Mosiuoa Lekota remembers President Nelson Mandela (9-12-2013)
Nearly 43 years ago, a young Nelson Mandela, charged with treason, concluded a truly riveting address, in the Supreme Court of South Africa, with these words that became indelibly etched in all our memories:
I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons will live together in harmony with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for, and to see realised. But my Lord, if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.
His life, thank God, was spared. The price, however, was life sentence with hard labour. He and his fellow trialists lost 27 of the best part of their lives in prison.
The regime believed he would be forgotten once he was out of sight. On the contrary, the word Mandela became a household word. The freedom struggle in South Africa took inspiration from him. Invisible though he was, he was everywhere. The struggle needed a persona and he became that.
Though removed from society, he carried with him the conviction to be unbending on principles but not on tactics. He had learnt from the military officials, in Algeria, that the point of war is to bring the enemy to the negotiating table. War should never be waged to perpetuate war. Nelson Mandela had persuaded Albert Luthuli, with difficulty, to consent to the armed struggle to win the peace, achieve harmony and create unity.