A reflection upon Nelson Mandela and his legacy following his death in 2013.
Invictus: Mandela’s South Africa
Two thousand and fourteen marks the first full year of a post-apartheid South Africa without Nelson Mandela who was able to put aside thoughts of revenge against his former captors to forge a truly democratic nation.
But there are many others in the shadows that continue to bring the dark history of the apartheid years to light as well as being beacons for a better tomorrow. Some, including Ntozelizwe “Ntoza†Talakumeni, are now site interpreters at the most symbolic structure to apartheid, the political prison on Robben Island.
Talakumeni, who was known as prisoner number 58/86 during his three years on the island, recalls how the poem Invictus, gave prisoner 466/64, Nelson Mandela, courage to continue his struggle against oppression. The poem, penned by William Henley, concludes with the stirring words, ‘I am the master of my fate; I am the captain of my soul.’ While Mandela had been moved to another prison by the time Talakumeni arrived on the island prison off of Cape Town in 1986, the legacy and the spirit of Mandela had taken root.
While standing at the door of his former prison, Talakumeni points out that while the movie Invictus takes the liberty of using the poem for a dramatic scene between
Mandela (Morgan Freeman) and South African Springbok captain Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon) in the run up to the 1995 Rugby World Cup, it was actually another equally passionate poem, Theodore Roosevelt’s “The Man in the Arena†which Mandela excerpted and shared with the rugby star: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.â€
Mandela’s achieved his hope of recruiting and inspiring Pienaar to join his efforts to unite a divided nation. Following South Africa's underdog victory over New Zealand, President Mandela, wearing a Springboks rugby shirt and cap – once a dreaded symbol of apartheid - presented the Webb Ellis Cup to the South African captain.
Two decades later South Africa still has significant issues as the many remaining townships pay testament to, but great people of all shades in the spirit of Nelson Mandela, Francois Pienaar, and Ntozelizwe Talakumeni spend time in the arena to keep their country on the right track.