On the 5th December, 2013 the world was shocked with the disturbing news of the demise of a true son of Africa, an icon, anti-apartheid warrior, Nelson Mandela. President Jacob Zuma, dressed in black, announced the news of Mandela’s death Thursday night on television, saying the 95-year-old known affectionately by his clan name “Madiba” had died “peacefully” at around 8:50 p.m. while in the company of his family.“He is now resting. He is now at peace,” Zuma said. Our nation has lost its greatest son. Our people have lost a father.” Although it is a known fact that for some time now “Tata” as he was affectionately called has been struggling and battling with respiratory disease (tuberculosis, Pneumonia and other lung infections) , the disease left him with damaged lungs which made him susceptible to recurring infections primarily due to his long years of incarceration  in prison and hard labour under hazardous conditions during his stay in prison. In fact, the world was of the view that the final eternal rest with his maker was nigh for this honourable freedom fighter. My body grew cold with goose bumps watching images of Mandela on TV especially in the 80’s and 90’s  and how he struggled with the apartheid authorities in liberating black South Africans  from the sharp and crippling jaws of apartheid rule.

Mandela personifies everything humane, forgiveness, dignity, freedom, selflessness and respect for fellow man. His guiding thread was the dignity of man and the need for man to show respect to each other and be selfless towards one’s people and country. He demonstrated this by being at the forefront of the anti-apartheid struggle just to ensure that his people, both black and white alike lived in dignity and mutual respect for each other and for them to live in a free and just society. As he once stated “During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die”. An ideal he actually lived and died for. In any case, we are made to know that his disease resulted from his long incarceration and the hard labour he endured whilst in prison. That was the mark of a true freedom fighter and warrior. A mark which I shudder to say would be extremely difficult for any man of our current generation to make. President Obama agrees with me on this assertion and states in his message to the world on the death of Madiba. He notes “We will not likely see the likes of Nelson Mandela again. So it falls to us as best as we can to follow the example that he set: to make decisions guided not by hate, but by love; to never discount the difference that one person can make; to strive for a future that is worthy of his sacrifice” (http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2013/12/05/text-obama-statement-mandela-death/ORJYW1jk1WvYa4K6lbL3QJ/story.html-  Dec 5, 2013)

Interestingly, on his demise, the family, government and the people of South Africa have been awashed with goodwill messages and messages of condolences, mostly extolling the great qualities, virtues and achievements of Madiba especially in his freedom fight against apartheid and the eventual liberation of black South Africans. Apart from these messages from world leaders like the Presidents of US, UK, Russia, China, Japan, Germany etc and other notable personalities such as the Pontiff, the Queen, celebrities and many more important personalities across the globe,  we have also received and read some messages from our own leaders on the continent, Africa.  For the purposes of this article, mention will be made of only messages from leaders such as President of Nigeria, Goodluck Jonathan and Ghana’s president, John Dramani Mahama.

For President Jonathan of Nigeria “Dr. Mandela served as a source of inspiration to the oppressed peoples all over the world. In the course of his life-long epic struggle for freedom, fairness, justice, equity and the human rights of his oppressed people, Dr. Mandela made unparalleled personal sacrifices. The indefatigable spirit which he demonstrated throughout his life will continue to inspire present and future generations. Dr. Mandela will always be remembered and honoured by all mankind as one of its greatest liberators, a wise, courageous and compassionate leader, and an icon of true democracy. We join you, the Mandela family, the people of South Africa and lovers of freedom, peace, justice and equity all over the world in praying that God Almighty will receive the Great Madiba’s soul and grant him eternal rest,” President Jonathan wrote (http://www.africanspotlight.com/2013/12/05/president-jonathan-expresses-immense-sadness-over-death-of-nelson-mandela/- Dec 5, 2013) .

His Ghanaian counterpart aptly notes that “His utilization of peace as a vehicle of liberation showed Africa that if we were to move beyond the divisiveness caused by colonization, and the pain of our self-inflicted wounds, compassion and forgiveness must play a role in governance. Countries, like people, must acknowledge the trauma they have experienced, and they must find a way to reconcile, to make what was broken whole again” (http://www.afriquejet.com/news/14172-nelson-mandela-dead-mandela-used-peace-as-vehicle-of-liberation.html- Dec 5, 2013 )

Oooh! How nice and lovely these words of condolences sound in our ears. But the critical question to ask is, Do modern day African leaders believe and act these words that they are showering on Madiba? Have they or are they making any effort at making their people live in dignity and a just and free society as Mandela did for his people?? From the current happenings across the African continent, what one can say is that most African leaders are a direct opposite of what Madiba stood for. In fact, their actions and inactions have only served to negate most of the gains that Madiba made with his struggle for freedom. Upon all the struggles and sufferings, it is interesting to note that Mr. Mandela served just one term as the first black South African President of a free South African state and willingly relinquished power after his one term in office. In fact, he was even begged to stay on but he severally rejected and left power for others to continue. That was not all, he consciously made an effort to discourage his relatives and family members from joining mainstream South African politics because he felt it wasn’t dignified for family members to ride on the back of his popularity in South Africa to get hold of state power. What a true Statesman! You can say that sounds selfish but the actual value of this singular act of Madiba lies in the intent which I have already stated. How many African leaders can do this or have done this?? Only Madiba comes to mind! On the contrary, most African leaders have continually entrenched themselves in power with the use of the repressive state apparatus, exhibiting brute force in perpetuating violence against their own people  and anyone deemed as a challenge or threat to their authority or questions their continuous stay in power.

