Conversations with Myself (35 page)

From the unpublished sequel to his autobiography.

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From the unpublished sequel to his autobiography.

Indeed when reactionary regimes were ultimately toppled, the liberators tried to the best of their ability and within the limits of their resources to carry out these noble objectives and to introduce clean government free of all forms of corruption. Almost every member of the oppressed group was full of hope that their cherished dreams would at last be realised, that they would in due course regain the human dignity denied to them for decades and even centuries.

But history never stops to play tricks even with seasoned and world famous freedom fighters. Frequently erstwhile revolutionaries have easily succumbed to greed, and the tendency to divert public resources for personal enrichment ultimately overwhelmed them. By amassing vast personal wealth, and by betraying the noble objectives which made them famous, they virtually deserted the masses of the people and joined the former oppressors, who enriched themselves by mercilessly robbing the poorest of the poor.

There is universal respect and even admiration for those who are humble and simple by nature, and who have absolute confidence in all human beings irrespective of their social status. These are men and women, known and unknown, who have declared total war against all forms of gross violation of human rights wherever in the world such excesses occur.

They are generally optimistic, believing that, in every community in the world, there are good men and women who believe in peace as the most powerful weapon in the search for lasting solutions. The actual situation on the ground may justify the use of violence which even good men and women may find it difficult to avoid. But even in such cases the use of force would be an exceptional measure whose primary aim is to create the necessary environment for peaceful solutions. It is such good men and women who are the hope of the world. Their efforts and achievements are recognised beyond the grave, even far beyond the borders of their countries, they become immortal.

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From the unpublished sequel to his autobiography.

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From the unpublished sequel to his autobiography.

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From the unpublished sequel to his autobiography.

My general impression, after reading several autobiographies, is that an autobiography is not merely a catalogue of events and experiences in which a person has been involved, but that it also serves as some blueprint on which others may well model their own lives.

This book has no such pretentions as it has nothing to leave behind. As a young man I… combined all the weaknesses, errors and indiscretions of a country boy, whose range of vision and experience was influenced mainly by events in the area in which I grew up and the colleges to which I was sent. I relied on arrogance in order to hide my weaknesses. As an adult my comrades raised me and other fellow prisoners, with some significant exceptions, from obscurity to either a bogey or enigma, although the aura of being one of the world’s longest serving prisoners never totally evaporated.

One issue that deeply worried me in prison was the false image that I unwittingly projected to the outside world; of being regarded as a saint. I never was one, even on the basis of an earthly definition of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying.

Timeline

1918:
Rolihlahla Mandela is born on 18 July at Mvezo in the Transkei to Nosekeni Fanny and Nkosi Mphakanyiswa Gadla Mandela.

1925:
Attends primary school near the village of Qunu. His teacher gives him the name ‘Nelson’.

1927:
Following the death of his father, Mandela is entrusted to the care of Chief Jongintaba Dalindyebo, the regent of the Thembu people. He goes to live with him in Mqhekezweni at The Great Place.

1934:
Undergoes the traditional circumcision ritual, initiating him into manhood. He attends Clarkebury Boarding Institute in Engcobo.

1937:
Attends Healdtown, a Wesleyan College in Fort Beaufort.

1939:
Enrols at the University College of Fort Hare, Alice, the only black university in South Africa. Meets Oliver Tambo.

1940:
Expelled from Fort Hare for embarking on protest action.

1941:
Escapes an arranged marriage and moves to Johannesburg where he finds work in the gold mines as a night watchman. Meets Walter Sisulu, who finds him employment as an articled clerk at the law firm Witkin, Sidelsky and Eidelman.

1942:
Continues studying for his Bachelor of Arts degree (BA) by correspondence through the University of South Africa (UNISA). Begins to attend African National Congress (ANC) meetings informally.

1943:
Graduates with a BA and enrols for a Bachelor of Laws degree (LLB) at the University of the Witwatersrand.

1944:
Co-founds the ANC Youth League (ANCYL). Marries Evelyn Ntoko Mase and they have four children: Thembekile (1945–69); Makaziwe (1947), who died at nine months old; Makgatho (1950–2005); and Makaziwe (1954).

1948:
Elected national secretary of the ANCYL, and onto the Transvaal National Executive of the ANC.

1951:
Elected president of the ANCYL.

1952:
Elected ANC president of the Transvaal province and is automatically a deputy president of the ANC. Public spokesperson and national volunteer-in-chief of the Defiance Campaign, which begins on 26 June 1952. He is arrested on a number of occasions and spends several days in jail. He is convicted with nineteen others under the Suppression of Communism Act and sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment with hard labour, suspended for two years, and also receives the first in a series of banning orders preventing him from participating in any political activity. With Oliver Tambo he opens Mandela and Tambo, South Africa’s first African law partnership.

1953:
Devises the M-Plan for the ANC’s future underground operations.

1955:
The Freedom Charter is adopted at the Congress of the People in Kliptown. Mandela, along with other banned comrades, watches the proceedings in secret, from the roof of a nearby shop.

