Nelson Mandela, the Great

Still, when it happened, it elicited sorrow and grief in South Africa, all over Africa and throughout the world at the passing of a man who had become the world’s moral compass and the epitome of political rectitude. Nelson Mandela was born into the Thembu royal family of South Africa’s modern-day Eastern Cape Province on […]

Still, when it happened, it elicited sorrow and grief in South Africa, all over Africa and throughout the world at the passing of a man who had become the world’s moral compass and the epitome of political rectitude.
Nelson Mandela was born into the Thembu royal family of South Africa’s modern-day Eastern Cape Province on July 18 1918. He attended the Fort Hare University and the University of Witwatersrand where he studied law. His rise to anti-apartheid heroism and ultimately to international statesmanship and greatness began in the 1940s when he became involved in the struggle against racial oppression. He was a founder of the African National Congress [ANC] Youth League, the vanguard of its street protests.
During the 1950s, Mandela was deeply involved in ANC’s defiance campaign against apartheid. He played a prominent role in the 1955 Congress of the People which adopted the ANC’s world-famous Freedom Charter. He was one of the ANC leaders that were rounded up in 1956 and faced a trial that lasted five years but were acquitted.
By 1961, Mandela had abandoned the non-violent struggle and he founded ANC’s armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe. He went on a tour of African countries to mobilise support for Umkhonto. He was arrested in 1962 and was accused of attempting to overthrow the government. He was convicted in the Rivonia Trial in 1964 and sentenced to two consecutive life sentences. He went on to serve 27 years in prison at Robben Island, Pollsmoor and Victor Verster Prisons.  His long imprisonment elicited an international campaign for his release and he became the most potent symbol of the anti-apartheid struggle. His release from prison in 1990 signaled the start of negotiations that led to the dismantling of apartheid and the holding of South Africa’s first non-racial elections in 1994. As the candidate of the ANC he was elected as the first post-apartheid President of South Africa. He refused to seek a second term in 1999 and was succeeded by his deputy, Thabo Mbeki.
Even as president, Mandela left most day to day running of the government to Mbeki and instead focused on the larger issues of dismantling apartheid structures, fostering national reconciliation and fighting poverty and social inequality. He created Truth and Reconciliation Commission led by Archbishop Desmond Tutu which brought together apartheid-era victims and villains in order to achieve reconciliation. After he left the presidency, Mandela concentrated his energy on charitable causes such as the fight against HIV/AIDS as well as continued promotion of peace and reconciliation. Along the way he rose in stature until he became perhaps the most respected man in the whole world.
At his death last Friday, world leaders fell over themselves to pay tribute to Nelson Mandela. US President Barack Obama called Mandela “a man who took history in his hands and bent the arc of the moral universe towards justice”. He added, “We’ve lost one of the most influential, courageous and profoundly good human beings that any of us will share time with on this Earth. He achieved more than could be expected of any man. Madiba transformed South Africa and moved all of us.”
 United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called Mandela “a giant for justice” whose “selfless struggle for human dignity, equality and freedom” inspired people around the world. Pope Francis praised the “steadfast commitment shown by Nelson Mandela in promoting the human dignity of all the nation’s citizens and in forging a new South Africa.”
Archbishop Desmond Tutu said of Mandela, “Over the past 24 years Madiba taught us how to come together and to believe in ourselves and each other. He was a unifier from the moment he walked out of prison.” Former US President Bill Clinton said, “We will remember him as a man of uncommon grace and compassion for whom abandoning bitterness and embracing adversaries was not just a political strategy but a way of life.” Former President Jimmy Carter said “The people of South Africa and human rights advocates around the world have lost a great leader.” Another former US president, George W. Bush said Mandela was “one of the great forces for freedom and equality of our time. He bore his burdens with dignity and grace, and our world is better off because of his example.”
Among other tributes, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said, “This is as much India’s loss as South Africa’s. He was a true Gandhian.” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said, “His name will always be associated with the fight against the oppression of his people and with overcoming the apartheid regime. Not even years in prison could break Nelson Mandela or make him bitter.” Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said, “He fought for the abolition of apartheid with strong will. On nation building, he made a major achievement with focus on the reconciliation of the people. He was a great leader.”
President Goodluck Jonathan joined in the torrent of tributes saying “Mandela will always be remembered and honoured by all mankind as one of its greatest liberators, a wise, courageous and compassionate leader and an icon of true democracy.” He said Mandela was “a source of inspiration to the oppressed peoples all over the world” and that his death “will create a huge vacuum that will be difficult to fill in our continent.”
With the death of Nelson Mandela, the greatest man alive had just departed this world. Nelson Mandela will go down in history books as the greatest man to come out of Africa at least in the last 100 years. No African statesman ever achieved as much hero and role model status all across the world as did Mandela, who in his lifetime received more than 250 honours including the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize, the US Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Soviet Order of Lenin and the Bharat Ratna. Not just African; no man anywhere ever achieved this measure of respect and recognition in the modern world. The celebration of his life that is going on all over the world at this time surpassed any other one in living memory, and his funeral slated for later this week promises to be the largest such international gathering in living memory.
Beyond all that, Nelson Mandela has earned for himself a place in the history books as the beacon of hope, morality and rectitude in a world in dire need of all three. Africa is proud to have produced such a great man. May his great and gentle soul rest in perfect peace.