This day paints an emotional contrast indeed in the minds of many a revolutionary. For we gather around the world to celebrate the day one of the world’s most respected statesmen born in South Africa on the same day that an exceptional son of the African soil departed, Hosea Kutako, hitherto king of the Ovaherero of Namibia.

I am sure that more qualified persons have painted the mood of this day, moreso with regard to the life, the times and the work of Nelson Mandela. But, as a matter of right, I shall also join the chorus and wish him only the best. I shall use the same opportunity to wish his daughter Zenani, the very best with her appointment as South Africa’s Ambassador to Brazil, an assignment well deserved.
Last night I lay thinking about the life and times of Nelson Mandela as I read about it and followed it during the liberation struggle. I recalled what I read in the book ‘Nelson Mandela’ by Ruth First. In this book, Ruth recounts a story in which the South African police tied the only son of Mandela behind a police van and dragged him through the bushes until he died. Somebody brought him the news in Robben Island in the afternoon where he sat after a hard day’s labour, surrounded by his comrades, Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, Andimba Ya Toivo and others. He nodded in the affirmative and said nothing. Many parents went through the same fate. Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe was reported to have received similar news of the same fate of his son dying at the hands of the enemy, while he toiled in the prisons of Rhodesia. Ida Jimmy’s child died while she was in a Namibian prison. All these and other parents had one thing in common: they were not allowed to leave prison for the funerals of their loved ones.
Mandela toiled in prison and the day he came out he did not call for South Africans to kill the Boers. He embraced the then South African president F.W. de Klerk and encouraged him to share life in a democratic South Africa. They moved to set up a democratic government in South Africa and as they assembled the secretariat, Mandela preferred Jakes Gerwel to be his Director General and Frank Chikane to go to his deputy Thabo Mbeki. He declined to address the question of why he preferred the seemingly less dynamic option. This became clearer with time when he intimated in public that he would prefer Thabo Mbeki to succeed him as president, and in fact transferred power to the office of Mbeki a good two years before the end of his tenure in office. That was foresight, need I say more?
On Wednesday we celebrated the life of a man who meant a whole lot to the African continent and to the world. There is virtually no place in the universe where they do not know Nelson Mandela and statues in his honour have been erected in virtually every capital city in the world. We too celebrate the life of a very extraordinary person.

Happy Birthday Baba!