ADIOS TATA!

BYE MANDELA! Screamed the Saturday Standard of December 7, 2013. Kenya through her media and leaders had paid tribute to the legendary statesman from South Africa. The Daily Mail captured it all in its headline, DEATH OF A COLOSSUS. The Sun, eulogized President of the World. The MDIBA, a television channel went on air since his death, solely eulogizing and paying tribute to Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, the father of the nation!

Politics and the sporting world once again came together, just as Tata had joined them in his life. The entire world and all her leaders paid tribute to the respectable man who lived up to every bit as a statesman. The sporting fraternity too paid to the man who was instrumental in ensuring that South Africa hosted the 2010 World Cup. Born in August 18 1918, he passed away on December 5 2013, at the glittering age of 95 years! He experienced the chills and horrors of the apartheid regime, fought them and united South Africans, away from the racial differences. The revered man, fondly referred to as Tata Madiba, the man is no more.

He was a unifier from the moment he walked out of prison; these are the words of fiery South African cleric, Archbishop Desmond Tutu. And yes indeed, Mandela exemplified this in his struggle to fight for the independence of South Africa, fight against apartheid and the fact that he united the country. He broke the racial lines that were the trademark of the apartheid regime! After 27 years in a prison on Robben Island, as a result of the ideals of freedom, equality and justice that he believed in  alongside other leaders like Walter Sisulu and Steve Biko among others, Mandela served only one term as president; from 1994-1999, then handed over power to Thabo Mbeki. Now this was humility and love for the nation. He chose not to cling on power as most African leaders do. Mandela did the complete opposite of the African trend whereby presidents hold on to power for as long as they breathe, not bearing in mind their ailing health and age!

Mandela was the enduring figure in the war against apartheid in his home country. A battle that he won and on his ascension to power, chose magnanimity over revenge, he forgave his oppressors.  Through him, the Rainbow nation was united and the apartheid was defeated. He dismantled the legacy of apartheid by tackling racism, poverty and inequality and fostered reconciliation of the black and white races. This set South Africa on the right footing to development and better lives for her citizens.The African son who believed in the cause of a better Africa for all.

From the Rivonia treason trial in 1964, where Mandela delivered a moving speech from the dock about ‘this struggle by the African people for a free and equal society, where all people had equal opportunities and lived in harmony. Later, these words captured from another speech … an ideal that if need be, my Lord, I am prepared to die for……,  showed the resolve by this man in his quest for a better South Africa. He was defiant and prescient, even as the shadow of death loomed so near every second of his bitter and treacherous fight for his ideals and cause.

Mandela chose to live his better part of life in trying to make his country better for all, and break the inequities that were so pronounced along the racial lines. Out of his 95 years alive, Mandela lived only 22 as a free man! And yes indeed, Mandela won this battle, however in a journey that was gruelling and even earned him the tag of the most famous political prisoner of his time.

In the sporting sphere, a year into his presidency, the South African rugby national team, The Springboks, won the 1995 Rugby World Cup, at their first attempt as a unitary state. A red-hot Jonah Lomu-inspired All Blacks lost to a Mandela- inspired Springboks.  President Mandela was on hand to the Ellis Webb trophy to the then South African captain Francois Pienaar. Three years later, the national soccer team, Bafana Bafana (The Boys) won the African Nations Cup, in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. …Sport laughs in the face of all discrimination’, Mandela once said. Truly incredible performances from a nation that was barely ten years old as a democracy! South Africa was fast blossoming in politics, social and sporting spheres!

However, as we join the entire world in mourning the death and celebrating the life of this legendary statesman, we need to revisit the leadership lessons that he taught us.

After a 27-years incarceration on Robben Island, Tata came into power in 1994. But he did one incredible and unique act of leadership. He chose to forgive the very tormentors who had made his life hard alongside other freedom fighters like Walter Sisulu and Steve Biko, among others. He chose magnanimity and humility in his five years of presidency and broke the bitter racial lines that South Africans had known. This is what African leaders should look into and break away from the nepotism, ethnicity and politics of division that they hold onto while in power. This would be a giant step in curing the African leadership of these ills of division that they sow with unyielding determination.

He chose to hand over power after just one term in office! This is perhaps the greatest legacy of the Mandela leadership that most African presidents have dismally fallen. Relinquishing the trappings of power, after just a term in office, despite the bitterly painful struggle and fight against apartheid and colonisation, is simply incredible!  It is only in Africa where we have presidents for life! They hold onto power for decades and abhor any sign of change. Political intimidation and constitutional violations are two key weapons that they use to cling on power. This is done at the expense of a nation’s peace and the social-political and economic well-being of the citizens. This high office is mainly used for personal and selfish gains. As a result, African is lagging this behind in development due to these poor leadership patterns; a continent that is the richest in natural resources. Mandela set the ball rolling in the right direction but successive leaderships across the continent have lost the plot.

As a continent, very rarely have African presidencies adhered to these great virtues of responsible leadership and service to humanity that Tata Madiba taught us, all through his struggle and then in his one-term presidency. The greatest respect to Tata would be for the African leaders to follow in his footsteps of leadership. That way, Africa would get back on that track that Mandela, Mwalimu Nyerere, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta and Kwame Nkrumah, among others envisaged as they waged the battle to attain self-determination and a better continent for all her sons.

You will always achieve more in this world through acts of mercy than you will through acts of retribution’’ Nelson Mandela once said on revenge.

Rest in Peace Tata Madiba.