Usually history flows like an irresistible current, oblivious of any man
or woman. But sometimes a single individual can turn the tide. And Mandela…?
For over a week, we have heard boring speeches about him, tedious platitudes
and endlessly repeated episodes of his life. Boring, but necessary. Apartheid,
a cruel and stupid system for retaining white rule, ended for two main reasons:
economics and the moral nature of its leaders. From 1976 it was clear to the
Afrikaner leaders that Apartheid was unworkable. Had they been men such as
Hitler or Stalin, Apartheid would have remained and Mandela would have been shot
dead in 1962. But they were men from a long tradition of Afrikaner Christianity.
Eventually they understood the economic idiocy of apartheid and knew its
injustice was incompatible with their Christian beliefs. They decided to
negotiate. They looked for a proper black leader to negotiate with. Thus
Mandela was decisive in ending apartheid. In the negotiations, Mandela proved
tough and clever, outwitting and outstaring the Afrikaner leaders at every turn.
Andrew Kenny, Citizen’s columnist said Madiba was an indifferent President of
South Africa, except for one thing: He left the financial and practical
administration of the country to others however, he changed history. It was his
grace, generosity and forgiveness; his kindness and good cheer; his warm concern
for the little people, black and white; his endless tolerance – all of this
brought peace and relief to an anxious nation and disarmed his most bigoted
opponents, sometimes so much that they were speechless with veneration. I don’t
know if there ever was a serious threat of civil war between blacks and whites.
But I know there isn’t one now. The day of freedom ultimately came. Carved on
the pages of South Africa
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