This week the country has been a hive of activity celebrating the life of the late world icon and former president, Nelson Mandela.
We heard former US president Barack Obama give the 16th annual Nelson Mandela Lecture and on the same day Kenyan scholar PLO Lumumba gave an address at Walter Sisulu University.
In the 95 years that Mandela lived he provided our nation, continent and the world with many lessons, ones we need to cherish. Among them, he showed us the value of humility, selflessness and courage. While he was adored and praised by all and sundry Madiba never tired of reminding us that he was part of a collective of his beloved ANC and that he did not struggle alone.
He also shunned sainthood, saying he was more of “a sinner who keeps on trying”.
As a political activist he went without the comfort of his home and love of his family – all incredibly selfless choices. And when he could have been busy with his legal career, Madiba sat in prison for 27 long years – all for the sake of our freedom.We will never have a complete picture of the trials he must have endured on Robben Island and in Pollsmoor and Victor Verster jails. We do know though, that his eyes deteriorated from the glare of the limestone quarries where he laboured on the frosty island and that he subsequently contracted tuberculosis in Victor Verster.
Yet not for one moment did Mandela consider quitting the struggle for an equal South Africa.
Not even for the offer of an early release from prison in 1985 – on condition he renounce the armed struggle and agree to return to Qunu.
His courage and leadership skills are evinced in that refusal and then again in the initiative he took to begin negotiations with the then apartheid government. He did so without consultation with the ANC’s high command in prison or in exile, not because he was a maverick or rebelling against his organisation but because he could see that ultimately, there would have to be talks with the state.
Another of his remarkable demonstrations of leadership came in 1993 after the assassination of the SACP secretary general Chris Hani, when a visibly angry Mandela managed to set aside his own emotions and calm an enraged nation.
In the same era he also hurried to a volatile KwaZulu-Natal to make an impassioned plea to the warring political groups to throw their weapons in the sea.As state president Mandela went out of his way to preach reconciliation. But not only to preach it – to practice it as well. This saw him invite the prosecutor from the Rivonia trial, Percy Yutar, for tea.
He also visited Betsy Verwoerd, the widow of the architect of apartheid Hendrik Verwoerd, at her home in Orania.Madiba surprised many when he left office after just one term – a point when many African leaders begin to cling to power for dear life.
As we celebrate Madiba’s centenary let us ponder the depth of his legacy and tap into the pools of his wisdom.
And with talk of land expropriation without compensation getting so many South Africans hot under the collar, if ever there was a time to tap into Mandela-style wisdom and values it is now.
Black people are rightfully clamouring for land.
After 24 years of democracy there is a feeling that there’s little to show for freedom. Many are still struggling as they did before.
Their cries for land should be understood in this context.
But white people are justifiably anxious that they will lose properties which they say they have worked hard for.
And there is also genuine concern that expropriation of land without compensation will have a similar outcome to what took place in Zimbabwe in the early 2000s, which has threatened food security.
Both positions are valid. And if the land question is not handled prudently the country could go the way of Zimbabwe, which we all know is now hardly the bread basket it once was.
This is where Madiba-style wisdom and leadership is needed. In negotiating with the apartheid government Mandela managed to convince them that the end of apartheid would not spell doom for white people on the southern tip of Africa. In fact, he argued that ending apartheid would actually benefit both whites and blacks by creating a viable future for the country.
In this emotive land debate we need to convince white people, as Madiba did, that if landless South Africans are given a piece of land it will be in the interest of all.
If anything is able to cause war or conflagration it is a huge number of landless and starving people crying out for food.
Black people in turn must, as a collective, get behind the idea that the process of land redistribution must be done in an orderly manner, one that will not plunge the country into chaos.
No one should anticipate or fear that hordes of armed people will descend onto farms and kick out the owners and/or tenants and occupy the premises.
The process must be regulated and rolled out by the government in the kind of careful and orderly manner that Madiba would approve of.
Lolonga Tali is in the heritage sector...