by Alkasim Abdulkadir

Chief amongst them has been that of his receiving the Nobel Prize alongside his jailer De Klerk, of which the militant members led by his ex-wife Winnie Mandela are yet to forgive him. His seeming failure at ending economic apartheid perhaps is the biggest of his perceived sins against the people of South Africa, even though his entire life and sojourn in jail was dedicated to the implementation of the freedom charter.

I first encountered Mandela in the late 80s, precisely around 1989, the clamour for his release was reaching a crescendo and Nigeria like all other parts of the world had been caught up in the Free Mandela fever. The HBO television film starring Danny Glover as Mandela and Alfred Woodward as Winnie was the touching and riveting tale of love, quest for emancipation and the dehumanising treatment suffered at the hands of South Africa’s apartheid regime. Even as a lad, I remember vividly the scene depicting the Soweto uprising and the shooting of innocent children, with this ingrained in our impressionable young minds, we grew up knowing that apartheid was bad and that Mandela must be free. Majek Fashek’s popular song Free Mandela was no doubt an anthem in my formative years. Thus Nigerians who grew up in the 60s, 70s and 80s were well acquainted with the issues surrounding the struggle of South African people.

The federal government of Nigeria’s foreign policy from the first republic to Gen. Babangida’s regime was fiercely anti-apartheid. The government of Nigeria not only channeled funds to the freedom fighters of Namibia, Angola and South Africa, but also gave their citizens education, helped build their human capital especially in the Judiciary and Security sectors. Without any gainsaying Nigeria was part of the struggle for the emancipation of Southern Africa.

One of the most poignant tributes expressing the loss of Nelson Mandela to me was expressed by the South African political cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro whose graphic was not only apt but forms the core of what I feel alongside millions of other people across the world. Shapiro’s illustration shows a group of people mourning at the bank of a river and in the far distant was the sun setting slowly, albeit it wasn’t the sun, it was Mandela’s face. That is how important the fixture of Mandela’s personality was, not only in his native South Africa, but the entire Africa and the world at large. It is not every day that an African leader dies that foreign governments send delegations or TV stations send delegations.

As it is with the case of life, once one passes the mirror on their lives is magnified to reflect on their lives much more than when they were alive. So even though the world is still saddened at his passing there have been several criticisms of some of the actions and inactions of his life

Chief amongst them has been that of his receiving the Nobel Prize alongside his jailer De Klerk, of which the militant members led by his ex-wife Winnie Mandela are yet to forgive him. His seeming failure at ending economic apartheid perhaps is the biggest of his perceived sins against the people of South Africa, even though his entire life and sojourn in jail was dedicated to the implementation of the freedom charter. The Charter’s clauses like “Land be given to all landless people”, “Living wages and shorter hours of work”, “free and compulsory education, irrespective of colour, race or nationality were jettisoned by the new constitution of South Africa when Mandela was overwhelmingly voted for in the multi-party elections of 1994, as such Madiba’s biggest crime became his failure to include and insist on the redistribution of the land and mines as outlined in the freedom charter.

As mentioned above, Mandela was not a perfect man nor was he a saint but none of these perceived inactions attributed to him can make him any less great than he was. He could have been wealthy beyond measure if he wanted to be a cash and carry freedom fighter, he could have insisted on seeking a second term in office like other African leaders, but left when the pull of power felt stronger than ever. He was jailed, beaten up, betrayed by friends and loved ones, but still found it in his heart to forgive and unite a nation. A testament to this, are the people who turned up at his funeral.

There is no scintilla of doubt of Nigeria’s tremendous support in assisting Mandela when help was must needed but it is now time for Mandelas to arise within Nigeria’s socio-political class to emancipate Nigerians from the clutches of avarice and befuddling economic apartheid bedeviling Nigeria. May, Nigeria’s Mandela please stand up.

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Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.