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This is a memoir of one of the notable past African leaders; Nelson Mandela. This book chronicle the event of all that happened in his fight together with the other freedom fighters against the apartheid.
He, Nelson Mandela narrated everything that happens from the time he was a child in Transkei village to when he went to live with another family outside his village; how he joined the ANC-African National Congress to the creation of militant groups.
He said that the reason for their struggle was to ensure that it was not only the white minority that would be ruling South Africa. He and the other ANC members believe that black should also have the right to vote and be voted for in South Africa which was not happening at that time.
The children of the black could go to the same school as the whites. He was resolute that no one should be judged by the color of their skins. The blacks were treated like modern slaves in their own country. They were living in their own country like it was a foreign land.
Their agitation for equality between the black and the white led to a peaceful protest. This they did by imploring the workers to go on two days strike. This did not move the government. They wrote letters perhaps there could be negotiations between them and the government, again the government never reply any of their letters. As a result, they believe the language that the government understands is violence.
This led to the creation of Umukhantho sizwe ; the military arm of the ANC group. Nelson was the founder and commander of this military group. Even though he did not know anything about a war he started reading books about war so that their mission would be accomplished.
He traveled to other countries to form an alliance with them. One of the countries he visited promise to help in the training of their soldiers. When he finally returned to South African he was arrested and was charged for leaving the country in an unauthorized way. He was sentenced to five years in prison.
Not quite long the secret about the formation of their army got leak to the government. The government arrested some notable ANC members and charged them to court. Mandela was re-arrested.
In a nutshell, they were charged for treason. The judge sentences them to life imprisonment. He narrated his ordeal in the prison; how they were transferred from one prison to another.
How the warders didn't treat them like political prisoners but just like other common prisoners in Robben Island. He was in prison when his mother died, he was there when his daughter got married. He said that his greatest regret was that he could not be there for his family when they needed him the most because he was fighting for the freedom of the people.
His wife; Winnie stood by him through all his darkest moments. He was incarcerated for twenty-seven and a half years. He became a prisoner at the age of 44 and was released at the age of 71 in 1990. He spent a total of ten thousand days of his life in prison. Not because he committed any crime but for the fight for the freedom of his people.
Nelson after his release started the struggle that took him to prison again. But this time around there were a lot of negotiations upon negotiations with the government. For the first time in South Africa in 1994 or thereabout blacks also have the right to vote and be voted for. Of course, ANC won sixty-two percent of the parliament.
ANC fought apartheid for eighty years before they achieved their goals. This shows that these men were unrepentant despite being incarcerated. He said and I quote, 'the road to freedom is not always smooth.' Being a freedom fighter means you are not only the father of your children but the father of the people. This shows in the way they took risks in the interest of the people and at the expense of their families.
Nelson Mandela believes that you only have two obligations in life; firstly, the obligation to your family and secondly obligation to your society or community. And he said that he could only fulfill the latter.
Their struggles were not for any selfish interest but for the interest of the people.
He said a man does not become a freedom fighter in the hope of winning personal awards. This was reflected in the way he was undaunted in the face of many challenges that confronted him. He could not bury his mother, one of his sons died, he was not there for his family. Yet, he never gave up on the course he was fighting for.
But I was pained at the point I read that he was separated from his wife. He did not talk about what brought about the separation but he did say there were somethings they didn't agree on. He also mentions that he failed them. I felt the pain that how could he separate from a lady that was with him in his darkest moment no matter what the cause may be.
This lady was also maltreated by the government, was given house arrest just to make sure her husband was broken completely where he was incarcerated. This lady was the one that looks after their children; according to him, the children were still small when he was sentenced to life imprisonment.
I learn from the book never to give up hope if hope hasn't given up on me. Because when he was in prison he was still studying for his Ll.B, he was still doing cultivation farming. He also drafted the first 500 pages manuscript of his memoir in the prison.
Even when all the hope was lost he never lost hope. He was eventually awarded a degree in law in absentia from the University of South Africa. Meanwhile, he ought to have bagged the law degree in the University of Witwatersrand but left without completing it.
I learn from the book that if we give up many lives that hang around our neck will suffer for it. Because Nelson could choose to live a life devoid of struggles and have time for his family. He could have chosen not to fight for freedom and face his job and his family. But believe me, maybe apartheid would have still been in South Africa till today. But because he did not give up hope even in the face of hopeless situations he found himself. The freedom the black enjoy today was birth through his struggles. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize together with the then South African President F.W. de Klerk in 1993. He later became the South African president in 1994 and ruled till 1999.
I will like to end this note with this quote of his; 'I can only rest for a moment, for with freedom come responsibility. And I dare not linger, for my long walk is not yet ended. I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come.'
Akerele Odunayo Samuel
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