Nelson Mandela is no doubt one of the most revered Africans, even more than former US President Barack Obama. However, far from the positive image that Mandela has received from the Western Media, it would behove us to look at his legacy critically.
When Mandela was in the Robben Island prison for 27 years, he was listed as a terrorist by the US and it's staunch Ally, the UK. The US President Ronald Reagen and UK Prime Minister Maragerat Thatcher designated him as a person non grata. Thus in Prison, Mandela was very much an outlawed figure by the West.
However, when he came out of prison, he did compromise. He advocated for a rainbow nation, where black and white South Africans could coexist. However, how could they coexist when the black South African is so economically marginalised. The black South Africans only got political freedom, not economic freedom. In this, the ruling party, the ANC, Africa's oldest liberation party, failed. In the so called black empowerment program, only well connected ANC bigwigs were given shares in public companies.
And we've not even talked about land. This is a ticking time bomb that will need to be addressed. Even though blacks form 90 percent of the population, they form just 10 percent of landowners. This is something that the firebrand youthful leader, Julius Malema, has capitalised on. He formed the Economic Freedom party to fight for land rights and other economic rights.
The question we must ask is should Mandela have followed the Mugabe route of forceful land acquisition from white settlers? Did he fear that he might face sanctions from the EU and US just as Mugabe faced, leading to economic collapse in Zimbabwe? Did Mandela compromise too much, and leave blacks suffering economically? Read More Articles. Click Here
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