Mention can be made of South African’s own neighbor, Mr. Mugabe who has entrenched himself for the past 33years as president of Zimbabwe at the age of 89. Wooow! A classic case of “till death do us part”! Interestingly, he was sworn in recently for his 5th term as president.   His compatriot, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda has also entrenched himself in political power for the past 28 years using brute force to deal with opposition and to cow all his citizens into submission. Dr Kizza Besigye, Uganda’s opposition leader continues to suffer from such repressions because he is only an opposition leader. Did Mandela repress his people in such ways?? Obviously NO!

Others in line were the former presidents of Tunisia, Zine El-Albidine Ben Ali who ruled Tunisia for 24 years until the Arab spring in 2011, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt who ruled for 30years and was subsequently overthrown by Tahir Square agitations and revolution in 2011 and then Brother Muammar Al-Quaddafi of Libya who entrenched himself for 34 years until he was also overthrown as a result of the spillover of the Arab uprisings. These are but a few as the list goes on and on and on.

What is striking is that most of these African leaders mentioned and a lot more have made conscious efforts not only to entrench themselves in power, but have deliberately ruled with “iron fist”, making their own citizens “slaves” in their own countries. In fact, on most African countries, it’s almost abominable to mention the president’s name without adding some form of a “godly” title to it. Did Mandela exalt himself into a thin god?? Obviously NO! But sadly, that is what most African leaders have turned into. As if that is not enough, some have deliberately been grooming their children (sons) as heir apparent to their respective thrones as if they were running a monarchy. They rule with vindictiveness, oppression reminiscent of apartheid, crippled businesses just because owners of such business don’t share their ideologies, kill innocent citizens by abductions and state sponsored assassinations using hit-squads and even forcibly raping innocent girls and women using the military and police backed force and also forcefully imprisoning opponents by manipulating the judiciary.

In  my  own country Ghana, we have had such leaders who were extremely power drunk and actually abused the constitution that Ghanaians had set themselves to be ruled by and eventually entrenched themselves on the citizenry through the barrel of the gun. The politics of our young democracy has been very antagonistic since 1992 when we embraced fully democratic tenets, with the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) leading the charge. Ruling parties have deliberately applied “divide and rule” tactics whenever they are in power and have worked to stifle the businesses of opposition members, as if they are not citizens of the same country they claim to want to develop. Division is consciously created among the people in political, religious and even tribal lines just for cheap political gains irrespective of its latent and manifest repercussions and undertones. In fact, it is not uncommon to hear presidential Candidates telling people to vote for them because they are from the North or from the South, East, West or Central. As if Ghana is a Compass. That is the mentality of the modern day African leaders who are shedding crocodile tears on the demise of Nelson Mandela, the freedom fighter, who never liked to see division of any sort among human race. Yet these African leaders who seem to have no shame are sending all the fanciful messages of condolences on Madiba’s death. African leaders have consciously developed a “we” and “them” mentality among their citizenry depending on who is in power and constantly playing on the keyboards of people’s emotions. If Mandela had created such a “We” and “them” mentality among South Africans after apartheid, would such leaders have gotten the chance and guts to write such flamboyant messages about him? What have they done or are doing for people to eulogize them like the world has done for Madiba when they also leave. I don’t see any for now!

I therefore ask, do African leaders really believe in what Mandela stood for? I am tempted to say at least, most of them were around during apartheid struggle by Mandela. What have they learnt from his virtues of selflessness, integrity, humility and respect for his people, country and all men? I DARE SAY AFRICAN LEADERS HAVE LEARNT NOTHING!

From my analysis, I believe that, of all the seven (7) continents in the world, Africa is the only one that has not learnt anything from what Mandela stood for and all the sacrifices he made for the people of South Africa and the world as a whole, even though God planted him right in our midst and on this African continent for our benefit. It is for this reason why I believe that although Mandela was BORN for Africa, he indeed is NOT for Africa. The actions, inactions and deeds of African leaders make nonsense of what Mandela stood and struggled for.

By: Jones Opoku-Ware

MSc/Mphil Development Management Lecturer,

IDL, KNUST.

Phone Number: 0200963811

Email: opokuwarejns@gmail.com