As an army coup in Egypt ended that country’s
brief skirmish with democracy, South Africa awaits the passing of the man who
was responsible more than anyone else for a democracy that has
lasted twenty years. Yes, it is
imperfect and, yes, many new problems have arisen to replace the old, but the
country has developed and grown a robust economy. It is peaceful and relatively well-governed in
comparison to most of the rest of Africa and much of the rest of the world. Last week I was at a conference in
Florida. I was only asked about two
issues in South Africa – was Oscar Pistorius guilty of murder and how is Nelson
Mandela?
Well, the answer to the latter is that he
is critical. Despite on again, off again
denials, he is on life support in a Pretoria hospital. Despite prayers and vigils, it seems very unlikely
that he will return home. His illness
overshadowed the visit of President Obama, who has not made Africa one of his
priority areas in any case. The
president met with the Mandela family and said the right things, but any
thought of a meeting with Madiba himself had to be dropped.
Yet even now, the family is in the midst of
squabbles. The tasteless issue around
the Mandela Trust that I described in Don't live too long (perhaps I regret the rather prophetic title now) is in abeyance. Even
this family couldn’t contemplate suing an old man on his death bed for his
money! But a tit for tat has played out
in the meanwhile, which would be farcical in any other circumstances.
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| Mandla Mandela |
Mandela’s grandson, Mandla,
who has expressed disgust over the Trust lawsuit
to grab Mandela’s money, has been doing a bit of grabbing on his own
account. It seems that in 2011, he
quietly authorized the removal of the bodies of three of Mandela’s children from the
graveyard in Qunu to Mvezo where Nelson Mandela was born and where Mandla now holds
court as clan chief. It isn’t quite
clear why he did this, but the speculation is that he sees Mvezo as a future
shrine and tourist attraction for the great man and wished to have all the exhibits
on ‘display’ there. Mandla’s complex in
the area is in the process of an expensive upgrade. He complains that his side of the story hasn’t
been heard, and his spokesman claimed that he has had “dirt thrown in his
direction by all sorts of individuals baying for a few minutes of fame and
media attention at his expense.” A small
issue is that Mandela has expressed the wish to be buried at Qunu with his
relatives. But then maybe he hasn’t kept
up with their travels around the area.
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| Police and herse approach Mandla's complex at Mvezo |
The three bodies on tour are those of Mandla Mandela’s father, Makgatho Mandela, who died in 2005; Mandela's first daughter, named Makaziwe, who died as an infant in 1948; and another son, Madiba Thembekile Mandela, who died in a traffic accident in 1969.
On Friday a court agreed with the majority
of the family that the bodies should be returned to their former resting places
while newspaper headlines cried: ‘Mandla
in Grave Trouble’ and ‘Mandla Faces Prosecution’. Mandla appealed, but yesterday a court
dismissed his objection as ‘frivolous’ and called his behavior ‘scandalous’. Rather dramatically police and funeral
workers left immediately for the Mvezo site, broke open the gates with a pick ax,
exhumed the bodies, and carted them off to a morgue for forensics tests. What those tests might be or why they should
be required is unclear. Maybe there is a
concern that Mandla might have switched bodies?
The whole matter is at least as complex as the plot of DEADLY HARVEST,
which has a few grave troubles of its own.
Meanwhile the wait for Mandela’s passing
continues. Hopefully, when that happens,
he will be allowed at last to rest in peace.
And at one place.
Michael-Thursday
PS Happy Independence Day to all American readers!
