Catholic on fellow prisoner Mandela

Nelson Mandela looked down on the tens of thousands of people gathered at his memorial service in Johannesburg and smiled as he watched them celebrate his legacy, said Andrew Mokete Mlangeni, a Catholic who was imprisoned for decades with the late anti-apartheid icon.

The first to address the crowds at the FNB Stadium on December 10 after prayers by Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Hindu leaders, 87-year-old Mr Mlangeni said it was a “privilege and honour to say how Madiba touched my heart, my soul, my life”.

“He touched many lives around the world. I am overjoyed by the outpouring of love and admiration by all of you here today,” Mr Mlangeni said.
Mr Mlangeni, who was on trial with Mr Mandela in 1963-64 and imprisoned with him on Robben Island, said he had occupied a cell next to Mandela.

In prison, “Madiba exuded leadership,” said Mr Mlangeni, who was released in October 1989 with other Rivonia trialists, including Walter Sisulu.

Mr Mandela strongly influenced “my own evolvement as a man, South African citizen and ANC member,” he said, noting that “without his guidance and leadership I would not have been the person I am today.”

Mr Mandela’s greatness stemmed from his humility “and his belief in collective leadership,” Mr Mlangeni said.

“He created hope when there was none” and was an inspiration to billions by “epitomising the values of sacrifice and patience,” he said.

Mr Mandela “negotiated the way forward in our nation’s darkest hour,” he said.

Mr Mandela’s fight against racial domination was done “not by force, but with understanding and love,” Mr Mlangeni said, noting that “it was his goal to unite all colours and creeds to live together in mutual respect and kindness.”

Anti-apartheid political prisoners “sacrificed years” to imprisonment, which undermined their health and well-being, yet on his release Mr Mandela “remained a man of integrity” and an “incomparable force,” Mr Mlangeni told tens of thousands who braved rain for the memorial.

The service was said to have been one of the biggest gatherings of world leaders, with nearly 100 presidents, kings, dukes, sheiks and celebrities in attendance. Pope Francis sent a special envoy, Cardinal Peter Turkson, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. Archbishop William Slattery of Pretoria represented the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference.

The crowd, whose unruliness had included loud booing of South African President Jacob Zuma, was silenced by a Nobel peace laureate, retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

“I am not going to give you a blessing until all of you stand, and I want to hear a pin drop,” he said.

Speaking Afrikaans and Xhosa before switching to English, Archbishop Tutu said Mandela was “a great gift.” He urged those present to join him in this pledge: “We promise God that we are going to follow the example of Nelson Mandela.”

In a prayer at the start, Anglican Archbishop Thabo Makgoba of Cape Town asked God to “help us to build on the firm foundations left by Madiba” and to “give us the grace to live the values of Madiba and to share them with the world.”

“Go forth revolutionary and loving soul …. Go home Madiba, you have certainly done all that is noble,” he said.—CNS