Did Mandela ‘sell out’ the struggle for freedom?

Raymond Suttner, The Daily Maverick

Each generation must, out of relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfil it, or betray it.

— Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth.

For every generation to find its own path, to know what ought to be adopted from what has gone before and what has been done by previous generations, it is important to engage from an informed position.

It is the earlier work of previous political and social movements that determine the conditions under which those who come later address unfinished forms of oppression and the errors or mistakes of those who went before them. It is through engagement with the present in the context of this inheritance that they may be able to make informed choices that contribute to the broader national debate that needs to unfold.

Sisonke Msimang: Mad at Mandela

Bravo Estela

Nelson Mandela & Fidel Castro

Vashna Jagarnath, The Con

Living in Grahamstown, a small settler town that began its life as a fort on the colonial frontier, is often hard work.

On most days it seems that the spirit of John Graham, the British soldier sent to drive the Xhosa across the Fish River in 1811, would feel more at home in this town today than that of Makhanda Nxele, who, seven years later in 1818, led an attack on the colonial fort.

But here and there daily life throws up sometimes surprising moments of inspiration. And every now and then we are richly indulged by visits from remarkable people.

In recent years Tariq Ali, Jacques Depelchin, Lewis Gordon, Silvia Federici, Nomboniso Gasa, John Holloway, Achille Mbembe, VY Mudimbe and Raymond Suttner have all shared their gifts and strength with us.

An Evening With Film Maker Estele Bravo

MANDELA AND FIDEL / SOUTH AFRICA AND CUBA: AN EVENING WITH FILM MAKER ESTELA BRAVO (Wed, 26 February, 6.30pm - Barratt One)

The Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER), School of Journalism and Media Studies, and the International Office cordially invite you to a screening of two documentaries by acclaimed American documentary film-maker Estela Bravo.  We are privileged to have Estela Bravo introduce and discuss the documentaries with us at the screening.

"MANDELA AND FIDEL" (2013, 30 min) recounts the friendship of ex-president Nelson Mandela with Fidel Castro of Cuba. Based on the unique access Estela Bravo gained to both men, she explores the source of their friendship in the context of the struggle to end apartheid in South Africa.

"AFTER THE BATTLE" (1991, 58 min) movingly recounts the stories of Cuban, South African, and Angolan soldiers who participated in the epic battle of Cuito Cuanavale in Angola in 1987. What was the motivation, and what was the outcome, for the ones who took part in the conflict, and for their families? Those who fought answer these questions. Filmed on location in South Africa, Angola, Namibia and Cuba, Bravo's documentary examines the politics and human consequences of the war from all sides. It features remarkable footage, archival material, and interviews with Cuban and South African soldiers, as well as the grieving families of those who were killed in the war.

Interview with Premesh Lalu on Nelson Mandela

World Bulletin / Ibrahim Tigli and Jalal Rayi - Cape Town

Nelson Mandela, South Africa's first black president who steered his nation out of apartheid, passed away on December 6 at the age of 95.

Premesh Lalu, who studies social history and the apartheid regime, has replied to the questions of World Bulletin about Nelson Mandela and South Africa's past and future.

Lalu is the director of the Centre for Humanities Research (University of the Western Cape) and chair of the Handspring Trust.

The Secret History of How Cuba Helped End Apartheid in South Africa

Nelson Mandela: Der Übergang

Richard Pithouse, Akkrise

Der Tod ist immer in der Nähe, und wichtig ist nicht zu wissen, ob du ihm entkommen kannst, sondern zu wissen, dass du alles getan hast, was möglich war, um deine Ideen zu verwirklichen. – Frantz Fanon, 1961

Als ein Junge ohne eigenen Vater und aufgewachsen als Mündel des Thembu-Regenten Jongintaba Dalindyebo in seinem Great Place von Mqekezweni in den grünen Hügeln der Transkei hörte Rolihlahla Mandela Geschichten über Menschen wie Nongqawuse und Makana, Menschen, die in die Gefilde der Mythen übergegangen waren. Als er 1934 die letzten Reste seiner Kindheit im Mbashe-Fluss abwusch, konnte er nicht ahnen, dass er in seinem Leben ebenfalls in die Mythen eingehen würde.

Ahmed Kathrada's Eulogy for Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela & Masculinity

Raymond Suttner, Mail & Guardian

The main biographies of Nelson Mandela do not consider him as a gendered subject. Yet in these times of widespread violence perpetrated by men, we may learn from Mandela's model of masculinity the type of man he represented.

He changed a lot over the years as his conditions altered; he changed as a human being. We are not dealing with a person whose identity as a man can be reduced to one single, enduring quality.

After Mandela, South Africa has far to go to achieve true racial equality

Grant Farred, Ithica Journal

It is at once discordant and historically appropriate that Nelson Mandela’s passing should have been announced by the current South African president, Jacob Zuma. There could not be a sharper contrast between two leaders.

