newsNelson Mandela revisited as the bright colours of a Rainbow Nation begin to fade
Nelson Mandela was a strong and outspoken supporter of the right of Palestinians to live in their own country
By TREVOR GRUNDY
In the preface to ‘Eminent Victorians,’ Lytton Strachey gave good advice to all his literary contemporaries about the past and how to write about it. He wrote: “The history of the Victorian Age will never be written: we know too much about it.”
Strachey said writers should surprise readers and attack their subjects in unexpected places.
“He will fall upon the flank, or the rear; he will shoot a sudden, revealing searchlight into obscure recesses, hitherto un-divined. He will row out over the great vast ocean of material, and lower down into it, here and there, a little bucket, which will bring up to the light of day some characteristic specimen, from those far depths, to be examined with a careful curiosity.”
So, three cheers to producer James Rogan whose three-part television series (Free Nelson Mandela, Channel 4 at 9pm) explores how the man known to those who loved him as Madiba became the global figurehead of the anti-apartheid movement after Africa exploded, first at Sharpeville in March 1960 and then, 50 years ago this month, at Soweto.
Rogan and his team have forged an intelligent narrative and assembled a cast of contributors who have lowered their memory baskets into the deep waters of the past.
Our job is to examine their contents and compare what was promised during the halcyon days of Mandela as president with what is happening right now in an ethnic divided and xenophobic South Africa under Cyril Ranaphosa.
Contributors include relatives of Nelson and Winnie Mandela, Oliver Tambo, Hugh and Barbara Masakela, Miriam Makiba, Peter Hain, John Battersby, James Mange, and several supporters of Steve Biko the idealogue and militant who was murdered by the police in Port Elizabeth in August 1977.
The BBC’s Trevor McDonald (left) was the first journalist to interview Nelson Mandela after his release from prison in 1990 and John Battersby was a friend and long-time supporter of SA ‘s first democratically elected leader. (Picture: Trevor Grundy)
We all know that Nelson Mandela was turned into a secular saint during his 27 years as a prisoner. Until recently, no-one dared criticise the man or his legacy.
- Die hard white South Africans praised him running around in a green Springbok rugby shirt.
- Communists applauded his support for Cuba and his insistence that South Africa could never be free without Palestine being free. He made his speech in support of Palestinians at the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestine people on December 4, 1997 in Pretoria, South Africa.
But worship, like snow, melts.
More and more South Africans – perhaps not born in 1994 – are saying they were taught to idolise the wrong Mandela.
They say that the true hero of the South African revolution was not Nelson but, rather, his wife, Winnie.
Nelson Mandela, a man for all seasons, with wife Winnie and colleague, Joe Slovo
One former ANC activist and survivor of the June 1976 Uprising, Seth Mazibuko, 65, told The Times (under a heading of ‘We idolised the wrong Mandela,’ May 9, 2026): “Winnie fought for people who live in shacks. She would be doing that today. She’d be fighting for water, for power to stop violence against women – these are crises in South Africa. It’s embarrassing our young people in South Africa are only now learning about her.”
Oliver Tambo – he led the ANC when Mandela was imprisoned (Picture: Trevor Grundy)
The South African story needs to be told not now and again – but again and again.
Only The Guardian recorded that June 16th was the 50th anniversary of the Soweto Uprising.
Time for more leak-proof memory baskets to be lowered into watery depths that have never seen the light of day.
Then lifted to the surface and examined with careful curiosity.