Nelson Mandela has made his final transition. His is a larger-than-life image, and so it stands to reason that his life and legacy will be subject to the utmost scrutiny. Mandela was a man, with self-admitted strengths and flaws. He was not the “platitudinous cardboard character” that esteemed journalist Bob Herbert alluded to in his critique of the mainstream media’s white-washing of the Mandela legacy.
Some would have us believe that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a mere dreamer. Every January and April, we get bombarded with selected excerpts from his famous “I Have a Dream” speech that downplay King’s critique of the political and economic system that negatively impacted the poor, especially black folks. Dr. King publicly stated his opposition to many U.S. policies like the Vietnam War, the death penalty, poverty and other economic inequities. And he tirelessly worked for new, more humane policies.
Before the U.S. embraced Mandela as a hero of peace, it had placed him and his organization, the African National Congress, on its terrorists list. The CIA gave Mandela’s location to the apartheid regime for his capture and ultimate conviction for treason. Let’s not forget how long the U.S. was cozy with the brutal and racist South African government whose apartheid laws were patterned off our domestic apartheid laws, aka Jim Crow. President Ronald Reagan went to the mat opposing sanctions against South Africa, including having his veto overridden by Congress.
Mandela’s rise to become the first black president of his country was remarkable; he moved the country to a place of healing and reconciliation. Some critics point out that although the most public face of apartheid was erased, the status quo of white rule was largely maintained.
An example of this was the Mandela-Rhodes Foundation in Cape Town, where the Minerals-Energy Complex and key financial institutions were given priority in the decision-making, as had been the case for the prior 150 years. Cecil Rhodes was an English settler who made his fortune by exploiting the diamond industry in Southern Africa. The British took the land and named the colony Rhodesia. The native people eventually fought to get it back and renamed it Zimbabwe. The question is: Why would you associate your good name with a colonialist thief?
President Jacob Zuma was soundly booed at Mandela’s memorial; the contempt of the people could not be contained, even for such a solemn occasion. The ANC-led government has been facing violent labor unrest and protests over persisting poverty, crime and unemployment.
The government has definitely departed from the vision laid out in the 1955 Freedom Charter which came directly from the people. It should’ve been a red flag that while much of the Charter was embedded in the new constitution of 1994, the redistribution of land and the nationalization of the country’s industries were noticeably absent.
The ANC is losing popularity and facing charges of corruption. It has definitely deviated from the non-racial, non-sexist, non-exploitive society that Mandela talked about in the early years of his presidency. Critics of the current social and economic situation lay it at the feet of President Mandela and the foundation he failed to lay down that would sever all white colonial ties to power.
I’m not saying he is free of all responsibility, but one person does not truly run a government. Mandela was one man with one voice, one vote.
The South African people’s struggle for freedom and a true democracy continues. Like us in the U.S., they now know that elections are no silver bullets even when they sweep popular figures into power. Elections must be part of a broader, strategic movement that continues to educate and organize the people.
We must challenge the revisionism of Madiba’s legacy. This doesn’t mean being uncritical of Mandela or the ANC, it means being informed and objective. Our tasks are to keep Mandela from being made into a platitudinous cardboard character and to continue to support the just struggles of the South African people.
