Aside from a childhood that coincided with the apartheid riots, divorce is the hardest thing I've had during my 42 years of life. In the middle of 2013, a few months after the unpleasant surprise, I went to therapy to try to regain the balance of existence. One morning, while I was still moving manfully through different phases of sadness, I came to therapy with anger that could barely hold back.
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The more we spoke, the more frustrated I was. "What's behind all this?" asked my therapist. "It's like I have to hurry up anger, I have to forgive him!" "Why do you have to do it?" "Because that's what the company is doing, and because we are South Africans, Madiba promised that we would forgive … What kind of South Africa would I be if I was constantly appealing to Mandela as a model? "
His response might as well have been addressed to all of South Africa after 1994:" Did you think you should not rush to forgive, that you put unrealistic pressure? "
The Myth of Mandela
I recently started using this story to explain to visitors just how much Nelson Mandela's mythology is rooted in the 56 million people South-South Conscience or rather, in the consciousness of South Africans of my age or older, those who remember the era of apartheid and four years of strained bargaining between the release of Mandela in 1990 and the first democratically elected South African President [19659007] qiuPMiWjAek9T9SzVJncPkMSkk4.jpg “/>
Students demonstrate. Students from Western Cape University. In 2016, a wave of protests swept over the country, the largest case of late apartheid, where students sought free education after a tuition fee increase. But students believed that the protests were also about racism and the legacy of apartheid. Image: Schalk van Zuydam
A new generation of young South Africans – 81 percent black and especially poor, eight percent white and above all wise, nine percent "colored" or mixed, two percent Indian – got tired of us and our " Rainbow". hang on to the creative mood of South Africa as "Rainbow Nation". And of course, Madiba (Mandela's pseudo Xhosa, the name that most South Africans use in referring to him) was the strongest symbol of this story.
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As the world celebrates Mandela's centenary, his legacy has become increasingly controversial at home. Many in the generation without birth (those born after 1994), especially among the mostly black population, began to reject rainbowism at the same time as they came to university.
"Mandela's grants to white capital condemned black South Africa to eternal poverty." "Mandela was a sellout a traitor!"
At first, like many others in my generation, I found such statements almost hesitantly. During the first twenty years of democracy, Mandela seemed to be the only thing that almost all South Africans could accept. Faith in him as a model was the kit that held us together and allowed us to remain forgiven. Being forced to reevaluate one's heritage – and thus all the miracle that was the birth of our country – was deeply unpleasant.
But think if the children were right? A large part of the 92 per cent of all South Africans who are not white would say that the "reconciliation" for which our country is so famous has been one-sided. What is especially black who has forgiven the white, without much return. And although I will never sign that "all white South Africans are racist", I will say that "some" are that or that "many" are, and if I say that one or the other will depend on the number of days that have elapsed since the racism of a national white man has become a rich new.
Anguish Resides
Yes, there is a lot of anger under Mandela's rainbow. But not everything is bad news. An opinion poll after poll shows that most people still want the solution that he has sold us. The Atonement survey in South Africa has shown that 75% of South Africans still believe that reconciliation is the way forward. I suspect that the average South African realizes that Mandela has entered into part-time agreements since he had a central goal in mind: to win us a country free from war
The release. On the map, taken on February 13, 1990, Nelson Mandela and his wife Winnie arrive to the right with knots at an ANC rally in Soweto two days after his release from Cape Prison, where he has been detained for 27 years. years. . Photo: Udo Weitz
When someone asks a question about Mandela's legacy, I point out the obvious: democracy is maturing – especially noisy and clumsy – in a country where people always have the opportunity to get together. repair and repair the damage after 342 years of corrupt colonial and apartheid empire. rule (and yes, maybe 15 or 20 years of corruption caused by Mandela's ANC party, which has ruled the country since 1994 and is likely to win the next elections too, in the middle of next year).
The wounded majority population of South Africa, who woke up every morning for 24 years and again decided to forgive. A country that sees everything by race (how could we become?), But as we do not talk about race, forgive forgiveness in all its forms. Although it involves questioning "forgive first, ask late" the report that Mandela made us buy.
In particular, Mandela's legacy remains in the sound itself.
Contested Land
had to face the end of apartheid: the landmark. A special parliamentary commission travels throughout the country and collects evidence to decide whether the Constitution should be amended to facilitate the expropriation of land without compensation being distributed. What brand, and under what conditions, remains to be seen So we discuss. Black farmers work alongside white landowners to give their (usually opposing) views to their parliament. The debates are emotional. Angry. And I am adulterated.
I think Mandela's enduring gift to his country was that it gave us time. He used the trust that my generation allowed him to keep together for a few dead years, so that we could get to the point where we could talk about our most difficult pains without hitting our dream in ruins.
Nelson Rolihahla Mandela was not perfect, it was his pleasure to remind us. But it was not for sale either. My favorite quote is, "I am not a saint, unless you mean by the saints, a sinner who continues to try. When South Africa is approaching 24 years of freedom, it is our turn to try. And hope we fail our compromises on the same thing that Nelson Mandela has failed.
Sieraaj Ahmed is a journalist in Cape Town, South Africa. He has written for several of the country's leading magazines and is trained in business and journalism, including a master's degree in political journalism from Columbia University in New York. Twitter: @sieraajahmed. Translation: Victoria Greve.
