The Man and the Media Myth: There are two Nelson Mandela’s who passed away.

There are two Nelson Mandela’s who passed away.

The one is the Nelson Mandela of media. He is a living legend who is owned by the ages, who no doubt will be worshipped and praised 1000 years from now. He is the Nelson Mandela who is Odysseus he is the Nelson Mandela who is Hercules. He is a deity who is unparalleled in all the world. Nelson Mandela was not Odysseus. Nelson Mandela was not Hercules. The greatness of Nelson Mandela was his persistence. He was not uniquely special but he persevered in pursuing what he wanted. That was his greatness. A great man doing something great is not something entirely notable: it is when an ordinary man does something exceptional that something is very worthy of noting. Nelson Mandela defied his odds, but his methodology, his life was all but ordinarily, we must not forget the perseverance by an ordinary man and not some myth. That is the greatness of Nelson Mandela. It was the South African people who ended what became known as Apartheid and it was the South African people who embraced peace. Nelson Mandela was one of the South African people. Understanding the TBVC system, this is an important statement. Nelson Mandela was one of the South Africans, when South Africa was five different nations. In mourning our Nelson Mandela, South Africa must not forget that one man did not defeat apartheid, or create peace, rather, a national effort of all of us did. For his role in preventing civil war in South Africa, Nelson Mandela is correctly credited as having done something great.

When the British marauding forces made conquest against South Africa, they retained the local system of chiefs, and the local customs and laws which applied to black South Africans. There was a difference between a colonist and a local. There was the belief that a local was inferior. While the Cape Colony allowed minor rights for black and coloured South Africans, the other three colonies were not quite as a liberal. It is the British who started the separation in South Africa.

South Africa was a founding member of the precursor of the United Nations. The United Party was loved across the world, and South Africa and its guidance, played a key role in uniting the nations of the world. At independence in 1961 however, it was the nationalist party, an Afrikaans party which began to gain such great influence. They decided to eliminate the vote for all coloureds and all Blacks. These were voting blocs which mostly supported the United Party. In that sense much of Apartheid started not as a diabolical scheme, but as a mechanism for gaining more votes. The two Collins cases and so forth are important in this sense.

You might have heard of passbooks during apartheid, you probably however do not understand why these books were issued. They were issued because the apartheid government decided to continue the British policy of separateness in South Africa.

In Canada the Canadian colonists created reservations for the native Indians. This Canadian policy was the foundation upon which apartheid was created. Black South Africans were placed in the TBVC states. Black South Africans were ruled by black South Africans of their own tribe. Does this not represent the American and Canadian system of reservations? Does this not represent the Australian system of reservations? In first-year English one of our lecturers at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg stated that when Westerners and Americans raised the issue of South Africa’s past relating to Apartheid this specific lecturer would ask which was worse: wiping out the native population of the land through smallpox, conquest and other means: or not wiping out that population but acting in an imperialist manner against them. Reservations still exist in the West, systems similar to apartheid still exist in the West. The native Indians of Canada and America who live in these reservations, are often associated with high crime rates, drug use and alcohol: but what is done against them is not considered to be apartheid. Apartheid in the true sense is the TBVC states. That is what apartheid was: the turning of South Africa into five different nations, each with its own government rulers, and its own legal system. A person from one state required a passport to enter a different state. The South African government required a migrant population to work the mines, and thus the pass system was born: that is a passport to enter the different countries which had formerly been South Africa. The world powers and the United Nations refused to accept this dividing of South Africa into five states, and many in international law claim that these states were never formed at all. This division is what apartheid was. Only members of the White Republic of South Africa could hold certain jobs in the white South African Republic, migrants from the other South Africas could only serve in certain jobs in their own countries.

This division into nations based on race, has been widely condemned across the world.

