Nelson Mandela - The African Mirror

Apr

2024

History for sale: what does South Africa’s struggle heritage mean after 30 years of democracy?

ONE of my favourite statues is the one of Nelson Mandela at the Sandton City shopping centre in Johannesburg. Larger than life, its oversized bronze shoes shimmer in the evening light, polished by the hands of many passersby who crowd around to take pictures with it. At the entrance of a square in the mall, it’s a jovial image of the former South African president in a lively jive: a decidedly odd juxtaposition of a liberation fighter at a site of luxury retail. One message it seems to convey is the celebration of the commercial riches brought about by post-apartheid…

Apr

2024

By SANDY AFRICA

South Africa’s security forces once brutally entrenched apartheid. It’s been a rocky road to reform

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

ONE of the important tasks that faced South Africa’s democratic government after 1994 was to reform the apartheid-era security apparatus. The African National Congress (ANC), which was voted into power, had a laudable vision in the 1990s for reforming the police, military and intelligence services. Determined that South Africans would never again be subject to the brutality of the security forces, it ensured that the core principles it stood for were written into the country’s democratic constitution. Putting the vision and principles into practice, however, has not been easy, and fraught with setbacks. Over time, the abuse of power, a…

Apr

2024

By GEMMA WARE

South Africans tasted the fruits of freedom and then corruption snatched them away – podcast

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

FIVE years after his momentous election as South African president, Nelson Mandela stepped down after one term in office in 1999. Thabo Mbeki, his deputy, took over the mantle of the post-apartheid transition. Mbeki would lead the country for the next nine years, a period of relatively high economic growth which enabled South Africans to begin to taste the fruits of freedom. To mark 30 years since South Africa’s post-apartheid transition began, The Conversation Weekly podcast is running a special three-part podcast series, What happened to Nelson Mandela’s South Africa? In this second episode of the series, we talk to…

Apr

2024

By JAMES OATWAY and THANDO HLOPHE

Man named Vote will cast ballot for change in South Africa

NEWS

WHEN Mariana Ubisi went into labour in her one-room home in rural South Africa, millions of Black citizens were queuing to vote in the election that would bring Nelson Mandela to power. It was April 27, 1994. Swept up in the excitement, Ubisi and her husband named their newborn son Vote. "I imagine it was because we were hearing the chants saying 'vote, vote, vote' on the radio," said Ubisi, a traditional healer in Lillydale, a poor village in Mpumalanga province. As Mozambican refugees who fled war in their country in the 1960s, Mariana and her husband Ernesto did not…

Apr

2024

By GEMMA WARE and THABO LESHILO

After the euphoria of Nelson Mandela’s election, what happened next? Podcast

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

IT was a moment many South Africans never believed they’d live to see. On 10 May 1994, Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as president of a democratic South Africa, ending the deadly and brutal white minority apartheid regime. To mark 30 years since South Africa’s post-apartheid transition began, The Conversation Weekly podcast is running a special three-part podcast series, What happened to Nelson Mandela’s South Africa? In the first episode, two scholars who experienced the transition at first hand reflect on the initial excitement around Mandela’s election, the priorities of his African National Congress (ANC) in the transition and the challenges…

Apr

2024

By The African Mirror

What happened to Nelson Mandela’s South Africa? A new podcast series marks 30 years of post-apartheid democracy

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS, EDITORS CHOICE

WHEN Nelson Mandela stood in front of the Union Buildings in Pretoria in May 1994 as South Africa’s first democratically elected president, my country was brimming with optimism for its post-apartheid future. I was there and relieved at the prospect of an end to bloodshed. I had seen far too much violence and death in my five-year career as a journalist, covering the deadly political violence that characterised the dying moments of apartheid. But was the negotiated settlement real freedom? The sceptic in me wondered. How could it be when we did not really defeat the white settler colonialists who’d…

Jan

2024

By The African Mirror

Nelson Mandela’s personal items under the hammer in New York? Why it outraged some, and what’s at stake

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

AN identity document, a pair of reading glasses, a hearing aid and a pair of worn shoes. These are just some of Nelson Mandela’s personal items that were due to go on auction on 22 February 2024. A month before the auction was due, the New York-based Guernsey’s auction house put a notice on its website that it was suspending the sales. No explanation was given. DUANE JETHRO, Lecturer Department of African Studies and Linguistics, University of Cape Town The initial news of the auction caused outrage. South African government officials, commentators on South African social media, and even members…

Jan

2024

By The African Mirror

Education has a huge role to play in peace and development: 5 essential reads

SPECIAL FEATURES: ANALYSIS

NELSON Mandela was a famous advocate for the value of education. In 1990, the man who would become South Africa’s first democratic president four years later told a high school in Boston: “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” NATASHA JOSEPH, Commissioning Editor, The Conversation The United Nations agrees. In 2018 its General Assembly adopted a resolution that proclaimed 24 January as the International Day of Education. It’s an annual opportunity to shine a spotlight on the role that education can and should play in promoting peace and development. This year the theme…

Dec

2023

By MATHEWS PHOSA

When A Dream Comes True

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP, EDITORS CHOICE

DURING the famous Rivonia Trial of 1963 and 64 our first democratically elected President, Nelson Mandela eloquently verbalized his dream for a post-apartheid South Africa. In it, he made it clear that he was willing to fight, and if necessary, die for the ideal of non-racial South Africa, free of any prejudices. That was his dream. Standing on the shoulders of hundreds of selfless struggle heroes, he achieved that ideal thirty years later, in 1994. His example has galvanized many people across the world towards the achievement of their goals. In the very recent past, we saw a young man…

Sep

2023

By GWLADYS FOUCHE

Nobel Peace Prize: who has won and who missed out?

NEWS

THE winner of the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize will be announced on October 6 in Oslo. Here are some past winners - and one person who did not but should have. MARTIN LUTHER KING The leader of the U.S. civil rights movement was "the first person in the Western world to have shown us that a struggle can be waged without violence," according to the then chairman of the awarding body, Gunnar Jahn. "He is the first to make the message of brotherly love a reality in the course of his struggle, and he has brought this message to all men, to…