Nelson Mandela's Political Evolution.
Part 2 in the Mandela Series: Political evolution in Mandela's Youth.
Mandela’s political evolution was shaped from a very early age. During his childhood at Mqhekezweni, in the Transkei, Mandela would listen to the stories of his tribal elders recounting the tales of African resistance against white colonialism and domination. In particular, an elderly chief called Zwelibhangile Joyi, narrated many war stories which were overheard by Mandela. These stories communicated and reflected upon the arrival of white people to South Africa and their aggressive seizure of the land. Chief Joyi also described how the various clans had at one time lived in peace with one another, once “the Thembu, the Pondo, the Xhosa, and the Zulu were all children of one father, and lived as brothers,” but he concluded that the white people had cunningly divided the tribes. Mandela’s exposure to such traditional tribal storytelling was to have a profound influence on the development of his political opinions. Indeed, during his trial address in 1962, Mandela contemplated the influence that the storytelling of his tribal elders had made on his political stance: “[t]he structure and organisation of early African societies in this country fascinated me very much and greatly influenced the evolution of my political outlook.” Mandela again refers to this influence in some notes he wrote about himself in 1964. Thus, the importance of his African heritage remained close to Mandela throughout his life.
Certainly, if the history of the Xhosa is examined, evidence can be found to support many of the accounts related by Chief Joyi; his reference to the superior technological advantages of the whites (“who arrived across the sea with fire-breathing weapons”) is an accurate description for example.
It would appear however, that some of Chief Joyi’s claims may be disputed. Historical evidence suggests that the Thembu, Xhosa, Pondo and Zulu were not “all children from one father”. J.B. Pieres remarks that “[t]he belief that all culturally related peoples belong to a single genealogy derives from the understandable wish to bring order into history than it does history itself.” Some of Joyi’s accounts are indeed flawed by historical inaccuracies. Nevertheless the importance of elaborating upon the stories of Chief Joyi is to underline how Mandela’s historical and cultural inheritance were fundamental in shaping his political beliefs. On a very simple level the stories served to make Mandela politically aware; Joyi’s tales were an ignition for Mandela’s political education and inspired his struggle against racial discrimination. By considering the history behind the oral chronicles of the chief, one can guage to some extent the accuracy of the tales. One has to be critical when reading Chief Joyi’s accounts, as Mandela himself comments, “I later discovered that Chief Joyi’s account of African history, particularly after 1652 was not always so accurate.” Despite the shortcomings and imperfections of Joyi’s stories, they are nevertheless crucial in understanding Mandela’s political roots.
Perhaps rather surprisingly (in the light of his stature as a freedom fighter) Mandela’s original attitude towards white people was one of deference and of respect for their achievements for South Africa, particularly their assistance to Africans through missionary education:
I [Mandela] saw that virtually all of the achievements of Africans seemed to have come about through the missionary of the Church.
To a large extent Christianity in South Africa at this time did provide a means through which Africans could achieve literacy and education. The Christian missions certainly had a profound influence on black political consciousness and were responsible in some part for encouraging African visions of a non-racial constitution and other liberal ideas concerning race. This was especially true of the eastern Cape which was one of the first areas in South Africa to be affected by missions, and an area which has a particular history of a relatively liberal tradition. It was in the mid-nineteenth century that a non-racial qualified franchise was developed in the Cape. However in 1936 the United Party (UP) secured the two-thirds majority in both houses of Parliament required to remove the Cape Africans from the common voters’ roll. It is possible that although this event did not mark a turning point in Mandela’s radicalization, and it did not directly affect his own life at the time, it would have remained at the back of his mind as a reminder of the attempts by whites to ensure their dominance in South Africa. Similarly, Mandela would have also been sensitive to the appalling conditions suffered by rural Africans living in the overcrowded reserves in the 1930s. However, these issues do not appear to have challenged the youthful Mandela’s position which was no doubt fostered by the relatively liberal climate of the area in which he was brought up. Indeed it is perhaps not surprising to discover that Oliver Tambo and Walter Sisulu also came from the Transkei (in the eastern Cape). The liberal tradition of this area also appears to have influenced many prominent black political figures (men like D.D.T. Jabavu and John Dube); Walshe observes that “it was from this environment that the majority of African political leaders emerged for the whole of South Africa.” Exposure to like-minded Africans with a Christian background at missionary education institutions such as Lovedale, provided Africans with an opportunity to develop their views of a non-racial society.
Mandela’s upbringing was greatly impacted by Christian missions. His life at Mqhekwenzi was heavily dominated by Christianity although he was not religious as such as he did not attach much meaning to it, but rather participated in it because it was expected of him, firstly by his mother, and then by his regent’s household. During his youth, Mandela learnt to be respectful to white people by witnessing the regent’s courteous treatment to whites. Also at the the regent’s court, Western styles were often mimicked, such as the style of the houses, thus indicating the esteem to white fashions. It is against this background, overshadowed by missionary forms of religion and education, and a generally liberal white attitude towards educated blacks, which probably best explains Mandela’s respect for whites.
However, this slightly unexpected attitude is largely omitted and overlooked by his biographers, thereby illustrating how myths can all too easily be constructed around a figure as significant as Nelson Mandela. In her sympathetic account, Meer romanticizes Mandela’s commitment to the struggle against racial oppression and rousingly comments that Mandela “tutored at Tatu Joyi’s feet, was fired to regain that ubuntu [humanity] for all South Africans.” Undeniably, Mandela was inspired by these stories of his tribal elders (see above), but these stories alone did not undermine his high regard for whites which he so apparently felt in his teens, and which he candidly reveals in his autobiography. Indeed at the age of sixteen Mandela “looked on the white man not as an oppressor but as a benefactor.” Not only did Mandela respect white people but he was also suspicious of those people who condemned the white people. While briefly studying at the missionary university college of Fort Hare in 1939, Mandela’s rather reserved opinions and conservative views were frequently contested by his experiences with other more radical students. Mandela recalls one such challenge from a student called Nyathi Khongisa (apparently a member of the ANC) who condemned the then deputy prime minister, Smuts (who Mandela viewed with a great amount of sympathy, probably because of Smuts’ condemnation of the Nazis and fascism) as a racist; Khongisa said:
we might consider ourselves “black Englishmen” but the English had oppressed us at the same time that they had tried to “civilize” us … Khongisa’s views stunned us [Nelson and his friends] and seemed dangerously radical.
Despite feeling shocked by Khongisa’s opinions, Mandela found that arguments such as these made his own views sit uncomfortably, and made him begin to reconsider his beliefs. Mandela’s exposure to such radical opinions slowly planted the seed which would make him more susceptible to the radical figures and ideology that he would encounter in Johannesburg.
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And, if you are wondering where the footnotes are for this essay, there is an explanation in the first essay in this series The Historical Significance of Nelson Mandela. You can also find the Bibliography in that first essay too.
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