I was there: the day Nelson Mandela took office and something changed in the world – 05/10/2019

June 12, 1964 Nelson Mandela He was sentenced to life imprisonment by a white court in Pretoria, the South African capital. Even in his wildest fantasies, the image that would come true someday would not have crossed the mind.

Exactly 25 years ago, on May 10, 1994, Mandela succeeds South Africa's presidency after the first democratic elections in his country's history. The place was, again, Pretoria. He was accompanied by the most famous photo of that day by two white generals, the chief of the armed forces and the national police, and a white judge, all of whom were charged with pledging allegiance to him. The most eloquent representation of his spectacular ability to defeat his enemies, impossible.

Even in my wildest fantasies, I would not have imagined that I would be sitting that day at the presidential palace, just ten meters from where Mandela was, at the time the most famous politician and by far the most admired of the planet. It did not come to my mind in 1964 when I was a boy and lived in Buenos Aires; not even in 1989, when I started my life as a correspondent in South Africa; Not really, in early 1994, while it was still highly likely that Mandela's dream of liberating his people from the racial tyranny of apartheid would drown, as he had warned, in the blood. There were also valid arguments to believe that the story would end well or that the country would succumb to a terrible civil war.

May good triumph over evil is attributable to the sacrifice, the pragmatism and generosity of many people in South Africa and around the world. But without Mandela, it would not have been possible. Like George Washington in his day, Mandela was "the indispensable man". Political genius, he had a gift for persuasion and instinct to build bridges. I saw him almost daily during the five years I had the chance to attend Mandela's show in the first row. There was a special day when he built a bridge with me.

Look also

It was at a press conference in the first week of January 1994. Mandela had been released from prison four years earlier. During the first year of his release, I published several articles revealing the crimes committed by his wife, Winnie, symbol of black resistance converted during the second half of the 1980s as a matriarch of a family. murderous mafia. On a festive night, a tall, fat man approached and told me that Mandela, a voracious reader of national and foreign newspapers, was not at all happy with what was going on. he wrote about his wife. He warned me to pay attention. I did not pay attention to him. He thought he had already taken Mandela's step, about six months after his release. I was sure he was a democrat from head to toe, respectful of the freedom of the press.

I was right, but it was also true that Winnie was at the time Mandela's Achilles heel. Charismatic and ardent woman, Mandela fell in love with her in 1957 and the memory of her memories gave her warmth, hope and light during her 27 years in prison. He loved him so much that, when he came out, he turned a blind eye to the multiple evidences of his crime and his love stories.. Not even a court conviction related to the murder of a black boy of 12 years convinced him. The straw that broke the camel's back was in 1992 when he had learned from the press a letter that Winnie, enraged by jealousy, had written to a young lover the same year. Mandela announced the end of his marriage, but it would have been years before he recovered from the pain. Even her most intimate friends dared to talk to her about her.

The press conference I attended in the first week of January 1994 brought Mandela and the other five top leaders of his party, the African National Congress (ANC) together. The objective was to announce in a hierarchical ranking the list of candidates that the ANC would present at the general elections to be held in April of the same year. It seemed a bit premature to me since South Africa was still fighting between war and peace, but that did not answer my question.

Look also

I got up, looked at Mandela and said, "Do not you think that the African National Congress, which is dedicated all its life to the defense of human rights, has he convicted kidnapping at the sixth rank of his electoral list? and badaulting a minor? "I remember that other ANC leaders sitting on the podium were looking at me with a mixture of Astonishment and extreme discomfort, in the plan "Tragame tierra".

Only Mandela did not flinch. He nodded, as if accepting the fairness of the question, and replied: "You must remember that the ANC is a democratic organization, in which case all the members of the organization voted in favor of their favorite candidates and, even if our leaders do not necessarily agree with their decisions, we have no choice but to respect them. "

Look also

And there, in front of the relief of his comrades, the case remained. Until after the press conference, he looked for me and, with a smile, he shook my hand. "How are you, John? How are you, were you with the family for Christmas?" We chatted for a moment, but we never mentioned the moment of tension that I'm having. had generated with my question. It was included. By kindness, he sent me a message: "Yes, there was a shock, we could have ended badly, but that would not make sense, we're still friends." I mean, I did what I always did instinctively. I saw a gap, even insignificant, and I reached out.

Much more urgent and infinitely heavier was a work, similar in essence, which was done at that precise time with a white general at once illustrious and formidable. We journalists had no idea and we would not know until much later, but I was conducting a series of secret meetings with General Constand Viljoen, leader of the South African far right. Viljoen counted up to 40,000 armed men and threatened to wage war to end the elections and put an end to the ideal Mandela had dedicated to.

Look also

He had in his hands the opportunity to turn South Africa into something similar to what is now Syria. With the subtlety, charm and respect – always respect – that defined him, Mandela slowly disarmed him. He convinced the general not only to give up what he called "the armed struggle", but to participate in the April elections, thus legitimizing the nascent and still fragile democratic process.

The legacy of Mandela today is that South African democracy is strong. The judicial system treats the poor and the powerful in the same way; the press could not be freer; Elections are celebrated when they are to be celebrated and the results are respected. That South Africa has become a corrupt and inefficient country is not your fault. This is partly bad luck: the leader that Mandela wanted to replace is not chosen by the ANC members; it is partly the inevitable product (the same thing happens wherever there is human life) that the same party has been in power for a quarter of a century. The current president is finally the one that Mandela had wished. His name is Cyril Ramaphosa, he is the best person to govern the country, but the task entrusted to him is almost impossible given the damage he inherited from his predecessors. Nothing new under the sun.

But it could be worse. Ramaphosa, one of the leaders who put his hand in his head when I asked this question to Mandela in January 1994, governs a country that, because of historical precedents and a logic revenge, should have gone to war but stay in peace. Remembering this great truth was the last thing Mandela did the last time I saw him at home, already very old and sick, four years before his death. "We made peace" he said to me.

Clarin Bulletins

What happened today? We tell you the most important news of the day and what will happen tomorrow when you get up

Monday to Friday afternoon.

Which does not mean that there is now much to regret in South Africa. But there is more to celebrate. And, above all, it is a huge example for all times: today, 25 years after Nelson Mandela was appointed President of his country, the rest of the world would do well to emulate it.

PB

John Carlin just posted "Mandela and the General" (Penguin Random House). In 2008 he published "The human factor", adapted to the cinema in 2009 "Invictus".