The iconic Mandela, the first democratically elected South African president, champion of racial reconciliation and democracy, has nothing in common with a successor whose tenure is tainted by corruption, personal excess and scandal. Zuma’s presidency has seen the increase, especially in his home province of Kwazulu-Natal, of state violence against poor black citizens; it has also seen the rise of xenophobic violence against foreign blacks, many of them refugees from other African countries.

‘No Easy Walk to Freedom’: A new introduction

No Easy Walk to Freedom

by William Gumede, Pambazuka 

The first thing that strikes one as one reads the pages of Nelson Mandela’s speeches, letters and transcripts collected in ‘No Easy Walk to Freedom’, is that he and his generation of ANC and ANC Youth League leaders were political giants compared with the current cohort. During the “dark times” [1] of apartheid, the Mandela generation was far more visionary, intellectually astute, open to new ideas and far wiser.

Someone who occupies a position of authority and holds and exercises power is not always necessarily a leader. Leadership is about the quality of an individual’s actions, behaviour and vision. During the “dark times” of apartheid and colonialism, the Mandela generation offered a kind of leadership which was apparent in the quality of their actions.

Raymond Suttner Remembers Mandela (From the 13th minute)

A brittle memory of chains

by Mandla Langa, Business Day

FEBRUARY 10 1990 was an unseasonably warm afternoon for London, a circumstance, I remember thinking, which must have been favourable for a group of derelicts sipping from a flagon of cheap wine on Green Lanes, a lower middle-class neighbourhood straddling Islington and Stoke Newington and typified by barbershops, butcheries, restaurants and kebab joints servicing the mainly Greek Cypriot and Turkish communities. None of us — not the Saturday afternoon shoppers sampling Mediterranean fruits and dolmades from pavement stalls, nor the tramps risking liver sclerosis — could have guessed that an event of historic importance was to happen in the next 24 hours.

Raúl Castro's Eulogy for Nelson Mandela

Barack Obama's Eulogy for Nelson Mandela

The Mandela I Knew

Saths Copper, Eyewitness News

During my incarceration in the same single-cell block in Robben Island Maximum Security Prison with Nelson Rohihlala Mandela between 1977 to 1982 I got to know him intimately and had the advantage of interacting with him on a daily basis.

These were less than ideal conditions, often fraught with the tensions that accompany incarceration, but such hardships provide the opportunity for the best and worst in ourselves to emerge.

Saths Cooper speaks to Aubrey Masango about his Recollections of Nelson Mandela

The death of Mandela marks the triumphant end of Africa’s liberation struggle

Thandika Mkandawire, Africa is a Country

It is difficult to write about Nelson Mandela without sounding sycophantic or as if engaged in uncritical hero worship. Mandela’s stature and personality left little room for other sentiments other than those of profound admiration and gratitude. The post-World War II era produced some memorable African leaders who grace the pantheon of champions of the African liberation struggle. There is little doubt that Nelson “Madiba” Mandela ranked among the best of these.

In this brief note, I will simply point to the influences the man had on my generation (politically speaking). For much of the last century during which I grew up, Africa was involved in ridding itself of colonialism and racist rule. From the 1960s onwards, the walls of colonial domination crumbled one after another as the colonialists granted independence or simply ran away as did the Belgians while ensuring that King Leopold’s ghost would continue to haunt the heart of Africa that Congo is. And so for my generation, the death of Mandela marks the triumphant end of Africa’s liberation struggle.

Negotiator who outmanoeuvred PW

Pallo Jordan, The Sunday Independent

The announcement must have come while I was on the phone to my ageing mother. We had chatted at length about international events. “And how is Mandela?” she queried. “No real change since the last time,” I responded.

Imagine my shock when I turned on the TV to be met with the breaking news. Intellectually, I had come to terms with Madiba’s passing on the last occasion he was admitted to hospital. It had registered that it was just a matter of time. But, when the long-anticipated, inevitable moment arrived, it was emotionally wrenching. As a melancholy gripped me, here was that deep sadness, but no tears came to my eyes.

From some place, deep inside me, rose the emotions.

“A! Dalibhunga!

Gorha lomzi wakwaMthtirara!

With Nelson Mandela's death the ANC has lost the glue that kept it together

William Gumede, The Guardian

Nelson Mandela was the glue that held the deeply divided ANC together. Before his passing, he had been ill and out of active politics for many years, yet his mere presence had remained a powerful symbol for the ANC's rank and file. Mandela was a reminder of past glories, and a symbol of the hope that the ruling ANC might yet return to its democratic, caring and responsive roots.

Many ANC supporters believed that he either endorsed the current leadership, or was still involved in decision-making. This is one of the reasons why President Zuma and others in the leadership would wheel a clearly frail Mandela to campaign rallies, and why they were so keen to be photographed with him.