Raised in a Mud Hut but Brilliant and Driven, He Freed His People, Transformed His Nation and Became a Global Icon of Peace
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User: DSlater Time: 12-18-2012 12:11 Product: Standard PubDate: .Bank Zone: Common Edition: 1 Page: ( Mandela1) Colour: CMYK CANADA’S NATIONAL NEWSPAPER • WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1969 1918 - 2013 MANDELA’S MAGIC RAISED IN A MUD HUT BUT BRILLIANT AND DRIVEN, HE FREED HIS PEOPLE, TRANSFORMED HIS NATION AND BECAME A GLOBAL ICON OF PEACE. BUT NOW THAT HE’S GONE, WILL HE BE FORGOTTEN? AN ASSESSMENT OF NELSON MANDELA’S LEGACY BY GLOBE CORRESPONDENTS PAST AND PRESENT PLUS AN EXCLUSIVE, INTIMATE FAREWELL FROM NOBEL LAUREATE NADINE GORDIMER DOUBLE IDENTITY: With his solid rural roots, Nelson Mandela, shown above at 19, ‘maintained a deep sense of the African self,’ friend and Nobel Prize- winning author Nadine Gordimer writes on Page 5 – a sense of self ‘in synergy with an understanding of Africa’s place in the contemporary world.’ P.K.A. GAESHWE/BLACK STAR Expanded coverage, including Sandra Martin’s full obituary, exclusive video of Bob Geldof and U2’s Bono discussing his impact and a guest book for anyone wishing to offer condolences or share their memories, at globeandmail.com/mandelatgam.ca/mandela NELSON MANDELA: 1918-2013 The captive freedom fighter who became a global role model . .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Nearly three decades ‘I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black dom- trapped in a cell, 1964 ination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all Sandra Martin persons live together in harmony … It is an ideal which I hope to live for and reports, steeled Mandela narrowly escapes the to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.’ death penalty and is sentenced Mandela to change to life at hard labour. The regime Nelson Mandela before Robben Island the course of history expects him to fade away, but he From his four-hour address to the court and his allies have other plans. that sentenced him to life in prison elson Mandela was a vision- Nary hero of the multiracial age. He began life in a mud- floored hut near the end of the First World War and wound up winning global accolades and the Nobel Peace Prize for his pivotal role in the liberation of 30 mil- lion black and coloured South Africans – and for avoiding a bloodbath in the process. Like an old soldier, he quietly faded away in Johannesburg today with his beloved wife, Gra- ça Machel, by his side. He will be buried with his ancestors in Qunu, a village he left as a young man but revisited often in nostal- gic reveries about his happy childhood before politics, pro- tests and prison determined his destiny. Although retired from public life since 2004, he remained a secular saint to his fervent fol- lowers. Almost anyone familiar with his life – with its extreme hardships and remarkable achievements – is impressed by his ability to learn from expe- rience, to mask his uncertainty and to inspire others to become better human beings. Convicted of treason in 1964, he was sentenced to life at hard labour and expected to fade from view (instead of being given the death penalty and turned into a martyr). Yet prison was the mak- ing of him as a political leader. Smart, determined and resilient, with a canny eye for the main chance, he acquired self-disci- pline during his long confine- ment, curbing the impatience and arrogance of his youth. He had the wisdom to realize that apartheid oppressed all South Africans – black, white and 2010 was largely a tribute to him UNREPENTANT: Eight defendants, ganization that would dominate the ANC), make speeches or even coloured alike – and that free- marking the 20th anniversary of Mandela among them, are taken the rest of his life. leave town. dom and justice must embrace his release after spending nearly away from the courthouse in The next year, he, Sisulu and So, in 1955, when the historic tyrants as well as their victims. three decades in prison. Pretoria with fists raised in defiance Oliver Tambo, whom he had met Congress of the People was held He also learned to take a long His legacy has its rough spots. after being convicted on June 16, at Fort Hare, helped to create the near Soweto to draft a “freedom view of the struggle, so that After coming to power, he 1964. Accused of treason, they ANC youth league. charter” for a democratic South when it finally ended, he was ensured the transition from seg- expected the death penalty but Also in 1944, he met and, three Africa of the future, Mandela had able to temper his bitterness and regation to multiracial democra- have been sentenced to life days before his 26th birthday, to watch in disguise from the forgo a heady surge of revenge in cy by assuaging white South imprisonment. AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE married Evelyn Mase, a cousin of