Dear Mandela

It saddens me that your birthday has turned into a commercial spectacle, ridiculed to the levels of Valentine’s Day. People visit charity homes for 67min, pose for pictures and plaster them on social networks, and then declare that act, a ‘heartfelt THANK YOU, to you, for the scarifies you have made for this country. The captains of Mandela day continue to collect millions in donations…while feasting on croissants and cheese, at the many functions organized in your name.

I can’t help but wonder, if this is all that is left of your legacy.

Sir, what really bothers me is the fact that no one seems to remember you as the man who abandoned his law firm, and his family, to join a struggle against oppression – a rebel of the past regime, a man who actively participated in a plot to overthrow the government, a criminal in the eyes of the De-Klerk government – am I the only one who feels that the man you where before you choose ‘peace’, the leader of Umkhoto we sizwe, the warrior in you, I am referring to that part of you that was prepared to kill for our freedom…am I, the only one who thinks that...’That’ part of you is somehow being scratched out of our history, and is being replaced by a ‘Santa clause’ like hero , who has a foundation for poor African kids.....a hero who avoided a civil war, much to the relief of the minority?

This ‘selective biased view’ of you, that we are being fed, for the comfort of others, upset me dearly. I want my daughter to know the man you are by the definition of the choices you made prior/during the Treason trial, I want her to understand the values of the man who co-signed the Freedom Charter, I want her to see the impact of making the ‘choice that matters’ from when you choose to revolt instead of being an ‘obedient’, peace seeking citizen. I want her to know you before prison stole your life.

I am still trying to figure out how 67years can disappear into 67minutes, how a life time of a collective struggle for the liberation of an African Nation can disappear into BEE, how the entire legacy of a Xhosa warrior can be captured in his second language – how a movie about the same man can be centred around a sport he never played, I am still trying to figure out how freedom to walk ‘dompass-less’, on a land you STILL do not own can be substituted for REAL Freedom – I hope one day I will find a satisfactory answer to these questions, if only just for my own sanity.

Happy birthday Comrade!! That’s who you will always be to some of me, a non-conformist, a catalyst for change, a selfless servant who gave up his entire life – WITHOUT COUNTING THE MINUTES!!

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