On 16 June 1976, African National Congress activists cajoled and intimidated schoolchildren into a march against learning in Afrikaans. According to eyewitness reports there was certainly a degree of intimidation into marching. Those who did march approached the police, there was violence and throwing of stones. In this new South Africa the police would have used tear gas and rubber bullets. But the police did not have these. Reports from the day suggest that the police lost their nerve: they opened fire on the children who were cajoled and intimidated into marching against them. In the new South Africa a similar incident occurred at Marikana, where protesters who had killed 10 people in the week before: charged the police line, where tear gas and rubber bullets had no effect. In this recent event at Marikana, 34 people lost their lives. On 16 June 1976 however those who lost their lives were children: cajoled and intimidated into marching against the police by the African National Congress. The tragedy of the deaths was not lost on the African National Congress who utilised this to arm opposition against apartheid with this powerful propaganda of the killing of children. The actions of the police were unjustifiable, but their actions were not something which it can be said the ANC did not expect would occur. When studying law at the University of the Witwatersrand, I came across the strange information in my syllabus for African Customary law that the African National Congress activists in the townships intimidated women into having babies to grow the revolution against the whites. There was much intimidation throughout the townships. Anyone suspected of being a white sympathiser would risk being necklaced. This entailed a tyre being put around a person’s neck. Petrol would be poured upon the person. The person would be burnt alive. This is how the African National Congress made South Africa ungovernable in the townships, through the murder of black South Africans who they accused of being white sympathisers. According to the syllabus at the University of the Witwatersrand, in the rural areas the African National Congress utilised the fear of witchcraft. In the early days of South Africa the chiefs were formed to persecute witches, and deny them land, and if necessary to kill witches. Unlike in North Africa were power gathered around witchcraft, in early South Africa power gathered around witch hunters. During the apartheid era the African National Congress activists were told to make the country ungovernable. In the rural areas, in Limpopo and Mpumalanga and the North West province: the African National Congress began witchhunts. They would use divination to find out which woman was a witch. The witch would be burnt to death. While most of the casualties of the African National Congress war against apartheid were black South Africans killed by African National Congress activists, the militant wing of African National Congress which Nelson Mandela led in its early days, would turn to bombings against white civilian targets such a train stations and shopping centres.

In South Africa’s criminal law there are many cases of ANC linked mobs or individuals committing atrocious acts against innocent people. The attempt of the government to combat this ungovernable situation where black people murdered black people purely to make the government unable to cope: resulted in many laws being formed in South Africa. This is perhaps why when I got to law school the history I had been taught of South Africa in school, I discovered to be pure propaganda and false hood. The University of Witwatersrand taught a very different history of South Africa.

Nelson Mandela would be arrested and tried in relatively early days of anti-apartheid movement. I always find it strange that his lawyer became so famous and so acclaimed for intentionally losing a case. I would have tried to find some loophole. Instead the argument was that the court had no right to try Nelson Mandela. No wonder Nelson Mandela smiled after being convicted, that was exactly his intention. If Nelson Mandela had intended to be acquitted, his argument would have been one on technicality. Nelson Mandela himself was trained in law. Neither he nor his lawyer attempted to find loopholes which could have got him off.

Nelson Mandela thus went to jail and spent 27 years in jail. There are plenty of people who spent 27 years in jail who are not lauded for this. Likewise with Jesus Christ there were plenty of people who were crucified who were not lauded for being crucified. Nelson Mandela spending 27 years in jail is only an act of greatness if he did not deserve to go to jail in the first place. It is this perseverance for which Nelson Mandela has his fame. An ordinary criminal will persevere in jail however. It is Nelson Mandela’s loyalty to his cause however that is lauded by the world. Whether he persevered or not he would spend 27 years in jail.

