International
| Previous
| Next
The man who weathered myriad storms
By M. S. Prabhakara
CAPE TOWN, JULY 18. The former President, Mr. Nelson Mandela,
turned 83 on Wednesday. The day was also the third anniversary of
his marriage to Ms. Graca Machel, his third wife, whom he married
on his 80th birthday.
In an interview broadcast in the morning, Mr. Mandela
acknowledged, not for the first time in public, the great love
and happiness that he has found in this marriage. ``She has
changed my life in relation to myself as well as my family. She
has brought the family together, she is actually the cement that
has bonded the family together...'', he said.
No one can grudge the peace that the man has found after causing
and weathering so much of the rough time and storms foretold for
him in the very name he was given at birth. For, though Mr.
Mandela's universally recognised first name is Nelson, the actual
name given to the child born on this day in 1918 in Mvezo, a tiny
village near Umtata in Transkei, was Rolihlahla. As Mr. Mandela
recounts in his Autobiography, although the name literally meant
``pulling the branch of a tree'', its more accurate colloquial
meaning, ``troublemaker'', was a most apposite name for one who
``caused and weathered many storms''.
The more familiar name, Nelson, was bestowed upon the child on
his first day at school by his teacher - part of the African
practice apparently to help Whites who were either unable or
unwilling to pronounce an African name.
Storms Mr. Mandela has undoubtedly caused and weathered in his
long life. However, though he formally retired from office over
two years ago, he has not retreated into senile anecdotage. He
remains astonishingly fit, though decidedly slower in his
movements. He travels all over the country and outside, actively
engaged in public issues, both domestic and foreign.
While the media regularly spreads rumours of his differences with
the President, Mr. Thabo Mbeki, in particular in respect of its
two obsessions - Zimbabwe and the `causal links' between HIV and
AIDS, Mr. Mandela dismisses all such talk, affirming his total
backing to and confidence in Mr. Mbeki in these as well as other
areas of governance. He is nothing if not a loyal ANC member, the
movement and the organisation that has shaped his whole life, and
without which, as he himself acknowledges, he would be less than
nothing.
He also remains the most-sought-out public figure in South
Africa. Every visitor to the country wants to meet him and have a
photo opportunity with him. This is true as much of visiting
heads of state or Government or other celebrities as of more
humbly placed persons - though the latter rarely get a chance to
fulfil their desires.
He was a notable figure at last week's OAU summit in Lusaka
where, in his capacity as the facilitator of the peace process in
Burundi, he briefed the heads of state and Government of the
current state of that process.
He has insisted from the beginning that no settlement in Burundi
could be stable unless it provided for the participation of the
majority Hutu population. There are indications of a breakthrough
in the peace process, with an agreement on the sharing of power
in turns in an interim transitional Government.
Mr. Mandela spent the day at his Houghton home in Johannesburg,
with his children and grandchildren. However, he will have his
birthday party in the form of a big bash at the Chatsworth
Stadium in Durban on July 22. The event, organised in the
formerly Indian township, is expected to raise money for a
proposed Rand 8 million worth youth centre, a gift for the people
of Chatsworth. The event is bound to be a smashing success, for
Mr. Mandela's capacity to draw big money by way of donations for
causes he sponsors is well known.
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
|
|
