Nelson Mandela

It has driven me crazy this love affair in the media and Facebook at the death of Nelson Mandela.

Via my cousin I had quite an insight into the geopolitics of South Africa, back in the 1960's and about a terrorist by the name of Mandela.  Meant nothing to me, he was in South Africa and had no affect on my life in Germany.  However those geopolitics radiating from the USA would embroil the face of the earth and extend far beyond the lies of the American yellow journalistic press - there were some real questions there which still have not been adequately answered.

Since almost nothing is known here in Seattle of South African history, let's start there:

Original settlement of South Africa was to take place by English and Dutch mariners needing a watering hole and place to hide from the storms at the Horn of Africa.  These white settlers had no one to contest their presence - there was NO ONE in South Africa.

Far inland, yes there were several tribes, they had little contact with one another, much less the whites and all was peaceful for centuries.

But, gold was found, then diamonds, and platinum were found and workers were needed.  Whites moved inland to manage this newly found wealth and natives were enslaved and eventually hired to work the mines.  The Dutch and English got into a war which changed the face of southern Africa.  The Dutch did have a solid claim and enlisted the blacks to join them in the fight but the wealth of the English, brought the weapons of real war and the Dutch lost.  The blacks kept fighting but lacked the weapons needed to match their courage.  The English established more or less uncontested claim even to the inland.

The mines grew, nations such as Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania were formed, went into civil war and refugees fled south to the security of South Africa - and stayed.  The mines needed them, no one cared.  The government recognized that these were illegal immigrants but it was okay, the mines made them wealthy and the natives were better off than in the north where there was only warfare and poverty.

But a group formed called the African National Congress - a thinly veiled communist organization formed to drive the whites out of South Africa.  Why?  Because the Russians were willing to finance an effort to gain control of the rare earth deposits, gold and diamonds of South Africa.  In this group was Nelson Mandela.

One of their efforts was to blow up the high power transmission towers to Pretoria.  They succeeded and unfortunately at least one white died as a part of that effort.  The ANC was driven into Southwestern Africa aka Namibia and Angola, those captured were imprisoned and all was well.  Except that the civil rights movement in the USA had through legal moves thwarted white control and subjugation of blacks.  Why not do the same for the South African blacks?  Nelson Mandela became a symbol of Apartheid and all that was evil in South Africa.

Make no mistake here, Nelson Mandela was a terrorist, a murderer, and a communist.  He now used his western star status to get messages to his wife and to his friends on how to protest, how to attack, how to continue to drive towards a violence based end to South Africa.  He was not interested in  justice or fairness or equality, he wanted the death of all whom opposed him.  Even if you were black he came up with a special punishment, necklacing with a burning tire to kill you.  And the Russians were able to use this momentum to place Cuban forces into the new Angola and engage in open warfare with South African forces.

Eventually, Mandela was released, was assigned the position of the first black President of South Africa.  And trials began for the whites and a man named Le Klerk was assigned to the state held trials.  There is no question this man was brilliant.  Outside of 20 whom were tried as terrorists for attempting to over throw the Mandela government, no one went to prison.  The trials were all televised and used to heal the people involved and the country.  What?!?!?!?

Yeah, something had happened to that terrorist named Mandela, he changed in prison.  It was not the hard work or that he had lost his hate but that he discovered that there was a higher power than himself, someone whom was going to hold him accountable, someone whom dealt in eons not mere years.

Mandela's parents had been Christian, there is strong evidence his wife was (although rather insane at times!) and he was to be closely associated with Desmond Tutu later in life.  Was Mandela a Christian?  Certainly not in his early life, he certainly portrayed those virtues in his post prison life but more importantly, he learned compassion - not a virtue of mankind.  It came from somewhere and although he never made a point of stating his faith - one is left to wonder.

So, this past week I have been appalled by the boo-hoo "Mandela is dead" group, because they forget 2/3 of his life and that there are repercussions for his actions still to this day.  A great many people died because of this man.  Conversely, the "thank got he is dead /  may he burn in hell" crowd fail to understand that this man under went a major change in his philosophy.

Only God truly knows whether or not Mandela now is risen in Jesus or fallen as a man to where no man was never designed to be.  But, we can see and know he was evil - just like we all were, under went a major internal change - just as each of us must do, and he gained in compassion and wisdom that far transcended whom he was.  That sounds like the Holy Spirit to me.

Yes, South Africa, as with Rhodesia, went from first world to third world status faster than anyone would have forecast - yet Mandela was not responsible for that - that lay at the feet of first world bankers whom saw no reason to continue to invest in a country with no natural resources of any importance any longer.

Where does Mandela's legacy lie?  Certainly not with the west and its political correctness of equality.  Certainly not in the mass of dead, both white and black killed in his name.  Definitely in the charity of justice for those mislead by their leadership.  Definitely in his willingness to learn and change.

Perhaps though his life was lived out with a global audience, that is where it really lay, he was a man, struggling to understand the evil of man and overcome by it - but the tale did not end there - he chose to overcome who he was.