The South African rugby association was headed by whites as many other sports in the apartheid era. However, after the end of the apartheid system, the black majority wanted to change the structure in the national rugby team. They wanted a black hegemony instead of the previous white one. Mandela rejected the decision of the mass and let the rugby team be as it was in the past. His logic was that whites were no longer the blacks’ enemies. They were a part of free South Africa. If the white emblems and symbols were to be forcibly eliminated, it would reinforce the “cycle of fear” between the races, as in the past. Therefore, risking his own popularity among black South Africans, he went ahead with what he thought was correct – reconciliation with the whites, not humiliation of the whites.
Indeed, he was proven correct, as the supposedly underdog South African team won the rugby world cup with Mandela’s inspiration. Mandela was able to rally all of his country of both blacks and whites and other races behind the rugby team. According to the film, this played a remarkable role in reconciling the two major races.
I could not help comparing Nepali politicians with Mandela. No politician of Nepal would have the guts to go against unethical popular mandates. Be it lashing the middle class as “sukila mukila”, or extensively supporting a single economic class, or doing petty ethnic politics, Nepali politicians can only be crowd pleasers, not leaders. It should be noted that the crowd is not always correct; sometimes, its decisions can be flawed, too.
Even seemingly small steps can be immensely inspirational. The film shows Mandela giving away his salary to charities. With allegations of corruption at hand, it can only be dreamt that Nepali politicians can give away their fat salaries to charities, or to the national coffer.
For reconciliation, an important necessity is to forgive your haters and harmers. Only saying this, but not practicing it, is hypocritical. But Mandela was not a hypocrite, unlike our politicians. He forgave the white regime which had imprisoned him for twenty seven years. This is a great thing to do.
I feel horrified when I think about the atrocities committed by the then royal Nepalese army and the Maoists during the insurgency in our country. Are we ready to forgive our offenders? Of course not! Have we got a leader who leads us to forgiveness? No way! Then, will we have a smooth road to peace and prosperity?
Even in periods of greatest adversity, what gives us life is hope. I just hope to find a Nepali Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela behind the current scenes in Nepal who will magically appear in the spotlight and lead us to peace and prosperity.
Related story
Siddhartha’s Quest: The Birth of Yearning
