From Castro to Gaddafi, some strange bedfellows

Show me your friends and I’ll show you who you are.

For Nelson Mandela, nothing could be further from the truth, going by those he befriended: Black sheep, bete noires and the politically incorrect.

He embraced leaders the world had adjudged as undemocratic and repressive—like Saddam Hussein and Muamar Gadaffi, Fidel Castro and Yasser Arafat.

Despite the heavy criticism Mandela would receive for associating with the world’s pariahs, he would remain loyal to those who had extended a hand of friendship when the African National Congress was itself a demonised organisation.

Many of these friendships went back to the days when Mandela traveled around the world looking for material and moral support for the ANC’s armed struggle against apartheid.

In the 1950s and 1960s when the ANC’s membership was turning to military struggle, the West denounced them as communists.

It was the period of the Cold War and there was a clear line between their friends and their enemies.

The ANC had been painted by the apartheid regime as part of the enemy. Because it worked with the Communist Party in South Africa, their cause did not qualify for any help, however just.

Mandela and the ANC thus had to turn to the Soviet Union, Libya, China and other left-leaning countries for financial and military support.

The ANC was never decidedly communist; its association with radical communists gave it this reputation.

Its alliance with the communists was necessitated by the dearth of friends and sympathisers.

The 1950s Afrikaner government, backed by Western Cold Warriors, pushed policies that seemed designed to press the ANC towards revolutionary politics and to seek friends among communists and in the East.

Three months after his release from prison, Mandela visited Libya and reaffirmed his loyalty to Gadaffi for his support to the ANC during the years of the struggle.

It had been Gadaffi who had provided military training and financial assistance to the ANC when few others would.

And when Winnie Mandela was on trial for the death of Stompie Moeketsi – a young man killed allegedly on her orders -- in 1991, Gadaffi helped to pay the heavy cost of defending the case.

In return, Mandela had a great deal of influence on Gadaffi.

He convinced him to release some of the suspects in the Lockerbie bombing after many years of unsuccessful cajoling and threats from the West.

After Mandela’s release in 1990, he toured the world, taking time to stop in Zimbabwe where he spoke at the National Sports Stadium, introduced by President Robert Mugabe.

Mandela had a special fondness for Cuban President Fidel Castro who had inspired the ANC radicals with his daring revolution in 1959.

On Robben Island, Mandela had been thrilled to hear that Cubans had intervened in Angola.

He visited Havana in July 1991 and gave an emotional speech thanking Cuba for helping the ANC. Recalling his visit he said, “I went to Cuba in July 1991, and I drove through the streets with Fidel Castro.

“There were a great deal of cheers. And I also waved back believing that these cheers were for me. Fidel was very humble; he smiled but he never said a word.

But when I reached the square where I had to make some remarks to the crowd, then I realized that these cheers were not meant for me, they were meant for Fidel Castro.

Because everybody forgot about me, and was really aroused by Fidel Castro. Then I realized that here was a man of the masses.”

On January 29, 2003, prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Mandela said,

“It’s a tragedy what is happening, what Bush is doing. All Bush wants is Iraqi oil. There is no doubt that the US is behaving badly. Why are they not seeking to confiscate weapons of mass destruction from their ally, Israel? This is just an excuse to get Iraq’s oil.”

Despite these embarrassing friends, Mandela remained a darling of the West. They gave him ecstatic welcomes to their countries and fell over themselves trying to befriend him.

Leaders who were unpopular jetted to South Africa to appear beside him and thus sanctify themselves and increase their popularity.

His inauguration as president in 1994 was attended by both the politically right and wrong. Among those present were Hillary Clinton, Fidel Castro, Yasser Arafat, President Chaim Herzog of Israel, Prince Phillip of the United Kingdom and Dr Julius Nyerere.

For his wedding in 1998, he invited former Zambian president Kenneth Kaunda, Prince Bandar of Saudi Arabia and General Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria.

Speaking on the sensitive issue of PLO and Israel, Mandela said: “We identify with the PLO because, just like ourselves, they are fighting for the right of self-determination.

I support Israel’s right to exist, but that doesn’t mean that Israel has the right to retain the territories they conquered from the Arab world.

It will be a grave mistake for us to consider our attitude towards [Yasser] Arafat on the basis of the Jewish community.

We sympathise with the struggles of the Jewish people and their persecution, down the years.

