HEREAFTER
One night my suppressed thoughts in subconscious mind
Aroused technicolour images in my head
Constructing a visual sequence only I could see
As I lay there in my bed.
The Devil, a fiery fearsome apparition, had come to say:
“You in your world of hatred, crime and moral decay,
will feel at home when you wend your way to Hell!
All your material loves are here, you’ll fit in so well
Where corridors are filled with eerie laughter,
and cobwebs hang from every rafter
In the bleak Hereafter!”
I looked at my life, analysed every action, and thought it must be true,
I didn’t know what to do.
In this desperate dream I prayed to God and saw the Light,
The Father had come out to fight!
“Get away, Satan!” crisply cried the Lord
As I saw Him draw his sword.
“This soul is meant for Me
Heaven is where she’ll be
Where corridors are filled with angels’ laughter
Halos hang from every rafter
In the great Hereafter!”Gaynor PaynterDAYSOn the days you’re not okay
You know I’ll listen to what you say
On the days you’re feeling kind of blue
You know I’ll support you
On the days you’re feeling kind of sad
You know I’ll try and make you glad
On the days you’re feeling kind of crappy
You know I’ll try and make you happy
On the days you’re filled with emotion: Anger, sadness, fear
And you think that no-one’s listening
Please remember that I am
But maybe most important of all:
On the days you’re looking for a friend
You know my love will never end
Gaynor PaynterA LETTER FROM SOUTH AFRICA
A citizen’s account of life in the new South Africa.
Dear Friends,
Ten years into South Africa’s democracy, the time is right for tribute to be paid to one of the most influential and effective architects of that democracy, ex-President Nelson Mandela.
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was born on July 18, 1918, in Transkei, South Africa. His mother could not have known that her labour was the start of a greater labour, one which would free all South Africans. Her immediate concern was the bringing up and education of her son, and she facilitated this by enrolling him at the College of Fort Hare and the University of the Witwatersrand where he qualified in Law in 1942.
It was shortly after this, in 1944, that Mandela joined the African National Congress (hereafter referred to as ANC), and as a member of the Youth League became actively involved in resistance to the apartheid policies implemented by the ruling National Party in 1948 – examples of which included segregation of races in living areas, education, working opportunities, and the implementation of the Pass Law (meaning that Africans had to carry pass books to prove who they were, etc)
How better to narrate this biographical article on a great man than to use his own words to do it? I have taken excerpts from a speech given by Mandela at a presidential address at the Annual Conference of the African National Congress Youth League in December 1951:
“Expressed in what is perhaps an oversimplification, the problem of the Youth League and the Congress today is the maintenance of full dynamic contact with the masses and the fight in the daily issues that face them.” - This meant that, three years into the apartheid regime, the President of the Youth League was aware that there were issues in the Government of the day’s policies which were unjust and would have to be dealt with. And, in closing, Mandela stated: “Sons and daughters of Africa, our tasks are mighty indeed, but I have abundant faith in our ability to reply to the challenge posed by the situation. Under the slogan of FULL DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS IN SOUTH AFRICA NOW, we must march forward into victory.” The struggle had begun.
Between 1956 and 1961, Nelson Mandela was put on trial for treason, charges from which he was acquitted.
The ANC was banned in 1960, after which the organisation took to operating “underground”. Nelson Mandela became the motivator of the establishment of a military wing within the ANC – leading to the formation of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the military arm of the party. In 1962 Mandela was arrested and sentenced to five years in prison, with hard labour. Subsequently, in 1963 many fellow leaders of the ANC and Umkhonto we Sizwe were arrested, and Mandela was brought to trial with them for plotting to violently overthrow the Government. On June 12 1964 he was sentenced, together with seven others, to life imprisonment, beginning an incarceration at Robben Island until 1982, whereafter he was moved to Pollsmoor Prison on the mainland
It was during this time in prison, a time that he himself used to study and write, that Mandela’s reputation as a resistor of the system grew. He became widely accepted as a symbol of the injustices being perpetrated in South Africa, by South African and international observers.
Nelson Mandela was released from prison on February 18 1990, and he threw himself straight back into his life’s work. In 1991 he was elected the President of the ANC, whilst the erstwhile President, and Mandela’s good friend, Oliver Tambo, was elected National Chairperson. Between 1991 and 1994 negotiations were conducted between Mandela and then President FW de Klerk, leader of the then ruling party the National Party, and in 1994 the first Democratic Election in South Africa was held, one which was won in a resounding fashion by the ANC. After 46 years of struggling, the issues facing the youth that Mandela referred to in 1951 had been resolved. Nelson Mandela was President of South Africa.
I quote from his inaugural speech, Cape Town, 9 May 1994
“Today we are entering a new era for our country and its people. Today we celebrate not the victory of a party, but a victory for all the people of South Africa. Our country has arrived at a decision. Among all the parties that contested the elections, the overwhelming majority of South Africans have mandated the African National Congress to lead our country into the future. The South Africa we have struggled for, in which all our people, be they African, Coloured, Indian or White, regard themselves as citizens of one nation is at hand.”
The South Africa we have struggled for is at hand. What a great victory, what an achievement for a man who has committed his entire life to the provision of a better future for his people.
And: “We speak as fellow citizens to heal the wounds of the past with the intent of constructing a new order based on justice for all. This is the challenge that faces all South Africans today, and it is one to which I am certain we will all rise.”
We are ten years into this democracy now, and yes, there are problems. There is crime. There is unemployment. There is a legacy from the past. But there is also a new generation, one which does not equate skin colour with privilege or status. This is the generation which must make the work one man has done in his life carry on forever. We South Africans must look to the future as Nelson Mandela has always done (in 1951, it was how to sort out the current day issues by actions to be taken in the future, in 1994 it was how to carry forward the work done to build a better South Africa) and continues to do – in one of the few speeches that Mandela has made this year (Monday 10 May 2004, Cape Town – in a Parliament sitting to celebrate ten years of Democracy), he says : “The memory of a history of division and hate, injustice and suffering, inhumanity of person against person should inspire us to celebrate our own demonstration of the capacity of human beings to progress, to go forward, to improve, to do better.”
This has been Nelson Mandela’s common thread throughout the ages – to look to the future, to do better. What a wonderful lesson for South Africans to learn from the man who played such a great role in making the country what it is today.
In ending, I say a prayer for this the land of my birth: God Bless Africa, guide her leaders and give her peace, for Jesus Christ’s sake, Amen.
Gaynor Paynter
