Madiba, FW -- this one's from the heart

As South Africans ponder the future of our multiracial democracy I asked my readers to go back to 1993 and tell me what they thought would have happened, had we turned right towards war, instead of left towards a negotiated settlement. The relevance of that question in assessing our current situation and the way forward, which was not as apparent to me when I set it as it is now, cannot be in doubt.

In deciding upon how we approach the future of this country there is a need for the same pragmatism that we demonstrated in ending apartheid rather than the fear and self interest that sustained it for over four decades. Lest we forget the problems of the late 1980s and early 1990s seemed beyond solution with centuries of racial division coming back to haunt us.

All it took was leaders with the best interests of this country at heart to agree a way out of what had seemed an insurmountable impasse.

Let’s return to the scenario in 1993:

While white South Africans may believe that we might have prolonged the inevitable, won any number of military victories and clung on to a diseased system, what cannot be in doubt, is that had we done so it was only a matter of a relatively short time before we would have paid a terrible price for doing so. The problems which might be confronting us, perhaps even now, would not be a shocking crime rate, corruption and mismanagement but something far more sinister and infinitely more devastating.

The fact that FW De Klerk and the National Party recognised this and for whatever reason, chose not to subject this country and it’s people to it, is something for which I will be eternally grateful. How easy it is for people to judge them now, when in reality at that time it took enormous courage for them to try and convince their followers that the solution that they were proposing was in their best interests. A time when many of their supporters believed that they were being sold down the river by a bunch of cowards too frightened to confront their enemies.

In assessing the war games of 1993 what we cannot overlook is the fact many thousands, perhaps even millions, of lives may have been lost to arrive at what seems to me an inevitable conclusion: the multiracial democracy of the Republic of South Africa.

In terms of black South Africans the picture is somewhat different. While militarily they were not possessed of a huge army they were supported by almost the entire planet and the outcome as I said above was inevitable. Moreover, having lived through the dehumanising years of apartheid, where they were subjected to abuse and indignities that shame this country even now, the prospect of a war against their oppressors would certainly have been justified if no settlement had been reached.

What young blacks of today might not realise is that the great leaders of the ANC at that point in time were well aware that eventually sheer weight of numbers had to prevail. That many of them could have lived it up in exile while allowing the country and the region to burn for however long it took for them to take control of the country. In fact, having spent years in jail and after witnessing family and friends being tortured and killed, everything inside them must have screamed for revenge.

How easily could Nelson Mandela in 1991, out of jail and on an overseas trip, turned around and said “Guys remember my 27 years in jail? It’s payback time.” For Madiba read millions of black South Africans, many of whom suffered the same fate and worse. Yet the leadership of the ANC not only in negotiating the settlement but in the years that followed did not seek revenge but rather to unite this country.

Don’t let corruption, mismanagement and all the other problems we are facing ever be confused with revenge for apartheid. To Madiba and the ANC, I too will always be eternally grateful for the courage that you showed in convincing your supporters that this had to be the way forward.

When I watched Madiba, Mbeki and Zuma at Loftus celebrating the birthday of our most famous citizen I couldn’t help but thinking that they looked like three lions watching over their pride. How there had to be a political solution to end the current uncertainty facing this country.

The importance of looking back is that we have been able to think about what could have happened if we allowed pride, revenge or stubbornness drive our approach to resolving the issues of this country.

Disaster.

Now when it comes to trying to solve our current problems try and think again whether there aren’t other ways with which to reach our goals.

You might surprise yourself