Towards the end of apartheid African National Congress was becoming increasingly militant. A civil war was seen as almost certain. The movie Endgame details pre-negotiations organised by the mining industry in a hope of saving South Africa. As a result of these negotiations, something very unusual began to happen. Without consulting Parliament or anyone in his own political party, President FW De Klerk suddenly announced that Nelson Mandela would be released from jail. There is a reason why both FW De Klerk and Nelson Mandela gained the Nobel Peace Prize. It was not the creation of a new South Africa. South Africa had existed all along. It was negotiating to prevent a civil war which it seemed all but certain. This is why Nelson Mandela was great. Despite spending 27 years in jail, Nelson Mandela had enough of a good head on him: to avert a civil war and to aim at peace. Nelson Mandela could not have done this alone however, FW De Klerk is equally important in this regard.

In the year 1995 president Nelson Mandela attended the Rugby World Cup. Rugby remains a white sport in South Africa just as local soccer remains a black sport to this day. Nelson Mandela attended a white sporting event. Nelson Mandela penned beautiful speeches or at least spoke them: speeches about forgiveness and diversity and the unity of a nation which was one. These speeches caused the South African people to unite. It is because of the charisma of Nelson Mandela that South Africans became one nation through the Rugby World Cup victory according to multiple accounts on the matter. His speeches throughout the period in question were very charismatic and worked in uniting different race groups to a national ANC agenda.

In creating a new constitution however Nelson Mandela was less forgiving. The constitution itself was aimed at limiting the rights of white South Africans. To this day companies brag of being all black, of refusing to whites, any form of employment. If a white company were to do that in contrast they would be taken to court. Nelson Mandela also created a constitution in which the African National Congress specifically wanted to ensure that pornography would always be legal (On pornography the major case is, the child pornography case of: De Reuck v Director of Public Prosecutions (Witwatersrand Local Division) and Others (CCT5/03) [2003] ZACC 19; 2004 (1) SA 406 (CC); 2003 (12) BCLR 1333 (CC) (15 October 2003) http://www.saflii.org/za/cases/ZACC/2003/19.html). The constitutional court affirmed this: they permitted laws preventing child pornography viewing to stand as the government had followed the correct procedures which would allow any constitutional rights to be circumvented in the right scenario. The constitution was also specifically drafted with the intent of making homosexual marital like unions something which law would enforce, according to the case Fourie and Another v Minister of Home Affairs and Another (232/2003) [2004] ZASCA 132; [2005] 1 All SA 273 (SCA) (30 November 2004), gay 'marriage' is demanded by the Constitution. Nelson Mandela also ensured a constitution which would legalise homosexuality, but also result in deep persecution of Christians who did not accept homosexual marriage, a persecution which is ongoing. The drafters intended to create a right to abortion it would seem. A new court was created to judge the constitution, a court which would be stocked full of liberals and ANC loyalists: the Supreme Court of Appeal could not be trusted to be loyal to the African National Congress agenda for the constitution and so a ‘constitutional court’ was created to ensure that the ANC vision of the constitution was maintained. And so in 1996 the African National Congress created a massive expansion of abortion from a rare grudgingly done and frowned upon action: to one of the most liberal abortion systems in the world, through the termination of pregnancy act, which also extensively limited the rights of conscientious objectors in certain circumstances and of those who believed abortion to be immoral and something to protest against. The majority of pregnancies in South Africa, at least about 57% inclusive of backstreet abortions: end in intentional induced abortion. A statistic available online lists abortions at 50% in 2007. The most recent poll available on the matter found that 90% of South Africans consider abortion always immoral. On abortion see: Christian Lawyers Association of SA and Others v Minister of Health and Others 1998(4) SA 1113 (T).

By 1997, the African National Congress realised something which the nationalist party had realised years ago. As presided over by president Nelson Mandela: the African National Congress created a policy paper that from now on the party would not promote a rainbow nation, but an Africanist worldview, which they hoped would gain them votes. You might have read of how the African National Congress every single election states that South Africans must vote for them because all that white South Africans want to do is bring back apartheid in their perspective. This is because of a policy paper the African National Congress created under the leadership of Nelson Mandela. Where there was risk of civil war the African National Congress pushed the idea of a rainbow nation which Nelson Mandela is most associated with. Nelson Mandela, and the African National Congress under his leadership also cancelled this rainbow nation policy.

