Madiba is more than a national icon, says Sandile Dikeni, and the month of his birth must become celebrated around the world.
July is quite a beautiful month. It is not the naked trees nor the dew on them that makes me love the winter month. No – it is something more sophisticated and deep.
Look at it this way. See, 18 years after the beginning of last century, somewhere in what used to be called Transkei – in other words way across the Kei River in the Eastern Cape, was born in the royal house of the abaThembu, in the house of Sopitsho, uYem-yem uVela Bambhentsele, the house of Madiba, a boy called Rolihlahla.
He later, popular rumour tells, was given a European name, Nelson, to make it possible for the South African education authorities to know him.
At the moment it is not only the South African thinker who knows his name. He became an international icon of humility and humanity. You know him too. His name is Rolihlahla Nelson Mandela. He helped give birth to a free South Africa.
Look at it this way – many world societies in 2 000 years and more have a recognition for one chap called Jesus Christ who was born in a town called Bethlehem in Israel. His life narrative is amazing and has spread over the whole world in what is narrated as Christianity. Okay, let’s admit that people also do talk about Mohammed, the Islamic leader narrated in the Qur’an. They do. In other words, he is an icon to the Muslims of the world. Jesus and Mohammed are icons of the world. They are religious symbols of the spiritual essences of the universe.
Okay, Rolihlahla Nelson Mandela is not standing as a religious symbol to the world. He is rather an icon who I think stands for the dynamism of the human essence. He never really intended the current symbolism that he achieved. In other words, the sufferings he endured for the supremacy of humanity is quite touching. We are witnesses to it. It is also touching that his life story is also an amazing narrative of love. I want to venture into saying he is an icon of what is humanity. Humiliated and incarcerated for humanism, he did not lose his resolve that people are beautiful. He was a believer in the beautiful essences that human beings carry. His poetic essences in my opinion go beyond the limits. Take for instance his relationship with Graça Machel in a nationalistic country that we live in. He is a human icon not only for the geographic expression called South Africa. Madiba is more than a national icon. I have also discovered and admired his careful dance with the various symbolisms of the world, preferring a broader look at the many diverse projections humanism can breathe. His dance with life is nearly impossible to narrate.
I tried many a time to write a poem about him. I failed many times. He was and still is beyond poetry. Mandela and I belong to the mighty Thembu of which royalty he belongs to. But has he made attempts to claim recognition of this fact? No, he did not. His broad and wide appreciation of the human dynamic, methinks, would not allow him. His amazing dance with the pitfalls of society is in my opinion a near impossible feat for humanity to achieve. The beauties in Rolihlahla are more touching than many philosophical moments I had encountered in my religious moments in this world. His refusal to close his view on the capacity of the human being brings tears to my eyes.
When Madiba was released, I have the pleasure to say, I was an MC of the cultural programme. And, boy, was I good. A girlfriend who had decided to dump me the previous week came back to me pleading for us to start it again. She did not say it, but I think she saw the Madiba in me. Truth said, I must confess to being a Thembu. Okay let me explain that the Madiba clan is the royalty of the Thembus. But the amaGcina is quite a name in the Thembu clan. Honestly amaGcina are miles away from that moment called redundant. An example of a brilliant Mgcina is Walter Sisulu, who was responsible for a significant part of the Mandela vibe. I am a Mgcina. I did not say I am brilliant. I am just saying I am not dumb!
July is not as dynamic as April (I was born in April 5, a few days after that day) but let’s not limit July to the July Handicap. Madiba is not a horse! My suggestion is that we turn July into the same vibe we give December. I also think that we need to educate society about this month. I am challenging arts and craft structures to recognise Madiba as an international symbol of the beauty in human beings. It is a huge challenge that countries like Mozambique might grab for festivities. The current silence is not in my opinion a deserved comment on the majesty of Madiba.
More, I do think that the UN might find a day in July to celebrate Madiba. No problem with that, but I just think that it will taste nicer if we do it before them. In other humble words, I am of the opinion that Africa needs to make the gesture before New York. I am not so sure of my comfort levels in a situation where Africa’s Mandela is commercially sold to us. Just imagine the huge prices that one will have to pay on a Mandela T-shirt sold in chainstore. I can also imagine the marketing thereof in shops.
“He was in chains until we liberated him” – is something I can already see as some major chainstores rush into action to show their ‘appreciation of a symbol that Africa refused to embrace’. Can you imagine that? I can. I can see how many of the clothing brands are cheapened by the Madiba tekkie.
I know that Gugs and Mandalay won’t afford it. More I shudder when I think of Khayelitsha and Crossroads. On another side, I do think that this July is gonna be something. And I also think that we as Cape Town who hosted Rolihlahla Nelson Mandela for almost three decades should be the ones who are seen by the world as people who knows Madiba better. I am not being arrogant. I am being humble. Truth is that Mandela spent quite some time in a place called Robben Island before going to Victor Verster, which, between me and you, is not far from Cape Town.
Seriously speaking, I was in the junior section of Victor Verster in the 1980s. In other words, me and Madiba were in there at the same time. I am sometimes really surprised by my humility.
*Dikeni is a South African poet who began writing while in detention in 1986.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
Cape Times