Ubuntu

The African word “ubuntu” refers to the belief that “I am who I am because of who we all are.” We are all part of something bigger than ourselves and we could not be individuals without the influences of the larger group.  We all live together and must respect each other.

One quintessential example of ubuntu is Nelson Mandela.

One cannot learn about apartheid in South Africa without also learning a great deal about Nelson Mandela and his role in putting an end to apartheid and helping South Africa to move forward once apartheid had ended.

(Nelson) Rolihlahla Mandela was born in Transkei, South Africa on July 18, 1918. His father was a chief in the Tembu tribe and leader of the town of Mvezo. Rolihlahla (which means “troublemaker”) was the first member of his family to attend a school. While in school, his teacher gave him his English name, Nelson.

Nelson went to the university and eventually received his law degree. Thereafter he and a partner opened the first black law firm in South Africa providing free or low-cost counsel to many black people. After the 1948 National Party victory and subsequent apartheid policies, Mandela became politically active as a member of the African National Congress (ANC), resisting these policies. In 1960, the ANC was banned as a “terrorist organization” and in 1961, Mandela helped to create a new militant branch of the ANC. As leader of this new wing of the ANC, Mandela organized sabotage campaigns about government and military targets.

In the early 1960’s, Mandela was arrested and charged with sabotage and treason. At the trial, Mandela described this as a last-resort, used only after it became obvious that years of non-violent protests were achieving no progress.

Mandela during his trial: "During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to the 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.”

In 1964, Mandela was sentenced to life in prison. 

Mandela was imprisoned on Robben Island (a prison on an island off the coast of Cape Town) for eighteen of his twenty-seven years in prison.

Robben Island

Entrance to the Prison

Prisoners on Robben Island were separated along apartheid lines by race with black prisoners receiving fewer privileges (rations, clothes, etc.) than colored and Asian prisoners. No white prisoners were living in Robben Island prison. Days were spent working hard labor in a lime quarry on the island.

Limestone Quarry on Robben Island

Mandela, as a political prisoner, received even fewer privileges, including only one visitor and one letter every six months.

Mandela's Prison Cell

The Cell's Only Furnishings in the Early Years

During his years in prison, Mandela’s reputation, both nationally and internationally, continued to grow. He was regarded as the most significant black leader in South Africa. Eventually a campaign to free Mandela became the focus of international opposition to apartheid. Robben Island became known as “Mandela University” as he worked to educate other political prisoners on resistance and human rights.

Mandela consistently refused to compromise his political position to obtain his freedom. In 1985, he was offered a release if he would publically condemn violence as a means to further political objectives. His daughter publically read his refusal in which he stated that violence was the responsibility of the apartheid government and that with true democracy, violence would not be necessary. He also stated that only a free man can negotiate, “a prisoner cannot enter into contracts.”

“For to be free is not only to cast off one’s chains,  but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”

By 1990, change was coming to South Africa. Mandela was released from prison when President de Klerk reversed the ban on the ANC and released all political prisoners. Mandela’s release was broadcast live around the world.

Upon his release, Mandela made a speech to the nation saying that his main focus was to bring peace to the black majority in South Africa and making a commitment to reconciliation with the country’s white minority. However he also stated that the factors that made violent resistance necessary in the 1960’s still existed and he hoped for a climate conducive to a negotiated settlement would soon exist.

His hopes were realized when negotiations between the government and the ANC began. Nelson Mandela and President F.W. de Klerk were largely responsible for these negotiations to end apartheid. This earned them both the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 “for their work for the peaceful termination of the apartheid regime, and for laying the foundations for a new democratic South Africa.”

In 1994, Mandela became the first President of South Africa under the new constitution. As president, Mandela was known for giving priority to reconciliation between the people of South Africa and focusing on moving forward on a unified nation while introducing policies aimed at combating poverty and inequality.

What inspires me about Mandela is his belief in forgiveness and his commitment to the greater good. I can’t think that it is easy to spend twenty-seven years in prison and come out ready to forgive and move forward with those who put you in prison. But Mandela consistently preached tolerance, forgiveness, and hope. I believe that South Africa is lucky to have had such a dynamic leader at that time whose message was received by so many thus avoiding violence or retribution. One of my favorite quotes from Mandela: “I am what I am both as a result of people who respected me and helped me, and of those who did not respect me and treated me badly.”

In 1999, Mandela did not run for reelection and retired from politics but went on to become an advocate for a number of social and human rights organizations.

Statue of Nelson Mandela in Nobel Square in Cape Town

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, another South African Nobel Peace Prize winner defines ubuntu like this: “A person with Ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, based from a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed.” This spirit is personified in Nelson Mandela.

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