Great kids: Nelson Mandela

A dream of freedom

HE was set free on February 11, 1990, after spending 26 years in prison because he wanted to liberate South Africa from the white man’s rule.

In 1994, he became the first coloured president of a country where blacks and whites were finally allowed to live as equals, side by side, shoulder to shoulder. The previous year, he shared the Nobel Peace Prize with then South African president F. W. de Klerk.

He was the chief guest at the Republic Day parade in New Delhi in 1995. He was honoured with the Gandhi Peace Prize in the Indian capital in March 2001.

Can you guess who he is? Why, former South African President Nelson Mandela, of course.

But life wasn’t always easy for a child who was named Rolihlahla by his parents when he was born on July 18, 1918, at Umtata in the Transkei. Do you know what his name means? ‘Stirring up trouble’!

I’m sure his parents never guessed how aptly they were naming the child who would spend the better part of his adult life fighting against the terrible apartheid laws, under which the blacks were no better than second-class citizens in South Africa. Upset by what he saw around him, he joined the African National Congress (ANC), which he later led with Walter Sisulu and Oliver Tambo.

Nelson and other ANC members protested peacefully against the apartheid system at first, but decided to change their means of protest when thousands of ANC supporters were arrested in the 1950s. Did this stop them? No, they continued to use non-violent methods until 69 protesters were killed by white police in 1960, in what is now known as the Sharpeville massacre.

Disgusted by the white man’s arrogance and power over them, Nelson and others formed a secret organisation that attacked government property. That’s called sabotage. They called themselves Umkhonto we Sizwe or Spear of the Nation.

It was in 1962 that Mandela was first arrested and sentenced to five years behind bars. Just two years later, he was given a life sentence. At this trial, Mandela spoke for himself:

“I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die…”

But all that’s much later in Nelson’s life. Where did the boy spend his childhood? In a white-washed hut amidst several that formed a kraal or settlement.  All around was a valley, through which the Mhashe river flowed lazily past maize fields and a wattle or acacia plantation, continuing its journey past cattle grazing in grasslands. The valley was surrounded by the rolling hills of the Transkei.

Nelson was born into the royal family of the Thembu at Qunu near Umtata, the capital village of the Transkei ‘reserve.’ A reserve is a specified area where South African blacks were sent to live, often crowding thousands of people into a tiny area, filled with shacks.

His father, Henry Gadla Mandela, who was the chief councillor to the Paramount Chief of the Thembu, had four wives. Nelson’s mother, a dignified woman of strong character, was named Nonqaphi, though most people called her Nosekeni.

Though neither of his parents had had a western education, Nelson studied at a mission school where a white teacher, who couldn’t pronounce his tribal name, Rolihlahla, announced one day, “You will be called Nelson!” What a strange way to acquire a name! Don’t you think so?

At school, Nelson was puzzled to find that only white men were heroes in their history textbooks, in which all blacks were seen as either savages or cattle thieves! These texts also referred to the legendary battles between the AmaXhosa and the British as the ‘Kaffir’ wars. Kaffirs are a group of grains native to Africa. Even then, the boy felt the history on those pages wasn’t fair at all.

While at the karral, each of the children had daily duties to attend to. While others herded cattle or looked after sheep, Nelson had to lend a hand in the fields, especially with the ploughing. But everyday life had little appeal for the boy, who longed for adventure.

To him, the night was the best part of the day, when they all sat around a huge campfire, while tribal elders related tales of “the good old days, before the arrival of the white man.”

Many years later, when Nelson became an international leader, he recalled those days as a child:

“The elders would tell tales about the wars fought by our ancestors in defence of the fatherland, as well as the acts of valour performed by generals and soldiers during the epic days. The names of Dingane and Bambata among the Zulus, of Hintsa, Makana, Ndamble of the AmaXhosa, and Sekukhuni and others in the north, were mentioned as the pride and glory of the entire African nation.”

Did he dress like all of you? Mabel, his sister, recalls that Nelson had to be content with his father’s cast-off clothes, with the sleeves cut to fit and the trouser legs shortened, of course. But far from shying away from the laughter that came his way, he kept going to school because he knew he wanted to learn, no matter what the other children thought of the way he dressed!

At home, the elders kept him in touch with recent history which had not yet been recorded in books. Nelson was horrified to learn of how, in 1921, the then South African Prime Minister, General Smuts, had sent an army to Bulhoek in the Eastern Cape. The troops massacred 163 men, women and children because they, members of an Israeli sect, had refused to move from the site where they were camping. How could adults behave in this cruel manner, he wondered. Didn’t all men have an equal right to the land?

Nelson also learnt of how Smuts’ planes had bombed the Bondelswarts people in Southwest Africa. Why? Because they refused to pay a dog tax they could not afford at all. Over 100 people were killed in that attack.

For years later, Nelson was haunted by the names Bulhoek and Bondelswarts, like so many other Africans on the continent.

One day in 1930, Henry Mandela fell ill. He knew he didn’t have very much longer in this world, so he sent for his relative, the Paramount Chief. Taking young Nelson by the hand, he said:

“I am giving you this servant, Rolihlahla. This is my only son. I can say from the way he speaks to his sisters and friends that his inclination is to help the nation. I want you to make him what you would like him to be. Give him an education. He will follow your example.”

Mabel, who was there at the time, heard Chief Jongintaba Dalindyebo give his word to Henry Mandela. And so, after his father passed away, 12-year-old Nelson went to live at Mqekezweni, which was the Great Chief’s place.

The Chief, who had great affection for the bright lad, brought him new clothes and allowed him to grow up with dignity.

Four years later, when he was 16, Nelson and other young men of his age were sent to the mountains for several weeks while the tribal elders prepared them to take part in tribal councils through various rites. While in the hilly area, all the boys painted their faces white and wore grass skirts! Can you imagine that?

Once he’d became an adult, Nelson was allowed to listen to the Paramount Chief conduct the court in which minor chiefs submitted their cases. Though most coloured people didn’t count in South Africa then, the Paramount Chief retained some powers, as well as the respect of his people.

As Nelson watched the tribal council in progress, he made up his mind to become a lawyer and fight for a fair deal for his people.

Even at Healdtown, the Methodist school that Nelson was to matriculate from, students thought more about politics than about their examinations. Isn’t that ever so different from all that you and your friends talk about at school every day?

But little did young Rolihlahla realise at that time that he was to become the President of South Africa. Would you have guessed what life had in store for him when Nelson Mandela was as young as you are today?