By Oriphulusa Nyadzhiwa
Following his imprisonment in Robben Island from 1962 to 1990, for treason and conspiracy against the apartheid government, Nelson Mandela was, at the turn of democracy, historically elected as South Africa’s first black president.
Mandela, who held office from 1994 to 2000, had one lofty goal in mind and that was to overthrow the apartheid regime as it was primarily concerned with enforcing racial segregation.
On July 18 1918, a social justice activist called Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was born. The United Nations formally recognised Mandela’s birthday as an annual international day in the year 2009.
South Africans voluntarily commemorates his birthday with 67 minutes of public service to honour the 67 years he served humanity by fighting against apartheid.
Peace-making was one of the great qualities he had
As he stated in one of his infamous speeches, he fought against black and white dominance.
One of his main objectives was to make all races to be in possession of equality, so that it can lead to equity and harmony without any kind of discrimination within the country.
This equality was inclusive of wealth, power, and rights, with an aim to achieve social justice.
The whole concept of equality that Mandela fought for, only achieved a segment of equality which is equal accessibility to resources to resources through freedom of movement and services regardless of race, ethnicity, or any descriptive attribute.
It did not achieve equity amongst races because some races are still in possession of wealth and privilege than others.
Reconstruction and Development Programme, which is a socio-economic policy framework, was put into place in 1994 under the leadership of Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress.
The primary goal was to address the severe socio-economic issues caused by apartheid by diminishing poverty and fostering a robust economy to enable sustainable development.
Even while this framework contained excellent ideas that are crucial, corruption led to subpar housing quality in the homes that were built, the failure to supply clean water to some communities, and insufficient access to healthcare in some places.
In 1998 when he was still a president, the National Environmental Management Act of 1998 became in effect.
The act advocates for clean environments that do not cause any potential threats to the health of people.
In contrary, the townships that were established during the apartheid government are now in worse conditions than before.
People who are still occupying these townships are mostly disadvantaged people who are still struggling from the legacy of Apartheid whereas they are labelled as equal to everyone, yet in poverty and unclean environments.
After 28 years under black governance, the most dominant thing that has been affecting each citizen is corruption.
Instead of improving the lives of people who were less privileged in the past, their lives are getting worse, whereas it was a vision of Nelson Mandela for everyone within the country to experience better lives with equal access to basic needs and all rights.
Even though Nelson Mandela fought for the legacy of equality to endure within races, South Africa has the highest Gini coefficient globally.
This is just a clear indication that there is an uneven and steep imbalance of wealth or income within societies of South Africa, and that does not advocate for equality that he fought for.
The only major thing that South Africans can celebrate about Mandela Day, is equal accessibility to resources that has evidently been implemented by freedom of movement and equal rights.
The wealth and other resources were not distributed evenly amongst the races in 1994.
Whoever had more possessions that resemble wealth were left in private ownership of those possessions and it was called equality whereas we do not possess equal possessions.
Even some government buildings are still renting private properties for government departments, and those properties were erected in Apartheid era and in ownership of people who were in power by then.
Nelson Mandela Day should rather be utilised to support his dream and to make a difference in other people's lives.
That can be achieved by showing Ubuntu through offering your skills to help an organisation to run effectively, teaching someone how to use computers and internet, teaching someone your mother tongue because we are diverse, and many other gestures of Ubuntu.
There might not be much to celebrate on this year’s Nelson Mandela Day so far, but together we can work to pursue and achieve the dreams and vision of Nelson Mandela.