[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he life and times of Nelson Mandela should be made known to all peoples who have been struggling not only for their political rights but for their economic sustenance as well since both rights go hand in hand. One cannot do without the other. What distinguishes Nelson Mandela despite his 27 years in Robbins Island Prison as a political prisoner of the Apartheid regime, is that during his incarceration, he thoroughly studied and eventually understood as to what makes the white rulers tick.President Pieter Botha decided to release Mandela provided he relaxed his agitation for a Black-dominated majority State. Mandela refused. But Botha’s successor, F.W. de Klerk saw the writing on the wall and ordered the release of Mandela. Both were awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace but at different times and for different reasons.
To understand the white rulers, it is imperative to know that the English and Dutch immigrants contested over land which did not really belong to them. The Zulus who are the majority African tribe inhabiting what is now the Republic of South Africa, had one basic shortcoming not the least being lack of access to firearms which both the British and the Boers (Dutch immigrants) had a-plenty—somewhat like the historical events in what is now the United States of America and to some extent in Canada. In fact, both the brutish and the Boers kept fighting against each other much to the consternation of the majority Zulus.
Still more relevant is to understand the thought processes of Nelson Mandela whom his people affectionately call Mandiba. He astutely understood that the whites be they British or Boers, were there to stay in his homeland. Moreover, they controlled the major share of business and were majority employed in the Government services. Mandela wisely decided to leave them alone in this respect.
South Africa has had famous itinerants like Winston Churchill who eventually wrote about his exploits there as a soldier and a journalist. Mahatma Gandhi himself was thrown out of a train first class compartment by a racist white conductor but he made the India immigrants there to adhere to the policy of non-violence. He eventually formulated his philosophy of non-violence on a wider scale and which he would later on galvanize people in India in their struggle for freedom from British rule.
One encouraging sign of the white rulers was that they sent troops to fight on the side of the Allies in North Africa. But the land and its resources notably diamonds and gold were strictly regulated. The diamond industry is still a major source of income for the Republic. Incidentally, a number of Hindi films have in recent years been shot in South Africa. Novels on the country’s people, black as well as white have been written by Wilbur Smith in case anyone is interested. It is also pertinent to note that Cape Town the southern most city of the Republic is a daily witness to the Great Indian Ocean on one side and the Atlantic on the other.
Today, the successors of Nelson Mandela have not lived up to his, and the world’s, expectations. Corruption as in anywhere else has become the bane of this promising country. Its welfare schemes have been contaminated and will take a long time to come on an even keel. South Africa now needs to find a leader not in the heroic role of Mandela but someone who is capable of creating a political constituency to overcome the corruption and old politics that is holding the country back from reaching the great man’s vision.
Hence, it would not be an exaggeration to note that our Nagaland’s problems are not too dissimilar from South Africa’s.
