DEAR EDITOR–Your article on Nelson Mandela’s statue published in The Zimbabwe Guardian today should be seen in its right context. Those people who are patronizing the 90 year old by giving him these accolades should also realise that there are a lot of people who spent a big part of their lives on the African continent fighting for an end to colonisation and they deserve special mention.
People like Oliver Tambo spent almost the same time as Mandela on RobbenIsland, Jacob Zuma was also incarcerated at the notorious Apartheid jail. Many others have been jailed elsewhere including in Zimbabwe where all our leaders spent years incarcerated, including Tokyo Sexwale himself who commissioned the statue .
The late great Kwame Nkrumah has a statue in Accra and a museum to his name, yet the West called him a dictator during his time. Many other leaders like the late Dr Joshua Nkomo, Reverend Ndabaningi Sithole and the great Samora Machel should be held in that same esteem.
I think that when people forget that Mandela was not alone at RobbenIsland, they miss the true essence of the African fight against colonization and those who are piling up these accolades today on Mandela are also sworn enemies of Zimbabwe and the African peoples.
Africans should realise that our destiny will be defined by moving away from accepting these Western tokens to charting the way forward in a fashion that allows us to be masters of our own destiny. It is no great achievement for Mandela’s statue to be standing next to these Western leaders on London’s Trafalgar Square when all the African (Black) people in his country are still living in abject poverty and their lands occupied by generations of settlers.
Rather than spending loads of money on these tokens, the likes of Sexwale should move Black people in South Africa from the shacks of Soweto and really wmpower them to develop their country. South Africa, though branded a democracy, today still has millions of Black people living in poverty and these statues are meaningless to them.
We need more responsibility from our political leaders, not mindless and useless gestures when people are dying daily.
If statues are to be erected, let them erect statues of the many prisoners at Robben Island who suffered years of Apartheid discrimination, abuse and torture. Sexwale should built a Madame Tussauds-like monument for all Robben Island prisoners, not a single gesture statue for Mandela as if he was alone in the fight against Apartheid.
Peter Chimutsa–Opinion
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WEVHU • N/A Subject: Mandela a stooge Fri, 22 Aug 2008 13:39:07 • how many years did it took for the West to remove Mandela from the terrorists' list.Hanti it was only in june/july that he was removed.what has changed during apatheid the man was a terrorist and continued to be on that list until 2008! With all the accolades and honors being accorded to him brings me to the Mugabe on the 1980's.Mugabe was even knighted in 1994 by the Queen why.What has changed?
Mandela is being patrionised because he chose an easy road and never challenged the West or taken the land from them.SA is still like apatheid SA!
Mugabe was once like this and ONLY when he started talking about the land did he he became an enemy of the West.And now to save their face they are revorking the degrees knighthood he was once given.
Mandela lives in the comfort of luxury while the people he claim to have fought for are in serious poverty and live as second class citizen of their own country.
Shame on you MANDELA THE STOOGE OF THE WEST!!!!!!!
Donette Read Kruger • na Subject: STATUES ARE A WASTE OF TIME Fri, 22 Aug 2008 13:17:56 • As an arbitrary White I have always wondered why everyone focusses on Mandela when Robben Island was innundated with other freedom fighters? A montage of others and himself, along with Zuma and Tokyo and Oliver Tambo, would be far more explicit rather than an image of one cell mate?
Forget about statues - why not build a hospital or a couple of clinics instead in the rural areas and furbish them with state of the art plumbing and electricty? Or a Museum or a rural airport?
Building statues is a typical colonial copy cat project - should a new regime move in - and lets not forget the Apartheid Party is rising up again - years later exactly the same thing is going to happen - as with all the colonial statues and that which happened to even Saddam - negative energies will be wasted on toppling all the statues over and dragging them to be dumped.
Negative energies could thus have been used up as Positive energies from the start by not moulding statues and wasting precious funds on images and idols when thousands are homeless and without clean running water.
How many orphans does SA have? Oprah Winfrey is doing her bit for the girls - is no one doing anything for the boys other than putting up a statue that will mean little to any of these kids?
Sadhaki Observer • n/a Subject: Taura hako Peter! Fri, 22 Aug 2008 11:46:46 • Black South Africans need to stand up and fight for their economic independence, it will not come on a slilver plate.
These gimmicks abt Mandela statues are meant to blind the blacks from claiming their wealth. Why did it take the West 28years to realsie that Mandela was a great man? The West will not rest in skimming ways of trying to re-colonise Africa.
It is the stupid Africans (Negros) who think that colonialism is PAST, it is present and will be forever.
Africans need to stand up and assert their position on their continent.
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