Rest in peace Tata Mandela

Below is a tribute to the late South African leader, Nelson Mandela by a South African colleague:

“Thank you Tata Madiba

If Mandela (and many more like him)  had not stood up and fought against apartheid I would not be writing this post.

I would not have been employed by one of the big 4 International Accounting Firms in their Cape Town office as a junior tax consultant in 1998.  It seems inconceivable today that  at the time I was the second black African employed by the tax department. 

He taught us "Ubuntu" ...to be human.  To forgive even your prison warden and people who treat you badly ........for your own freedom.... to allow you to move forward.
Lala kahle Tata Madiba siya kubonga
(rest in peace Tata Madiba thank you)”

She couldn't have put it any better. This goes to show how much Mr. Mandela and his compatriots, who fought against apartheid have achieved. Right up until 1994, South Africa was still under the grips of apartheid.

Next year will be 20 years since the apartheid regime was dismantled after nearly half a century in power. Thank you, Mr. Mandela for your fight. May the ancestors who went before you guide you home to a better place.

It's funny though that whatever top 4 accounting firm she was working for was operating in South Africa during the apartheid years. That was actually the case for several western companies. I don't blame them though...there was plenty of money to be made - the apartheid regime's economic policies were very neo-classical. Many companies that put profit above all else found this attractive and flocked into apartheid era South Africa to do business. Obviously this was made possible because several western countries, did not impose sanctions on South Africa during those dark years.

The right thing should have been for the US and other western countries to impose crippling sanctions on the apartheid regime, as enthusiastically as they did on Iran, for which we're seeing an about-face in Iranian policy. I will always have an issue with Ronald Reagan & Margaret Thatcher for their cozy ties with the apartheid regime. They never publicly endorsed apartheid, but their so-called “constructive engagement” policies, created conditions that benefited the regime and enabled it to survive. Margaret Thatcher actually considered Mandela a terrorist for a long time. It totally makes sense why many people in Africa, celebrated when Thatcher died. 

To make matters worse, while most countries had imposed diplomatic and economic embargos on South Africa, the US, Britain, Israel, France and a handful of western nations, continued to have normal trade and political relations with the apartheid regime. As an African, the suffering of my fellow Africans at the hands of white Afrikaner settlers, coupled with the close economic ties these countries shared with the perpetrators of these heinous crimes, left a sour taste in my mouth. In the end, the forces of good prevailed and many of these countries, including the US, were left on the wrong side of history.

I will tell you who was on the right side of history though – Fidel Castro. Castro’s contribution to the fight against apartheid was pivotal. I consider him a great man, simply because of that. The presence of thousands of Cuban freedom fighters in Angola and Namibia, made all the difference, in the decisive phases of the Angolan and Namibian Bush wars. South Africa’s defeat at the hands of Angolan forces (with the help of Cuba) and their eventual retreat from Angola in 1988, was the last nail in the coffin of apartheid. Why? Because strategically, Angola played a key role in the fight against apartheid. The anti-apartheid movement smuggled weapons through Angola to help the armed struggle. Therefore, de-stabilizing Angola was a key national security priority of the apartheid regime.

However, after the apartheid regime lost the Angolan Bush war, it became clear that their position was untenable. This explains why these 3 events – the Angolan Bush War, the Namibian War of Independence and the fight against apartheid were closely related. South Africa retreated from Angola in 1988, Nelson Madela was released from prison in February 1990 and Namibia declared independence from South Africa, a month later, in March 1990.

Thankful to Mandela and all the others who rose up and fought against such an unjust system. Rest in peace Madiba Mandela. You'll be sorely missed.