congress (ANC) won the first national non-racial elections in April 1994 with a landslide victory, ending minority rule.
At present, the presidential palace is like a Mecca of sorts, with diplomats, technocrats and tourists from within and outside South Africa visiting the place on daily basis.

Many take advantage of the visit to take photographs near the Mandela statue, the popular door he used to pass through to get to his official office.

The nine-metre bronze statue was unveiled a day after Mandela was buried. Many ANC members, veterans of the fight against apartheid and foreign dignitaries, including the Prince of Wales and many African presidents witnessed the unveiling of the structure.

The Nelson Mandela Square
Another large bronze sculpture of ex-South African president stands tall at the Nelson Mandela Square in Johannesburg.
Formally known as Sandton Square, named after the Sandton City, the place,  approximately 1000m2 and houses many shops, restaurants and a library on the far end, is reportedly  the largest retail complex in Africa.

The statue, meant to commemorate the 10th anniversary of South Africa’s first democratic elections, was officially renamed Nelson Mandela Square on March 31, 2004 in order of the Madiba, and was unveiled by his eldest granddaughter, Ndileka Mandela.

The statue stands 6 metres (20 ft) high and measures 2.3 metres (7 ft 7 in) from elbow to elbow, weighs 2.5 tons and  has been described as “towering”, “imposing”, and a “focal point” for the entire area.

The Mandela Bridge
 I had a view of the Mandela Bridge by coincidence when our driver somehow lost his bearing while taking us to the University of Witwatersrand.

It was indeed a sight to behold and we ended up thanking the driver for ‘missing his way’.
The Mandela Bridge is another architectural masterpiece named after the  Great Madiba and beside its aesthetic beauty, it reduces the stress of both vehicular and pedestrian users.

It was reportedly completed in 2003 at a  whopping R 120 million.
Aside beautifying the environment, the bridge, measuring 284 metres links  Braanfontein and Newtown, and was constructed over 42 railway lines without disturbing railway traffic.

The bridge can be viewed from some major far flung highways.
Indeed, hundreds of structures and awards, including streets, municipalities, bridges, squares, music groups, cars, parks, gardens, plants and animals have been named after Mandela.

And the honours transcend South African borders as Mandela’s name is not new to  other African countries, Europe, Asia and the Americas.

The Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory noted  on its website that South African  citizens have  a penchant for identifying themselves with the Madiba, noting that they found relish in  driving through the Nelson Mandela Boulevard in Tshwane, visiting Nelson Mandela Square, crossing the Nelson Mandela Bridge, enrolling in Nelson Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth, living in the Nelson Mandela residential hall at Rhodes University, visiting the Nelson Mandela Museum in the Eastern Cape, trekking the Madiba heritage trail in the Eastern Cape, or holidaying at the swanky Mandela Rhodes Place in Cape Town.

A simple search reveals  recognitions for Mandela from across the world to include 50 roads, two villages, 28 schools, three universities, 13 organizations, 19 accommodations, 11 parks, eight colleges, four museums, three stadia, four sport centres and a host of others.

 Keeping Mandela’s struggle
 Perhaps, Mandela and many of his contemporaries fought Apartheid aground in South Africa, but its tendencies still flourish in many facets long after the death of the Madiba.

 Two days after our arrival in South Africa, a banner headline in one of the dailies captured my attention to how some notable figures in the country are still struggling to “fight for freedom” from “white domination”.

 One of them is Julius Malema, the fiery  left winger who literally fought with almost everyone in the name of  liberating his people, the poor farmers, whom he said have been subjugated by the whites.

His large picture covered almost eighty per cent of the cover of the newspaper and a headline saying he was undergoing trial at the courts for allegedly inciting the blacks to invade unoccupied farmlands belonging to the whites.

 Shortly after one of his appearances in the courtroom in Bloemfontein, Malema told his admirers,  “When we leave here,  (when) you will see any beautiful piece of land, you like it, occupy it, it belongs to you… It is the land that was taken from us by white people by force through genocide,” he said.

