#MandelaDay2019: How Madiba Would’ve Tackled Xenophobia In South Africa
Nelson Mandela was known for his oratorical skills and ability to mobilize people by the power of his words throughout his lifetime.
This made his admirers in Nigeria and other African countries often speculate that if Madiba was alive and still the president of South Africa, he would have mobilized his people against xenophobic attacks on fellow Africans, especially Nigerians.
At least 118 Nigerians are said have been killed in different attacks over the years, 13 of which were by the South African Police.
After his release from the Victor Verster prison on February 11, 1990, and his subsequent emergence as President of South Africa, in public and private speeches, Mandela promoted peaceful coexistence among his people and unity of Africans in particular and humanity in general.
Madiba detested victimization on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion or sex, and fought these vices until he breath his last.
His words in the dock during his 1963 Rivonia Trial for alleged capital offences are proof that Mandela stood for fairness regardless of race.
“During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination.
“I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities.
“It is an ideal I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die,” he told the court.
Undoubtedly, Mandela left a legacy of tolerance and reconciliation among his people and Africans at large. But the incidents of xenophobia in South Africa today pose serious threats to this cherished legacy. The incidences have increasingly been witnessed over the years in the country.
Xenophobic attacks against immigrants in South Africa increased in 2015 to the extent that governments of other African nations – including Kenya and Malawi – began repatriating their citizens.
It is strongly believed that if he were still alive, Mandela would have addressed the menace known as xenophobia in the country.
While he was president, in order to put a closure to apartheid and heal the wounds of the past, Mandela established the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 1996 where individuals and groups aired their grievances and offered apologies for the suffering caused by apartheid.
The court-like restorative organization was believed to have successfully addressed issues bordering on human-rights violations in the country at the time.