Debt of gratitude
Like everyone else in South Africa on Friday I woke to the news that Nelson Mandela had died overnight.
Radio reports played a sound bite of an eloquent tribute from US President Barack Obama, quoting Mandela’s famous speech about opposing both black and white domination, about freedom being an ideal he was prepared to fight for – and die for.
British Prime Minister David Cameron described him as a great man not only of our time but of all time, a man who made the world infinitely better through not just his wisdom but his compassion and humanity.
And then the radio DJ opened up the phone lines and took calls from ordinary South Africans, all of whom were struggling to come to terms with the not unexpected news of his passing at the age of 95. In its simplicity, the call from young Thembi in Johannesburg touched a nerve. Her younger sister is 22 years old. She belongs to the Born Free generation. Her only experience of apartheid is anecdotal and through history books. Thembi said her sister could not comprehend how a man could spend more time in prison than she has lived on this earth – and emerge from the experience untainted by hatred and bitterness.
As always, my mind segued to his impact on individuals and the wine industry. For the latter it improved matters immeasurably, opening up international markets which had been stubbornly closed during the sanctions era. An embargo on South African wine and other goods was one way which the world could show their principled displeasure and disapproval of the apartheid regime.
Some years back when editing WINE magazine, we carried an article on the most influential people in the industry – and Nelson Mandela headed the list. We copped a lot of flak for it but the truth was that although not a great wine drinker, Madiba was responsible for introducing an age of prosperity and new growth for virtually every wine farm in the country. We were once again welcome in the international wine fraternity and markets – which were possibly not as in love with Pinotage as we would have liked… but they were open to us.
A new generation of winemakers were free to travel abroad, studying and working, absorbing information and then returning home to apply the lessons – and dragging the local wine industry into a more modern era and improving the quality of our viticulture, vineyards, winemaking and wines as a result. So, yes, he deserved his spot on that list.
The former Victor Verster prison – now Groot Drakenstein – where he took his first steps as a free man (who can forget that momentous day!) is a stone’s throw from Franschhoek. A massive statue of that iconic image of him, walking free with his raised fist clenched and yet with a typically beaming smile on his face, stands outside the gate. It’s a tourist attraction with prison guards often pressed into service to snap photos.
And yet I know a woman who used to be a magistrate in Paarl. Part of her job responsibility was to visit the world’s most famous prisoner to ensure that all was well. She often took tea with him at his former prison warder’s home in the grounds of the prison. An Afrikaner whose family political views were not in synch with his, she nonetheless connected with him on an individual level and acknowledged that he was a remarkable man – yet a simple and humble one too. Even after he was released and took on the mantle of President of a democratic South Africa, he never failed to send her a note or call her on her birthday.
On a personal note I can recall when Chris Hani was assassinated. I remember my blood running cold because that was truly one of those pivotal moments when the emotion was so raw and the tension between black and white so high that the country could easily have been plunged into civil war. And yet Nelson Mandela called for calm; he soothed things down and allayed people’s fears. But for him we could have taken the path that Syria, Libya and Egypt took with all the attendant horror and suffering.
The peaceful transition of power and the birth of our country was truly a miracle and is something we should all stop and marvel at. All South Africans will mourn his passing and feel the loss. It sounds ridiculously clichéd but our society – and the world – was richly blessed to have experienced his unique brand of leadership and humility. If only more world leaders displayed just an iota of that it would undoubtedly be a better place.
Rest in peace, Tata.
– Fiona McDonald