THE NATION THURSDAY, JULY 18, 2013
4
NEWS
‘Madiba...
•Sierraleonean President Ernest Koroma presenting an award of Grand Patron of the West African Insurance Institute to President Goodluck Jonathan at the Presidential Villa Abuja... yesterday.
Former President Nelson Mandela, who turns 95 today, has lived an eventful life characterised by trials and tribulations; yet he has emerged as perhaps the greatest African alive and earned the appelation ‘saint before man and God’, writes OLUKOREDE YISHAU
PHOTO AKIN OLADOKUN.
•Members of the Brotherhood of the Cross and Star Christian Church praying for Mandela outside the Medi Clinic Heart Hospital in Pretoria... yesterday.
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•Chairman, Nigerian Breweries Plc Chief Kola Jamodu (left), cutting the tape to inaugurate the Star Academy Complex at its corporate office, Orile-Iganmu, Lagos... yesterday. With him are President, Heieneken, Africa & Middle East Mr. Siep Hiemstra, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer Mr. Nico Vervelde and Human Resources Director Mr. Victor Famuyibo. PHOTO: ISAAC JIMOH AYODELE.
•From left: President/Chairman of Council, Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS) Muritala Ariyo Olushekun (left) greeting the Managing Director, Heritage Bank Limited Mr. Ifie Sekibo when CIS council members visited the bank’s head office in Lagos… on Tuesday. With them are Chairman, CIS’s Annual National Workshop Mr. Albert Okumagba and Executive Director, Heritage Bank Limited Ms Mary Akpobome. PHOTO: SOLOMON ADEOLA
•Manager, Corporate Communication and Public Affairs, Nigeria LNG Limited (NLNG) Mrs. Gloria Ita Ikpeme (second left) presenting a cheque to Programme Coordinator, Nigerian Red Cross Society Mr. Umar Mairiga (second right), for the society's National Emergency and First Aid Team at the Red Cross Abuja Head Office…yesterday. With them are Head of Delegation, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies Mr. Javier Barrera (left) and Head Public Affairs, NLNG Mr. Emeka Agbayi..
HEN he was retiring from public life in 2004, his plea was: “Don’t call me, I will call you”. Now, he is in no position to call again. He has been in critical condition in the hospital for the past one month living without really being alive to happenings around him. He turns 95 today and his fans yesterday in Johannesburg, South Africa dubbed him the ‘saint before man and God’. For Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, the beautiful life, which began on July 18, 1918, has, no doubt, been remarkable. Since he left as South African president after his first term, his health has not been the best. In January 2011, he was admitted to the private Milpark Hospital in Johannesburg leading to speculation about his health condition. He was discharged after two-and-a-half days in hospital and returned to his Houghton, Johannesburg home in an ambulance. In July 2001, Mandela was diagnosed of prostate cancer. He had to undergo a seven-week course of radiation. On his 85th birthday, he announced that he would be retiring from public life. He added that he did not intend to hide away totally from the public, but wanted to be in a position “of calling you to ask whether I would be welcome, rather than being called upon to do things and participate in events”. And since then, he has appeared less in public. He had been rumoured death not less than thrice. The first was two years after he was diagnosed of prostate cancer. CNN mistakenly on its website published his pre-written obituary due to a fault in password protection. Then in 2007, a group distributed hoax email and SMS messages claiming that he was dead, but the authorities were covering up his death. They alleged that white South Africans would be massacred after his funeral. Yet, he was on holiday in Mozambique. Last year too, he was rumoured dead and his family had to deny. Now, many believe the hour for the curtain to close may be near. For now, it has not ended for the man born into the Madiba clan in Mvezo, Transkei. The struggle that his life is must have been informed by his experience after his father Nkosi Mphakanyiswa Gadla Mandela died in 1927. Following his father’s death, he became a ward of Jongintaba at the Great Place in Mqhekezweni. At the palace, he heard elders’ stories about his ancestors’ valour during the wars of resistance. This, he said, made him begin dreaming of making his own contributions to the freedom struggle of his people. He attended primary school in Qunu where his teacher Miss Mdingane gave him the name Nelson,
in accordance with the custom to give all school children “Christian” names. He earned his Junior Certificate at Clarkebury Boarding Institute and proceeded to Healdtown, a Wesleyan secondary school. He thereafter began studies for a Bachelor of Arts Degree at the University College of Fort Hare. He could not complete the degree there. He was expelled for joining a students’ protest. He was undaunted and later completed his degree through the University of South Africa and returned to Fort Hare for his graduation in 1943. In 1941, he met Walter Sisulu, an estate agent in Johannesburg , where he worked as a mine security officer. Three years later, he joined the African National Congress (ANC) and helped form its Youth League. He was involved in the congress adopting a more radical mass-based policy, known as the Programme of Action. By 1952, he was chosen as the National Volunteer-in-Chief of the Defiance Campaign with Maulvi Cachalia as his Deputy. It was a campaign of civil disobedience against six unjust laws. It was a joint programme between the ANC and the South African Indian Congress. He and 19 others were charged under the Suppression of Communism Act for their part in the campaign and sentenced to nine months hard labour suspended for two years. In August 1952, he and Oliver Tambo established South Africa’s first black law firm, Mandela and Tambo. His two-year diploma in law and his degree qualified him to practise law . The authorities became more interested in his activities and it was no surprise that before the end of that year, he was banned from certain activities. In 1956, he was tried for treason and on December 5 of that year, he was arrested in a countrywide police swoop of 156 activists. Men and women of all races found themselves in the dock in the marathon trial that only ended when the last 30 accused, including Mandela were acquitted on March 29, 1961. The trial was still on when he married his second wife Winnie in 1958. The March 1960 police killing of 69 unarmed people in a protest at Sharpeville led to the country’s first state of emergency and the banning of the ANC and the Pan Africanist Congress. He was detained during the state of emergency. The trial did not kill the struggle in him. In fact, some days before he was acquitted, he travelled to Pietermaritzburg to speak at the Allin Africa Conference, where it was resolved that he should write to the