In fact, we have been very much influenced by the lack of racism among the Jewish communities. Arafat is a comrade in arms, and we treat him as such.”

As Mandela evolved politically, he sought allies wherever he could find them.

He deliberately chose to associate with White liberals, Indian Gandhists and Christian priests. His most effective and committed friends were actually the communists who, in 1953, had formed themselves into the South African Communist Party.

He had befriended South African Indians as he matured ideologically and politically.

During his first days in the ANC, he had been one of the most vociferous members, urging to keep Indians and Whites out of the movement.

Indians were regarded as a separate group from the Blacks, with more privileges but lesser than the Whites.

Many ANC members thought incorporating them in the ANC would weaken the party and expose it to their overwhelming influence. Indians were generally regarded as the enemy, almost as much as Whites.

Ismail and Fatima Meer, Yusuf and Amina Cachalia, Amina Pahad and Ahmed Kathrada were some of the Indians Mandela developed strong friendships with beyond comradeship in the freedom struggle.

Mandela’s friendships seem to have always been calculated and strategic. Kathrada was a young Indian Communist with whom Mandela spent 25 years on Robben Island and in Pollsmoor Prison.

He helped to arrange for the first pages of Mandela’s autobiography to be sneaked out of prison and to reach a publisher.

Writing in the foreward of Kathrada’s own memoirs, No Bread for Mandela, he said: “Ahmed Kathrada has been so much part of my life over such a long period that it is inconceivable that I could allow him to write his memoirs without me contributing something.

Our stories have become so interwoven that the telling of one without the voice of the other being heard somewhere would have led to an incomplete narration.”

Lusaka, first stop from prison

To many Zimbabweans, former South African President Nelson Mandela is an icon whose legacy will last for decades.

He is not only revered for spending 27 years in jail, but also for standing up to their tyrannical leader.

It was like a miracle when Nelson Mandela came out of the aircraft and we received him at the Lusaka International Airport,” recalls General Malimba Masheke, Zambia’s Prime Minister when the South African came calling.

Zambia, the headquarters of South Africa’s liberation movement – now governing party – the African National Congress (ANC), was the first country Mandela visited on February 27, 1990, 16 days after his February 11, 1990 release from jail.

Mandela was in Lusaka to meet the exiled ANC executive committee, leaders of the frontline states, Commonwealth representatives and, of course, show gratitude to Zambia, which had steadfastly supported the liberation struggle.

Though not yet head of state, Mandela was accorded the ceremonial status reserved for heads of state, and Gen Masheke recalls: “It (Mandela’s coming) was very moving and exciting.” Gen Masheke said Mandela’s star shone even brighter when he stepped down as president after only one term.

“…because of that and his good governance policies he remains the most outstanding African leader who is an example to the whole world,” said Gen Masheke.

Fr Peter Henriot, an American Catholic priest and former head of the Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflectionin Zambia, celebrated Mandela’s leadership prowess in a write-up titled “Mandela’s Lessons for Zambia”.

“I recall Mandela’s visit to Lusaka just a short time after release from prison in 1990, when he addressed faculty and students at the University of Zambia.

His message was a strong plea to students to take advantage of their wonderful privilege for higher education and to seriously prepare themselves to serve Zambians.”

He added: “I’m not about to ‘canonise’ Madiba, but I do believe we can see some of the traits of holiness that we often associate with Biblical figures.”

Mr Batuke Imenda, a parliamentarian, said Mandela should be celebrated for putting national interest ahead of personal comfort.

He cited the formation of a truth, justice and reconciliation commission to address historical injustices as the hallmark of his wisdom.

Ms Clara Hambulo, a trader at Kazungula on the Zambia/Botswana border, said Mandela’s five-year presidency was proof that a dedicated leader could achieve his pledges in one term, in this case freedom for all South Africans, irrespective of the race.

Mr Andrew Phiri, a history teacher in eastern Zambia, challenged African leaders to emulate the icon.

“If everybody could emulate Nelson Mandela then we could lessen conflicts in the world,” he said.

A pro-democracy activist in Luapula Province, Mr Michael Mwale, said “it is unfortunate that there are succession problems in African countries when Mandela had set a good example about leadership.

We are seeing squabbles in Africa because of selfishness among leaders but we expect them to learn from Mandela,” he said.