A New Civility Blooms In South Africa

In the end, words made the whole thing happen. On the day he was sentenced to life in prison in 1962, Nelson Mandela addressed the court in his native South Africa:

“I do not believe that this court, in inflicting penalties on me for the crimes for which I am convicted, should be moved by the belief that penalties deter men from the course that they believe is right. History shows that penalties do not deter men when their conscience is aroused, nor will they deter my people or the colleagues with whom I have worked. …

“Whatever sentence your worship sees fit to impose on me for the crime for which I have been convicted before this court, may it rest assured that when my sentence has been completed, I will still be moved, by my dislike of race discrimination against my people, when I come out from serving my sentence, to take up again, as best I can, the struggle for the removal of those injustices until they are abolished once and for all.”

Nelson Mandela spent 27 years behind bars. He remained a powerful force and an inspiration to the majority of blacks in his nation.

Four years after he was freed from prison in 1990, he was elected president of South Africa.

Last week, his dream of a democratic nation seemed to blossom with the adoption of a new constitution which protects the rights of all South Africans, black and white.

Only moments after the votes were tallied, with 85 percent of the nation’s legislators supporting the measure, a little ripple began in the back of the Parliament and traveled the great hall and up to the speaker’s platform. By the time it all came together, it created a thunderous clap that nearly shook the whole building. The nation had changed forever.

There is no way to understand precisely what Nelson Mandela must have felt following the vote.

But I can imagine that he exulted in the fact that his infinite patience, his devoted determination to his cause and his persistence in urging his colleagues in the struggle to remain focused on their dream, reached its climax in that moment.

“We are determined that all people of South Africa live a dignified life, where there is no poverty, no illiteracy, no ignorance, no disease,” said the man who was the chief architect of the end of apartheid and the ushering in of the new democracy.

Mandela’s heir apparent, African National Congress Deputy President Thabo Mbeki, expressed his happiness when he said, “Today it feels good to be an African. It is a firm assertion … that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white.”

It would be untrue to suggest that the country’s former president, F.W. de Klerk, was satisfied. He was unhappy, for example, at one clause excluding guarantees of government funding for Afrikaans schools, which would have ensured the survival of white Afrikaaners’ native tongue.

Still, when the constitution won approval, he said, “I don’t want to spoil a beautiful day.” But the next day, he pulled his National Party out of the government, causing consternation and fear, reflected by a sharp drop in the stock market.

Though he is now part of the opposition, his dissent was expressed in a respectful manner: “We have reached the point where we will be able to exercise greater influence on … government by publicly adopting a vigilant and critical role than by exercising our diminishing influence behind the scenes.”

No one reached for a gun, as in the past. There was no bloodshed.

And whatever happens in the long run, one thing is clear: There is a new civility in South Africa that will serve the nation well.

Every democracy, new or old, is subject to a certain amount of disagreement. Some volatility is to be expected, given the massive changes South Africa has undergone in recent years.

Nobody, certainly not Mandela, expected the transition to a real democracy to be easy.

For half a century, South Africa was governed as a police state by ruthless and racist men.

Now, despite de Klerk’s departure from government, hope prevails that South Africa will move forward, maintaining Mandela’s resolve to ensure freedom and respect for all the country’s citizens, black and white.

Though he is now part of the opposition, it was nevertheless de Klerk who played the pivotal role of saving his nation from additional violence, destruction and chaos by negotiating the transfer of power from the white minority population to the majority black population.

But more than anyone, it was Mandela who won the respect of the majority of South Africans and other people throughout the world.

His lack of bitterness over his long imprisonment and his devotion to democracy taught us that humanity can triumph over injustice.

South Africa’s new constitution is a monument to that humanity.

xxxx