Madiba

Madiba has passed away and the world’s media is full of his life and times.

A truly iconic figure, he seemed to have gained a messianic following fed, not only by feature writers but by a list of world leaders as varied as Fidel Castro to Bill Clinton all impressed by his innate ability  to be anchored in a set of beliefs that were part of his very fibre and not the usual political make over. He was extraordinarily stubborn in his commitment, initially to the African cause and then amazingly he absorbed the whole nation in his humanity.  

If there was a moment it was when he embraced the winning South African rugby side and won over a crowd of mainly Afrikaner’s as he shook hands with Francois Pienaar the captain, who was plainly in awe of this charismatic man wearing a Springbok jersey sporting the number 6.

Behind it all, we who lived there have our own memories of living in the country during the Apartheid years, watching the events unfurl, having our fears assuaged by a largely Government controlled media,  being convinced we were an important part of a "cold war" conflict that the Communists were waging in Africa.          

South Africa was a bulwark of the West for many years, Simonstown an important base for the Royal Navy and the South African Army carrying on the fight into communist controlled states to the north.   

The Township troubles were cast as part of the communist onslaught and a fight that had to be fought. The issue of race was all around but was cast in this ideological conflict rather than the moral issue of the treatment of people based on the colour of their skin.

We employed black people and housed them in tiny rooms with the barest of amenities. We didn’t really consider them or their families in the same way as we thought of our own families, we came to a pragmatic acknowledgement that our own needs were pre-eminent and our life style was something we were not prepared to give up.

Watching a program, put together by David Dimbleby last night, we were reminded of the events that earmarked the passage of time from John Vorster through the Botha years to De Klerk. The Rivona Trial and prior to that, the arrest of Mandela, the Soweto uprising, and the reports of troubles in townships we had never heard of, as the State tried to keep the lid on the growing disharmony. We went to work and had our briaa, we gobbled our garlic prawns and glugged our Castles Larger, but had little real interest in what was happening just over the horizon.

The ANC were demonised and the leaders were persona non grata. There were rumours that certain business leaders, Anton Rupert, members of the Anglo camp had gone up to Angola to talk to these terrorists with the government blowing icy threats in their direction  of  cowardice in the face of the enemy.

We continued to party and were surprised when De Klerk announced the release of Mandela, Mandela who, oh that guy who we locked up years ago.  I visited Victor Vester Prison (trying to sell them medical packs containing sterilised equipment )  where he had been moved as part of the secret negotiation which was taking place between the ANC and President Botha. 

His release and the inter-party negotiations at Kempton Park were fascinating, even more so because we, the ordinary public were able to watch the meetings on TV, so different from the acutely secretive Afrikaner government who had always known what was best for all of us. We were now watching black men tying our heads of government in knots as the sentiment for a settlement took hold and the inevitable became clear.  

Ceril  Ramaposa was the lead man. How could a black man be so eloquent, looking the part, making the current ministers seem parochial – even dim !! Behind it all Mandela and De Klerk manoeuvring, trying to ensure their electorate had a fair share of the cake. It was a last cause for De Klerk, given the enormous disparity of the vote and the fact that the voters were lined up in terms of colour rather than the normal party promises.

Mandela the statesman who emerged from prison was a phenomenal in that he captured the world’s attention and was claimed by statesmen from all corners of the world, of all ideologies as the person they most wanted to share a platform with. Was he a terrorist, was he a freedom fighter was he a friend or did he bring our affluent house of cards tumbling down. Would we whites  have been better without him or was he inevitable and were we simply lucky to have had this peaceful giant on hand to guide us through the potential turmoil.