The African National Congress would introduce black economic empowerment, punishing businesses for hiring white South Africans and punishing businesses which were owned by white South Africans. If an orphanage was in a majority white area it would risk being shut down as the government would punish companies who donated to charities which looked after white South Africans and charities which looked after white and black South Africans. Charities which didn’t look after a certain quota of black South Africans and turn away white South Africans to fill for this quota have to this day risked losing all corporate funding due to tax punishments from the government. This is the BEE policy. This is not a policy which Nelson Mandela has opposed. In fact Nelson Mandela was certain to include justification for it in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996.

In his later years Nelson Mandela joined a group of statesman called the Elders. Amongst other things this non-governmental organisation promotes far left policies and abortion. Nelson Mandela has also consistently campaigned for the African National Congress. He is known for putting the party first. Nelson Mandela has also been known for his close links to dictators such as Castro and Robert Mugabe. His descendants have been known for allegations involving tender improprieties, and for seemingly having charges dropped against them in court where prosecutors had previously claimed there was a case. Some of his descendants also have a reality show where they go about shopping.

Nelson Mandela did not create a utopia in South Africa. According to Agence France-Presse he leaves South Africa disillusioned and unequal (On this see: AFP "Mandela quitte une Afrique du Sud désenchantée et inégalitaire" Par Claudine RENAUD at 6 December 2013 http://fr.news.yahoo.com/mandela-quitte-afrique-sud-d%C3%A9senchant%C3%A9e-in%C3%A9galitaire-223926214.html ). So what did Nelson Mandela do which was so great? Nelson Mandela was a demagogue. His charisma was uniting. South Africa ended apartheid and South Africa created peace. The man that the United States of America listed as a terrorist many years after he became national President of the Republic of South Africa: played a large role in uniting South Africa. This is the Nelson Mandela who should be remembered: a very human man, a man who engaged in some questionable activities in his lifetime, but a man who in his actions helped unite the nation and to prevent a civil war. For that I am grateful to Nelson Mandela and FW De Klerk. However it is important to remember Nelson Mandela the man, and not Nelson Mandela the media created myth, who bears little resemblance to the real Nelson Mandela. It was the fact that Nelson Mandela was an ordinary South African, which so inspires the entire world, by what he did through perseverance!

Note from editor: much of the information in this article is from sources such as books, law cases, back copies of American and other newspapers and so forth. These are not always readily available to the average member of the public, but are also propietary. Should you struggle to find information sources online, please feel free to contact us, but do search firstly. One example of us responding to such a request is the placing of a link to a 2007 article relating to abortion within this article, which is why we are writing this editor's note. Most of the information herein should be available online, although we purposely chose to rely on more accurate non-online sources. What information is not available online should be easily found in a well stacked public library. The author of this piece writes from memory of studying the matters in law school, and the syllabus relating to Constitutional Law and Customary law, and Criminal law at the University of the Witwatersrand, which included little known information such as evidencing the ANC policy document, and other valuable documentary evidence which is rare enough to be available largely only to tertiary students who require the information. The history of witchcraft in South Africa likewise is based on historic research in an offline format. The early missionary accounts, and several offline accounts by experts, are particularly valuable as such, although obviously the missionary accounts have a Christian format to their language. The African National Congress witch trials are extensively recorded in historic material looking back at that precarious time. However, there are less complete online accounts of this fascinating subject, which no doubt should be available to the average reader. Any information you struggle to check or verify if you are that type, please contact us for.

Original title: 'The Man and the Media Myth: There are two Nelson Mandela’s who yesterday evening passed away.' changed to 'The Man and the Media Myth: There are two Nelson Mandela’s who passed away. ' for republication on the 15 December in light of Mandela's burial. The first sentence is accordingly changed.