20 Years On
“I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have cherised 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”
Famous words spoken My Nelson Mandela at his trial in 1964 and first heard by me at his address to the rally in Cape Town on his release from prison twenty years ago.
Come with me back in time to the scene in my living room. My father and uncles and other family members are seatedin front of the television. My teenage girlfriends and I are lying on my bed drooling over a poster of Terence Trent D’Arby, with his piercing blue eyes and long dreads. Back then I was not allowed to add his poster to the fan-wall in my bedroom because he was black.
My father calls us to come and see the face of the antichrist, the man who would lead to anarchy and watch as we were all killed in our beds. My mother whimpered.
I was surprised the “antichrist” was older and humbler then I ever imagined. I sat down and watched the procession unfold. As Mandela walked down the the street holding Winnie Madikizela Mandela’s hand.
As I watched this quiet unassuming prophet take to the balcony and deliver his speech, I knew that my life would never be the same. That afternoon my entire future took on a different direction.
Twenty years on, much has changed. I have my own home, my fan-wall is now on facebook and my best friend is black. A gift which I will never take for granted. Thanks to the gargantuan efforts of Madiba and my fellow South Africans, I now live in a country where I have been blessed to be able marry and raise children in a happy inter-cultural marriage; my domestic worker is protected and has “wife” rights in her polyganomous marriage; and my girlfriends enjoy Employment Equity (EE) status.
But the greatest gift of all is when on our way to school this morning, my 11 year old daughter looks at me and with big big eyes says “Apartheid was wrong and Mandela should have told them (his imprisoners) that what they are doing is wrong, because our constitution says that you can never treat someone badly, based on his culture, colour or gender.”
Madiba you have set us all free!
