(Two weeks ago, we began this essay by looking at Mandela’s meteoric rise to world renown, from humble birth in the tiny village of Mvezo, on the banks of the Mbashe River in Transkei, to a life of privilege as the adopted son of the acting regent of the Thembu people, and being groomed for ‘high office’ and beyond. Now for the conclusion.)

IN 1961, Mandela orchestrated a three-day national workers’ strike. He was arrested for leading the strike the following year, and was sentenced to five years in prison. In 1963, he was brought to trial again, this time, for political offences, including sabotage. At his trial (the one that changed South Africa forever, and was held at the Palace of Justice in Pretoria, in a segregated courtroom filled on one side with plain-clothes police officers and on the other side with relatives and friends of the accused), the prosecutor referred to the case as the ” The State versus the National High Command and Others” (The Rivonia trial).

Standing in the dock, Mandela, foregoing cross-examination (which meant that his testimony would be given little weight), said in what would come to be regarded as his most infamous trial speech ever:
“…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.”
Gaol
Mandela and 10 other ANC leaders were sentenced to life imprisonment for political offences, including sabotage. Nelson Mandela would spend eighteen of his twenty-seven-year sentence at a penetentiary on Robben Island, just off Cape Town. Confined to a small cell, the floor his bed, a bucket for a toilet, Prisoner #46664 was forced to do hard labour in a quarry. He was allowed one visitor a year for 30 minutes. He could write and receive one letter every six months. But Robben Island became the crucible that transformed him.

Through intelligence, charm and dignified defiance, Mandela eventually bent even the most brutal prison officials to his will, assumed leadership over his jailed comrades, and became the master of his own prison.
According to fellow prisoner, Neville Alexander, “He always made the point, ‘If they say you must run, insist on walking. If they say you must walk fast, insist on walking slowly.’ That was the whole point. We are going to set the terms.”
Robben Island and Pollsmoor Prison in suburban Cape Town redefined for Mandela the struggle against Apartheid. It is behind those prison walls that he was able to subtly develop method in strategy. He was tempered in the fire of adversity. And as he dug deep into prison life, he would be troubled by the separation of family, especially when he learnt that his then wife, Winnie was arrested and detained for 17months as she continued the struggle against Apartheid, and for a democratic South Africa. This meant that their daughters, nine and ten respectively, were left behind, and there was nothing he could do to help his wife and children.
His long imprisonment gave him new depth; helped him to be more understanding of the foibles of others; to be more generous, more tolerant, more magnanimous; it also gave him an unassailable credibility and integrity, so that when he finally emerged from prison, he was willing to extend a hand of friendship to his former adversaries and be generous when they were vanquished. He lived out the understanding that an enemy is a friend waiting to be made. During his time in prison also, he used his knowledge of the law to full effect and advantage. His answer to brutality and bullyism, as well as harassment and abuse was to turn to the law, whether it was on his own behalf or to assist fellow inmates. He would threaten to take action or to institute legal action; it became an essential protection.

International campaign
Mandela continued to be such a potent symbol of Black resistance that a coordinated international campaign for his release was launched, and this international groundswell of support exemplified the power and esteem that Mandela had in the global political community.

