Defining a Hero: The Problem with Commemorating Madiba

Let's face it, South Africa (and probably most of the world) will take any opportunity to celebrate the life of Nelson Mandela. Of course this week there's no need to search for a reason to do it. Madiba's 94th birthday is the perfect platform for a grand-scale tribute, as well as for doing your 67 minutes worth of community service for the year. It also provides yet another opportunity for the ANC to remind us how they are presumably abiding by the Mandela manifesto. Inevitably, there will also be more commemorative mugs, t-shirts, caps and every other piece of memorabilia, just to confirm that Nelson Mandela is one of the greatest men who ever lived (in case you didn't already know).

For me, these methods of commemoration raise an issue which has been proved to be consistently problematic in defining our country's attitude towards Nelson Mandela as a hero. The question here is namely, is this the right way to celebrate a hero? On that note, is there a right way to celebrate a hero? The answer to this question is a difficult one because inevitably Mandela's achievements are one's that justly require celebration. This was, after all, the man who fought for our nation's freedom from the confines of his Robben Island prison cell and, since then, has become the defining figurehead of post-Apartheid South Africa. The problem is essentially that there is no subtlety in the way Mandela's heroism is celebrated. Firstly every second street, bridge, theatre, shopping place or any other such space is named after him. Then there's that  infamous Sandton Square statue that every second tourist has to take a picture with, as well as the flashy 4664 concert. This, of course, is the very tip of the iceberg. The man, it seems, is apparently flawless. Our beloved South African cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro (otherwise known as Zapiro) delights in degrading our current president  Jacob Zuma, particularly when he has the chance to attack his crown jewels. Yet, when it comes to caricaturing Madiba, he is strangely sensitive and subdued. It's as if faulting  Madiba's image is completely taboo. Such an offence could essentially be considered undignified and disrespectful.

Yet the question that needs to be raised here is whether turning Madiba's goodness into a commercial brand is an action which is not in itself undignified and disrespectful. The fact is that there's a large majority of South African citizens who only understand Mandela in his branded form. They salivate over his shirts, swoon when he takes a photograph with a Hollywood celebrity and stock up on any piece of Madiba memorabilia they can find to show that they're liberal South Africans. Yet their knowledge of his actual history is, at best, superficial. Mandela is an icon but he's one that goes unnoticed unless he's glamourised rather than historicised. This may not be the Zuma 'Spear' treatment but are there not some commonalities here? The way Madiba is represented in all his various media forms is not an example of overt or intentional mockery. However by choosing to emphasise aesthetics over history, media representations of Madiba exemplify a ridiculousness of a different sort. It appears that when it's not being used as an ANC scapegoat, the Mandela legacy is rapidly defined by its pageantry and everyone wants a piece of it. Sadly this has served to make Madiba appear to be more of a cash-cow hero than a historical and moral one.

And therein lies the dilemma: how do we honour Nelson Mandela without the excess that's come to define him? The reason this question is so difficult to answer is because we have never known or seen Madiba in isolation from his commemorative persona. Therefore we don't know how to honour him in any other. I'm not sure if this is a problem that will ever be solved but taking our 67 minutes of goodwill to consider who Madiba really is is a good start.


Source for Photo 1: http://www.nelsonmandelas.com/nelson-mandela-pictures.php?type=statues

Source for Photo 2: http://oralhistoryeducation.com/aparthied-stories