1956:
Arrested and charged with treason along with 155 members of the Congress Alliance. The trial continues for four and a half years.

1958:
Divorces Evelyn Mase. Marries Nomzamo Winifred Madikizela and they have two daughters: Zenani (1959) and Zindziswa (1960).

1960:
Following the Sharpeville Massacre on 21 March, the government declares a state of emergency and Mandela is detained. On 8 April, the ANC and Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) are banned.

1961:
Acquitted in the last group of thirty in the 1956 Treason Trial; all the other accused had charges withdrawn at different stages of the trial. In April, Mandela goes underground, and appears at the All-in African Congress in Pietermaritzburg as the main speaker and demands a national convention to draw up a new constitution for South Africa. In June the armed wing of the ANC, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), is formed with Mandela as its first commander-in-chief, and launched on 16 December with a series of explosions.

1962:
In January, Mandela departs South Africa to undergo military training and to garner support for the ANC. He leaves the country clandestinely through Botswana (then Bechuanaland) and re-enters South Africa from there in July. He receives military training in Ethiopia and in Morocco, close to the border of Algeria. In total he visits twelve African states, and also spends two weeks in London, UK, with Oliver Tambo. On 5 August he is arrested near Howick in KwaZulu-Natal, and is sentenced to five years’ imprisonment on 7 November for leaving the country without a passport and inciting workers to strike.

1963:
Mandela is transferred to Robben Island Prison in May before being suddenly returned to Pretoria Central Prison two weeks later. On 11 July, police raid Liliesleaf Farm in Rivonia and arrest almost all of the High Command of MK. In October, Mandela is put on trial for sabotage with nine others in what becomes known as the Rivonia Trial. James Kantor has charges withdrawn and Rusty Bernstein is acquitted.

1964:
In June, Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Ahmed Kathrada, Govan Mbeki, Raymond Mhlaba, Denis Goldberg, Andrew Mlangeni and Elias Motsoaledi are convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. All except Goldberg, who serves his sentence in Pretoria, are taken to Robben Island Prison.

1968:
Mandela’s mother dies on 26 September. His request to attend her funeral is refused.

1969:
Mandela’s eldest son, Madiba Thembekile (Thembi), is killed in a car accident on 13 July. Mandela’s letter to the prison authorities requesting permission to attend his funeral is ignored.

1975:
Begins writing his autobiography in secret. Sisulu and Kathrada review the manuscript and make comments. Mac Maharaj and Laloo Chiba transcribe it into tiny handwriting, and Chiba conceals it inside Maharaj’s exercise books. It is smuggled out by Maharaj when he is released in 1976.

1982:
Mandela along with Walter Sisulu, Raymond Mhlaba, Andrew Mlangeni and, later, Kathrada are sent to Pollsmoor Prison. They share a large communal cell on the top floor of a cell block.

1984:
Rejects an offer by his nephew K D Matanzima, the president of the so-called independent state (or bantustan) of Transkei, to be released into the Transkei.

1985:
Rejects President P W Botha’s offer to release him if he renounces violence as a political strategy. On 10 February his statement of rejection is read out to a rally in Soweto by his daughter, Zindzi. In November, Mandela undergoes prostate surgery in the Volks Hospital. He is visited in hospital by the minister of justice, Kobie Coetsee. On his return to prison he is held alone. Begins exploratory talks with members of the government over the creation of conditions for negotiations with the ANC.

1988:
A twelve-hour pop concert to celebrate Mandela’s seventieth birthday, held at Wembley Stadium, London, UK, is broadcast to sixty-seven countries. Contracts tuberculosis and is admitted to Tygerberg Hospital, then Constantiaberg Medi-Clinic. He is discharged in December, and moved to Victor Verster Prison, near Paarl.

1989:
Graduates with an LLB degree through the University of South Africa.

1990:
The ANC is unbanned on 2 February. Mandela is released from prison on 11 February.

1991:
Elected ANC president at the first ANC national conference in South Africa since its banning in 1960.

1993:
Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize with President F W de Klerk.

1994:
Votes for the first time in his life in South Africa’s first democratic elections on 27 April. On 9 May he is elected first president of a democratic South Africa, and on 10 May he is inaugurated as president in Pretoria. His autobiography,
Long Walk to Freedom
, is published.

1996:
Divorces Winnie Mandela.

1998:
Marries Graça Machel on his eightieth birthday.

1999:
Steps down after one term as president.

2001:
Diagnosed with prostate cancer.

2004:
Announces he is stepping down from public life.

2005:
Makgatho, Mandela’s second-born son, dies in January. Mandela publicly announces that his son has died of AIDS complications.

2007:
Witnesses the installation of grandson Mandla Mandela as chief of the Mvezo Traditional Council.

2008:
Turns ninety years old. Asks the emerging generations to continue the fight for social justice. Publishes
Mandela: The Authorised Portrait
.

2009:
Mandela’s birthday, 18 July, is endorsed by the United Nations as International Nelson Mandela Day.

2010:
His great-granddaughter, Zenani Mandela, is killed in a car accident in June.