Though his approach to the  freedom fight might be different from that of Mandela, Malema is so popular in South to the extent that his three-year-old party controls 25 of South African’s 400 parliamentary seats.

He is the  leader of the opposition Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF),  the political party he formed after he was expelled  from the ruling African National Congress (ANC) in 2012, following  a vicious fight  with President Jacob Zuma.
But he is not alone in the struggle. In January 2015, South African President Jacob Zuma announced that  the year  will see the first Zimbabwe-style land seizures.

 He stated this at a rally to mark the 103rd birthday of the ANC in Cape Town, where he said the 1913 Land Act had made blacks “almost like slaves” in South Africa.

According to him, the currently existing “willing buyer, willing seller” model of land reform had been “unsuccessful.”
 Mandela was born into the Madiba clan in the village of Mvezo, Transkei, on 18 July 1918 and died on: December 5, 2013. He is a symbol of global peacemaking who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 at the age of 95.

 He spent many of his years in jail while still fighting for a democratic and free society. In all, Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years, 18 of those on Robben Island.

 Many of his quotable quotes, such as “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world,”
“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it,” as well as his books are common features on front desks of hotels, public buildings among others.

  My impression of  South Africa
I was enchanted by the beautiful roads, skyscrapers, bridges and industries that I saw in Johannesburg, but was appalled  by the fact that oil is not among the top sources of foreign exchange in South Africa.

And I didn’t hear the people talking about recession (I don’t know if it’s biting there).
 I was also happy on one of those days when I went out jogging very early in the morning but saw   hundreds of youths, some in City Buses, others driving their cars and many others on bikes and bicycles going to work.

“The manufacturing sector gives opportunities to thousands of people some on permanent bases and others part time,” said a young man, Michael, who should be in his late twenties.

I met him trekking to work near some studios, at the back of Garden Court Milpark, the hotel where we lodged .

“Yes, we also have employment issues here but not as bad as in some African countries. The private sector is really doing all and college students do not exclusively look unto government for offers,” he said.
My quick check revealed that agriculture, forestry, fishing, mining, manufacturing, construction, wholesale and retail trade, transport and communication give jobs to millions of people.

With a population of 51.77-million, according to the 2011 Census, South Africa is said to be making an unassailable inroad as a knowledge-based economy, with a greater focus on technology, e-commerce, financial and other services, thereby assuring a prosperous future for its citizens.

Why we were in South Africa
About seven of us from Nigerian, drawn from the Daily Trust, Premium Times, The Telegraph, Vanguard and TVC were sponsored by various organizations to attend the 2016 African Investigative Journalism Conference at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.

Investigative journalists from no fewer than 28 countries, who excelled in various fields  of endeavours ,were sponsored for the programme.
It was an exhaustive training, detailing new models of investigative journalism, globalization of law enforcement agents, reporting for documentaries,  cross-border collaborations,  reporting terrorism in Africa,  the Panama Papers, China in Africa, how to investigate wrongful convictions,  multimedia story telling in Africa, reporting with mobile phone, data journalism, turning data into stories, measuring social media, finding people, how to protect the data on your computer and many other compelling topics.

 The trip to South Africa was really worth it even though I and my colleague, Ikechukwu Ibe, the award winning photographer from the  Daily Trust, would not forget how some taxi drivers at the airport swindled us of fifty US dollars while pretending to help us.

There was actually a car stationed at the airport to take us to our hotel. However, one of the  taxi drivers, while playing a “Good Samaritan”, collected the paper that has the hotel address from me  saying he would look for our driver.
Few minutes later, a different fellow approached us and simply said ‘let’s go guys.”

We had a good time driving until we got to the hotel lobby, brought down and luggage and thanked him for a good job ,only for him to say we must pay him.

“I’m a taxi driver, the fare is fifty dollars, he said.

“I and Ibe hesitated and the exchange dragged us to the hotel reception where those at the counter said they could not help as “we’ve missed our taxi.”

In order not to destroy my good mood, I simply paid the man fifty dollars (over N20,000) for journey not far from Berger in Abuja to Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, which we normally pay N5,000 or less for taxis.