Mandela proved struggle could be too hard, too long

The African freedom fighter did not spare any effort to end white domination

BEIRUT - Alternative staff

November 2003

“The voyage of freedom is always worthwhile.” These words have been the bread and butter of a great man who strived to ensure that justice and equality reigned supreme.

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was among those people who went an extra mile to prove that injustice and oppression can be vanquished by brave men. Mandela’s years of struggle have become a landmark for people to admire and follow.

Mandela was born in 1918 in the village of Umtata in the Transkei (South Africa). His father, Henry Mgadla Mandela, was chief councilor to Thembuland's acting paramount chief David Dalindyebo.

When his father died, Mandela became the chief's ward and was groomed for the chieftainship. It was during these years that Mandela was exposed to the problems and concerns of his people and it was then that he decided to become a lawyer.

Mandela also says that a great influence was “hearing the elder’s stories of his ancestor’s velour during the wars of resistance in defense of their fatherland, and dreamed also of making my own contribution to the freedom struggle of my people.”

Mandela received his primary education in a local mission school then moved to Healdtown, a reputable Wesleyan secondary school.

He then enrolled at the University College of Fort Hare for the Bachelor of Arts Degree where he was elected to the representative Student Council. He was suspended from college for joining in a boycott protest. He went to Johannesburg where he completed his BA by correspondence, took articles of clerkship and commenced study for his law degree.

Mandela entered politics in earnest while studying in Johannesburg by joining the African National Congress (ANC) in 1942. It was at the peak of the Second World War that Mandela and his comrades turned the ANC into a mass movement deriving their strength and motivation from the unlettered millions of working people in the towns and countryside, the peasants in the rural areas and the professionals.

The ANC later became the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL), in which Mandela was very active and became involved in programs of passive resistance against the laws that forced blacks to carry passes and kept them in a position of permanent servility, opting for nonviolence as a strategy.

Although not the head of the ANC, Mandela earned the respect of his comrades as he proved a staunch and dedicated freedom fighter. 

Mandela justified later violent reaction the the white government’s repression by saying that the shift “was only when all else had failed, when all channels of peaceful protest had been barred to us, that the decision was made to embark on violent forms of political struggle, and to form Umkhonto we Sizwe...the government had left us no other choice.”

Mandela became a fugitive who constantly evaded the white authorities. This young freedom fighter was very successful as a fugitive as he was dubbed the Black Pimpernel, a derogatory adaptation of Baroness Orczy's fictional character the Scarlet Pimpernel, who daringly evaded capture during the French Revolution.

Mandela’s adventures as a fugitive transformed him into folktales which people would embellish, but the fact was that Mandela maintained a very low profile during his run trying to blend in without detection.

According to Mandela, “there were many wild and inaccurate stories about my experiences underground. On one occasion, I was driving in town and I stopped at a traffic light. I looked to my left and in an adjacent car saw Colonel Spengler, the chief of the Witwatersrand Security Branch.”

It would have been a great plum for the colonel to catch the Black Pimpernel. “I was wearing a workman's cap, my blue overalls, and my glasses. He never looked my way, but even so the seconds I spent waiting for the light to change seemed like hours.”

 In 1961 Umkhonto we Sizwe was formed, with Mandela as its commander-in-chief. In 1962 Mandela left the country illegaly and traveled abroad for several months. In Ethiopia he addressed the Conference of the Pan-African Freedom Movement of East and Central Africa, and was warmly received by senior political leaders in several countries.

During this trip, Mandela anticipating an intensification of the armed struggle, began to arrange guerrilla training for members of Umkhonto we Sizwe.

After his return to South Africa, Mandela was trailed for illegal exit from the country and incitement to strike. Mandela defended himself in front of the court which sentenced him to five years in prison and was later on sentenced to life imprisonment after being accused of sabotage.

During the trial, the Black Pimpernel insisted on defending himself as he addressed the white tribunal by saying “I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if need be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”

Mandela served his prison sentence on Robben Island where he spent 18 years. He was only allowed one visitor per year for 30 minutes and was allowed to send and receive one mail every six months.

Mandela was released in 1990 and soon afterwards declared the halting of armed resistance against the government. Mandela was elected as the first democratic president of South Africa in 1994 and remained president until he retired from public life in 1999.  The modest Mandela affirmed “I was not a messiah, but an ordinary man who had become a leader because of extraordinary circumstances.”

He currently resides in his birth place - Qunu, Transkei.