The Magical Mandela

By Atim Nkese Nkpubre

 I could be quite unpredictable when it comes to football. Sometimes, I’m fascinated by the round leather game and at other times, I couldn’t be bothered, really. I wasn’t always like that, you know.
My near apathy came about as a result of some nasty experiences with our national team, the Super Eagles. On a number of occasions in the past, our cherished Super Eagles would raise our hopes to high heavens with fantastic dribbles and promising performances and then dash them into pieces right before our eyes. Sometimes, they could settle for all the wrong passes in the world leaving their fans and fellow compatriots high up there and dry! I am very sensitive and could get really emotional about stuff.
More than three times, I’ve ended up with a high temperature on account of the lack-lustre performances of the Super Eagles. So, I had to devise some means of fortifying my system against football-induced trauma. I decided to watch from a distance or at best mix my match watching with some other domestic chore such as cooking just to, kind of, keep my emotions in check.  During matches, I would volunteer to make snacks or whatever would be needed by my crew to “spice” up the match watching. But, thank goodness things are beginning to change for the better, especially with the Stephen Keshi boys, sorry, men. And thanks to my husband, I’m learning to outgrow of all that childish reaction. I’m proud to say that I’m making progress about watching football whilst at the same time praying fervently for my team to win.
Last Wednesday’s Nelson Mandela Challenge between Nigeria and South Africa which was held at the Moses Mabdiha stadium in Durban, South Africa was different. Alone at home, I sat through the first half of the game. Who wouldn’t watch a match that has the magical Mandela name on it? Yes, I sat through it all screaming like hell, whenever my country or even the Bafana Bafana missed an opportunity to score. The experience was thrilling!
At some point during the half time, however, the old me tried to make a come-back as I reached for the mop and found myself cleaning up my living room just to mop up the excess adrenalin that was beginning to flood my system, see what I mean? Thank goodness that Uche Nwafor came on for the second half and scored both goals for Nigeria. My team won, yes, and recorded another momentous success on the South African soil just some months apart. You would recall that the Super Eagles of Nigeria were crowned Football Champions of Africa after defeating the Stallions of Burkina Faso by a lone goal at the 29th African Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament. The Mandela Challenge would stick in my memory for a long while to come. So much for football, jare!
The name Nelson Mandela is truly magical and evokes varying emotions in different people. In the course of writing this blog post, I conducted some toe-in-the-water kind of research by asking my respondents comprising Nigerians and a few South Africans to describe in three words what the name Mandela means to them. The responses I got were as diverse as they were interesting and I would reproduce a few of them here: For Larry, Mandela means change, opportunities, love. To Cal, Leadership, vision, integrity. For Iyke, Mandela is a living legend that symbolises hope and dignity for Africa. To Alicia however, Mandela is synonymous with heroism, perseverance and never giving up. Ugonwa thinks Mandela characterises ancient wisdom, peace and destiny. Susan says Mandela is love, sacrifice and freedom while Mercy thinks he is liberation, inspiration and hope for a better tomorrow. Victor  views Mandela as a total freedom fighter. Mandela to Ini-obong is a hero, patriot world-recognised leader. Niran believes Mandela in one in his generation while Arit thinks Mandela is simply phenomenal! I agree with everyone, just that Mandela to me is almost divine. Some sort of deity! Please forgive my obsession.
Writing about the anti-apartheid hero can be a daunting task, for obvious reasons. And come to think of it, where does one begin? Mandela is one name that would make you stop dead in your tracks and perhaps, think. His family’s decision to not get him off life support is totally understandable because we know the implication and if you ask me, having him alive on life support is better than the alternative... see? I can’t even mention the D word, no, not when the great Madiba is involved. He is one human being we would love to stay alive evermore and if possible, remain forever young!
The number of mentions he got in the electronic media worldwide and the flurry of activities during his 95th birthday anniversary last July had prompted even my 3-year old to ask who Mandela was. I could see her tiny eyes light up with excitement as I told her about Mandela and his heroic deeds. Such is the Mandela magic! Everything about the man has come to occupy a pride of place in many homes, including ours. His autobiography, “LONG WALK TO FREEDOM”, is about my favourite book. In the past few months the book has left our study and now adorns our bedside table, sitting pretty next to the Holy Bible. It could, rightly, pass for our second Bible, if there was anything like that. There was a time my husband would read a few pages before beginning his day, like some kind of daily devotional. Please permit me to say that Long walk to freedom has become like a cherished trophy was won in a long-drawn battle that we couldn’t give away for anything in the world!
Like the bible says in the book of Proverbs: “a good name is better than many riches”. Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela has earned a good name for himself, his nation and posterity. He’s lived such a life of sacrifice that many have forgotten or never even knew that he’s actually a prince, born to the Thembu royal family of Xhosa. Mandela served 27 years in prison, first on Robben Island, and later in Pollsmoor and Victor Verster prison. Becoming ANC president, he led negotiations with President F.W. de Klerk to abolish apartheid and established multiracial elections in 1994 in which he led the ANC to victory. He was elected president and formed government of national unity in an attempt to defuse ethnic tension in his homestead. As president he established a new constitution and initiated the truth and reconciliation Committee to investigate past human rights abuses. The man liberated not only the oppressed by also the oppressor, and I daresay the human race from the clutches of hatred and racial discrimination, for like he said in his book “A man who takes away another man’s freedom is a prisoner of hatred, he is locked behind the bars of prejudice and narrow-mindedness. For a man who, alongside Oliver Thambo, set up the first ever law firm by a black, he has shown the way in more ways than one. I could go on and on.
Now in retirement, Mandela is involved in a number of charitable work on many fronts for the upliftment of humanity. One of such is the Nelson Mandela Challenge, an annual football match between South Africa and an invited visiting team. The challenge was founded as a way to raise money for the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund.
If Mandela were a Nigerian or perhaps from Zimbabwe, oh, good heavens, let’s not even go there...he would not only have run for a third term, he would instigated a reworking of the constitution to make him a president for life!  He gladly would have cited the injustices of the past and flaunted the credentials of his incarceration as justification.
But thankfully, the great Madiba is God’s gift to humanity and a man of destiny who wouldn’t soil his name with the quest for earthly riches and fame. Mandela is a unique being and in a class of his own, blessed with divine qualities by his creator. He’s so unique that I, sometimes, wonder whether he’s human like you and I. How would it feel to shake his hand or better still, speak with him?
We’ve all met Nelson Mandela on television, no doubt, severally, as well as encountered his enigmatic personality in books, but, I tell you, meeting him in real life would be out of this world. I once thought to visit his former residence in Soweto during an official trip to South Africa and I did try, really. But meetings and other official engagements ensured I never left Sandton to the down town of Soweto. Visiting the place that was once Mandela’s home is one dream I hope to realise someday and perhaps, sooner than I think, by His grace.
As he battles for dear life on his hospital bed, let us remember him in our prayers. Some may argue that he is 95 but the next generation may never encounter another Nelson Mandela in their lifetime. Truly, the great Madiba has climbed many hills in his life time only to discover that there are still many more hills to climb. And as he wrote in the concluding paragraph of the Long Walk to Freedom, “I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come. But I can rest only for a moment, for with freedom comes responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not yet ended.” How very true! Words of great wisdom, indeed.