Nothing Can Be Achieved Without Moral Authority And Profound Dignity
Prof Kumar David
Nothing can be achieved without moral authority and profound dignity: How Madiba created a Rainbow Nation
Nkosi, sikelel’ iAfrika
Maluphakamis’upondo lwayo
Yizwa imithandazo yethu
Nkosi sikelela, Thina lusapholwayo*
(The stirring anthem of continental African liberation)
Tributes and eulogies pour in; there is little a humble correspondent in this far corner can add except to speak of what his example can do for us. There is not one lesson but two, one for each side. Madiba was a radical activist, a freedom fighter who said liberation was an ideal he was “prepared, if need be, to die for” (20 April 1964: Rivonia trial speech). Crucially, however, he was a freedom fighter who knew when to bury his gun. At the same time, and equally, this was a man who not only talked reconciliation, but lived it and did it. He had the vision to craft a unified multi-racial Rainbow Nation; he never allowed himself to be defined by his enemies; he brought a divided people together. Lesser leaders have failed.
True, Mandela’s vision is only half fulfilled, poverty, lack of housing and employment, and endemic social privation have not been abolished; the hideous gap between rich and poor grows; yes the long walk to freedom is but half trodden. The half which he trod, however, is cast in stone, it is irreversible. The unity of a democratic, racially plural South Africa, the Rainbow Nation, cannot be reversed. Oh woe Sri Lanka!
Madiba, his high clan name (his father was a chief), is how he is affectionately known in his country; ‘Nelson’ was bestowed by his school teacher Miss Mdingane when he started school at the age of seven in Qunu village where his remains will be interned today. An English name was required in those days; it is even now in Hong Kong, like Monica or Lydia. ‘Nelson’ Rolihlahla Mandela has done more than can be expected of any man in one lifetime; unfortunately, even Madiba is entitled to only one. Yes, the road to make South Africa a prosperous nation still stretches far into the future; others must shine a kindly light, if they can, to lead the rest of the way.
