The 46664 message

KAMAL IYER
Sunday, July 06, 2008

On July 18, Mandela will officially mark his 90th birthday.

 Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela  the foster son of a Thembu tribal chief in South Africa, whose middle name means "pulling the branch of a tree" or "troublemaker", who grew up straddling two worlds namely the traditional culture of his tribe and the hostile reality of a white dominated nation, whose growing political awareness as a youth forced him to abandon his plans to pursue a career in law, who led the formation of the African National Congress (ANC) Youth League to lead a campaign of defiance against a pro-apartheid regime, served 27 years as a political prisoner on Robben Island, led the campaign to demolish apartheid after his freedom in 1990 and became South Africa's first black President in 1994  is widely regarded  by historians "as one of the few great political leaders like Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (Mahatma Gandhi) and Abraham Lincoln who go beyond mere consensus and move out ahead of their followers to break new ground".

However last week in England, thousands of people led by former American President Bill Clinton and Hollywood and movie stars like Will Smith held a public birthday celebration for the statesman. It also was an occasion to raise awareness and funds for 46664.com, an African response to the global HIV-AIDS epidemic. The 46664 campaign began in 2003 when Mandela realised that to reach the youth of the world he needed to engage the support of the people who most appeal to them, hence the need to use the power of music, sport and celebrity to educate and empower the youth.

But what is 46664? 46664 was Nelson Mandela's prison number when he was imprisoned on Robben Island, off Cape Town in South Africa.

He was jailed in 1964 for leading the liberation movement against apartheid and for his impassioned stance on the rights of everyone to live in freedom. Mandela was prisoner number 466, imprisoned in 1964. The Robben Island prisoners were never referred to by their names, but rather by their numbers and year of imprisonment hence 46664 was Mandela's number. Numbering their captors was also a heinous strategy of the apartheid regime to reduce people fighting for the right to freedom to nameless numbers.

In 1964 Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of incitement to sabotage, treason and violent conspiracy against the South African Regime.

When he led the formation of the ANC Youth League, Mandela promoted non-violent resistance to apartheid. However, his position changed following the Sharpeville massacre in 1960. It hardened his resolve and Mandela began to advocate "non-terrorist" action, aimed at the State but theoretically preventing unrest.

The Sharpeville massacre occurred on March 21, 1960 when police began shooting on a crowd of black protestors in the town of Sharpeville, in what is now Gauteng Province.

On that day a crowd of about 7000 people converged on the local police station offering themselves up for arrest for not carrying their pass books, compulsory under the apartheid regime as a policy of segregation.

This protest was organised by the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), a rival organisation to ANC and pre-empted the launch of a similar campaign by ANC whose protests were to take place ten days later on March 31, 1960.

As the crowd grew, police, after carrying out intimidating tactics, started firing on the un-armed crowd killing 69 people including 8 women and 10 children, later claiming the crowd threw stones at them.

That massacre led to the banning of both ANC and PAC and acted as a catalyst to shift from passive resistance to armed resistance by the two organisations. The massacre also was a turning point in South Africa's history as it found itself isolated by the international community including the Commonwealth, as well as in the sporting arena, greatly affecting the South African Springboks rugby team.

After the end of the apartheid era, March 21 is commemorated as Human Rights Day in South Africa from 1994. In December 1996, Mandela as South African President, selected Sharpeville as the site to sign into law the country's new Constitution.

However, as far as most of Fiji's citizens are concerned, the image of Nelson Mandela appearing in the Number 9 Springbok jersey during the final of the 1995 World Cup in South Africa between the Springboks and New Zealand All Blacks, will remain a lasting memory.

In the final, the All Blacks were the favourites, having easily swept past other national teams in pool play, quarter-final and semi-final.

Their semi-final encounter with England was memorable because of a try scored by their young winger Jonah Lomu, who until the World Cup was relatively unknown to the rugby world. After only two minutes into the match, Lomu was unleashed he strode like a giant towards the English try-line, pawing away England's winger Rory Underwood, outpacing England captain and centre Will Carling and running straight through a hapless English fullback Mike Catt to score one of the best tries in rugby history.

In the end the All Blacks demolished England 45-29 with the score line not reflecting their complete dominance. On the other hand, the Springboks scraped past France 19-15 in near unplayable conditions with torrential rain giving the pitch a lake-like semblance.

The All Blacks were therefore rightly referred to as invincible by rugby pundits in their preview of the final. But their cloak of invincibility gave way to the pride and passion of Francois Pienaar-led Springbok side playing in front of a patriotic home crowd and Nelson Mandela. With the scores tied at 9-9, the titanic struggle continued into extra-time. The score was level at 12-12 when seven minutes before the end of extra-time Springbok flyhalf Joel Stransky scored the winner when he struck a 30 metre drop goal.

Mandela, wearing a Springbok cap and a jersey adorned with Pienaar's Number 6, presented the Web Ellis Cup to the South African captain.

In front of a multiracial capacity crowd, the former political prisoner of 27 years, jailed for his anti-apartheid activities, wore the green and gold jersey that had previously been a symbol of white supremacy. This historic image of a black man (Mandela) presenting the trophy to Francois Pienaar - a white man- encapsulated the country's vision of a rainbow nation together with their slogan, "one team, one nation".

Therefore, how was the rainbow nation born? 14 years ago in South Africa, a new President took office in the same chamber that had become a shame for that nation. He did not do so at the point of a gun, brutal suppression of his political rivals or by alienation and entrenchment of discord, fear or mistrust.

Nelson Mandela became President of South Africa because his predecessor F W De Clerk and the vast majority of South Africans willed that it be so. They put aside mistrust, fear and hatred that had gripped South Africa for more than 300 years.

They defied all odds and did the unthinkable. They prevailed because they genuinely believed in a common future and genuine reconciliation.

It is, therefore, appropriate to conclude with Nelson Mandela's own words, from his autobiography Long Walk to Freedom. In the book's final paragraph, Mandela writes, "I have walked that long road to freedom. I have tried not to falter; I have made missteps along the way. But I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb. I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal the view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come. But I can rest only for a moment, for with freedom comes responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not yet ended".

 Kamal Iyer is a former journalist and a former Administrative Officer of National Federation Party.

 The historical contents of this opinion piece have been sourced from 46664.com and sharpeville massacre on the web.

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