sidelines. Six months later, he favour of the measured diploma- Africans, to stave off civil war, Sisulu who had come from the was among 136 opposition lead- cy of reconciliation. and placated financial markets, Transkei to train as a nurse. The ers accused of treason for alleg- Many African countries have to prevent an economic collapse. first of their four children arrived edly plotting a communist coup. elected visionary revolutionaries As a result, he saddled his new translates as “to pull a branch of two years later. He secured bail, but returned to as political leaders who then government with old debt, as a tree,” but Mandela suggested In 1948, South African voters his home to find that his wife, a became compromised, if not cor- well as onerous obligations to really means “troublemaker”) handed power to the Afrikaner- devout Jehovah’s Witness whose rupted, by the lure of power. white landowners and to interna- began his formal education, the dominated National Party, which faith ruled out political involve- Because of his principles, his tional economic organizations, first in his immediate family to advocated apartheid – the policy ment, had left, taking with her dedication to equality and social all of which made land reform do so, at the local mission school. of segregation and repression everything in the house, includ- justice and his lack of personal and income redistribution vir- It was there he was given his Eng- that would govern the country ing the children. ambition, Mandela stood apart. It tually impossible. lish name, likely in honour of for almost 50 years. He wasn’t alone long. In a few was with good reason that the He also seemed blinkered to naval legend Horatio Nelson. The ANC responded with a months, he drove past a beauti- United Nations recognized his the savage reality of HIV/AIDS, Mandela hoped to become a campaign of civil disobedience, ful young woman at a bus stop. contribution to world freedom in whose infection rate ballooned to civil servant one day, but in 1939, joining the Communists and At 22, Winnie Nomzamo Madiki- 2009 by designating July 18, his 25 from 8 per cent while he was he was expelled from the Univer- South African Indian Congress to zela was 16 years his junior and birthday, as Mandela Day. in office. It was only in retire- sity of Fort Hare for his part in a forge the multiracial resistance to had just graduated as the coun- A week before his 92nd birth- ment, after losing his own son to student protest and then, to bigotry that became its hallmark. try’s first black social worker. The day, he made a brief appearance the virus in 2005, that he cam- escape an arranged marriage, he . ............................................................... two fell in love, married in 1958 at the World Cup final in Johan- paigned openly for AIDS aware- fled to Johannesburg, where he Launches first black legal office and, within two years, had nesburg. Wearing a fur hat and ness and for antiretroviral drugs met Walter Sisulu, who would but soon runs afoul of the law daughters Zenani and Zindzi. bundled against the chill, he was to slow the disease. become his mentor, colleague In March, 1960, several months wheeled around the field in a Considering the scope of his and, eventually, cellmate. Two years later, Mandela finally before Zindzi’s birth, a pivotal golf cart to the joy of the crowd, achievement, however, such mis- Sisulu introduced Mandela to qualified as a lawyer and opened moment in the struggle against his face illuminated by a beatific steps were rare. Lazar Sidelsky, a liberal-minded the country’s first African-run apartheid took place. Police in smile. The last time he made a . ............................................................... lawyer who hired him as a clerk law firm in partnership with Sharpeville, a township outside public appearance, it proved a First in his family to go to school, trainee for his firm. Tambo. They provided affordable Johannesburg, panicked during a poignant and symbolic farewell. he wants to be a civil servant After completing his degree by advice to clients who otherwise protest at their station and fired Soccer and Mandela share a leg- correspondence, in 1943, Mandela would have had to appear unre- into a crowd of 10,000, killing 69 acy dating from his days on Rob- Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was enrolled in law at Johannesburg’s presented before white judges. and injuring 200. ben Island during the direst days born on July 18, 1918, the son of a University of the Witwatersrand. But he soon was caught be- In the aftermath, the govern- of apartheid when he and his fel- village chief in the Transkei He left six years later, again with- tween his respect for the law and ment declared a state of emer- low inmates were barred from region of what is now South Afri- out graduating, but not before his desire to denounce a regime gency and outlawed the ANC, playing it.