Thus, in 1985, President P.W. Botha offered to release Mandela in exchange for renouncing armed struggle; but Mandela flatly rejected the offer. With increasing local and international pressure for his release, the government participated in several talks with Mandela over the ensuing years, but no deal was made.
By the time Nelson Mandela turned 70 and was still imprisoned, by then transferred to Victor Vester prison, the campaign for his release had reached virtually every corner of the world; and every medium was used to push, coerce and encourage anyone and everyone to do their bit to help free him — from students and concert goers to politicians and bankers. Medium used included: Boycotting South Africa at sports; economic sanctions, both trade and financial; political and diplomatic sanctions; and an arms embargo with the passing of Resolution 418 by the UN Security Council in 1977.
It was however the account of his prison experience that moved commentators to indulge, in the domain of exuberance and, perhaps, reverence for the man, in positing that Mandela must have been a prophet besides being the obvious liberator.
A more contemporary aggregate of a prophet refers to someone who speaks up and takes a stand for what they believe in, even if it makes them unpopular. Thus, writers and commentators in their fervour to revere Nelson Mandela have not failed in attributing such a lofty ideal to his inspirational advocacy. Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a fellow South African, referred to him as “the prophet of tolerance”; Raul Castro, called him a “prophet of unity and peace. Ruby Sprott, in her article Nelson Mandela: A Prophet for the Twenty-first Century writes, “I see Mandela, the prophet. I see Mandela as much of a prophet as any in the Bible. I see him as a prophet like Habakkuk…Perhaps Mandela’s life didn’t start out as a prophet, but became one, as he suffered trials, watched his brothers and sisters who believed in justice suffer and die for the sake of what was right and just; baked in the hot sun breaking rocks on Robben Island; and contracted tuberculosis while in prison.” An exegesis of the Bible’s account of Habakkuk, the prophet, will reveal that, unlike the other prophets being a representative of God to the people, Habakkuk was a representative of the people to God as he pleaded and complained on their behalf. Ruby Sprott may just be spot on. Mandela, nevertheless, dispelled the concept of himself when he said – “…I stand here before you not as a prophet, but as a humble servant of you, the people…”
Perhaps it was by providence Botha suffered a stroke and was replaced by Frederik Willem de Klerk. What ensued was that Mandela’s release was finally announced. De Klerk also unbanned the ANC, removed restrictions on political groups and suspended executions. So on February 11, 1990, the angry jaws of prison released its victim – prisoner #46664 Nelson Mandela. Upon his release from prison, Nelson Mandela immediately urged foreign powers not to reduce their pressure on the South African government for constitutional reform. While he stated that he was committed to working toward peace, he declared that the ANC’s armed struggle would continue until the black majority received the right to vote. In his Address to a rally in Cape Town on his release from prison he stated, “…Your tireless and heroic sacrifices have made it possible for me to be here today. I therefore place the remaining years of my life in your hands.”
And indeed he did, for in 1991, Mandela was elected president of the African National Congress. Mandela continued to negotiate with President F.W. de Klerk toward the country’s first multiracial elections. White South Africans were willing to share power, but many Black South Africans wanted a complete transfer of power. The negotiations were often strained and Mandela had to keep a delicate balance of political pressure and intense negotiations amid the demonstrations and armed resistance.
In 1993, Mandela and President de Klerk were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their work toward dismantling apartheid. And due in no small part to their work, negotiations between black and white South Africans prevailed: On April 27, 1994, South Africa held its first democratic elections. Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as the country’s first black president on May 10, 1994, at the age of 77, with de Klerk as his first deputy. At his inauguration speech he bellowed, “Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another.”

From 1994 until June 1999, Mandela worked to bring about the transition from minority rule and apartheid to black majority rule. He used the nation’s enthusiasm for sports as a pivot point to promote reconciliation between whites and blacks, encouraging black South Africans to support the once-hated national rugby team. In 1995, South Africa came to the world stage by hosting the Rugby World Cup, which brought further recognition and prestige to the young Republic.
Mandela also worked to protect South Africa’s economy from collapse during his presidency. Through his Reconstruction and Development Plan, the South African government funded the creation of jobs, housing and basic health care. In 1996, Mandela signed into law a new constitution for the nation, establishing a strong central government based on majority rule, and guaranteeing both the rights of minorities and the freedom of expression. By the 1999 general election, Nelson Mandela had retired from active politics.
At the time of his death, on December 5, 2013, at the age of 95, South Africa had given to the world a legend. Some may call him prophet; to all he was the ultimate liberator of his people, from a political system that made diminishing one race to another; yet to others he was both the prophet and liberator. But for the modesty of the man he would rather be referred to as “A humble servant of the people”.
Rest in peace Nelson Mandela
Written By Horace Cummings