MANDELA: A TROUBLEMAKER INDEED!

       What life is more valuable than one we live for others? The most important life is the one lived after one’s death. But Nelson Mandela is living his life so firmly for others even at the ripe age of ninety four. He lived yesterday; living today and will still live tomorrow for his love and passion for humanity. One can’t hold back  tears at the recorded video of the struggle to liberate the black Africans from the Afrikaners who ruled the country in the pre-1994 South African era. From the first television interview he granted in 1961 to his sojourn in Robben Island for over 27 years and then back to his days as the first Black President of the country, it was really a long walk to freedom.

   Born Rolinlahla Mandela in 18^th July 1918, Mandela has married three times. First to Evelyn Ntoko Mase between 1944 and 1957, Winnie Madikizela [1957-1996] and Grace Machel [1998-Present],. Mandela was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment for sabotage.He pleaded guilty for saboteur because he was ready to stand for what he believed in. He was not after any material thing because he was born into a royal house and could get anything he wanted. His grandfather was the king of the Thembu people and his name ‘Roliinlahla’ means ‘troublemaker’. Thus he never ceased to make trouble with the white supremacists that denied blacks their rights to equal treatment.

   This ‘troublemaker’ started his trouble when he became involved in a Students’ Representative Council boycott against University policies and was told to leave Fort or accept the draconian policies against black students. He opted for the former of course and abandoned his education for principles he believed in. He later studies for a Bachelor of Law, University of London,  External Programme when he was in prison.

   The video of the killings of black Africans in the country was an eyesore. There were a lot of protests across the world to condemn this inhuman treatment. Mandela first led a peaceful protest in Mahtma Ghandi of India’s style to a fruitless point before he decided to opt for armed anti-apartheid campaign in 1961 which, to him, was the last resort. The ‘Umkhonto We Sizwe’ wing of African Nation Congress resulted in violent struggle against the white dominated Afrikaner’s National Party.

    Mandela is a leader who accepted his failure in paying attention to HIV/AIDS scourge when he was the president. The failure claimed the life of his first son, Makgatho Mandela, who died of the disease in 2005.

     There are lessons to be learnt from this man who created 46664 as a global HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention campaign. He derived the number from his prison number 466 and the year 1964. The shameful fact is that African leaders don’t take any cue from responsible and down to heart leaders like Mandela. They prefer to take cues from leaders like Mobutu, Idi-Amin, Doe, Abacha, and other sit-tight rulers.  

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