Sunday Times - Sunday, 18 July, 2004
Xolisa Vapi

At 86 today, former President Nelson Mandela is still healthy - "at least according to my doctors", as he is wont to say.

Every morning when he jumps out of bed or hops onto a plane on yet another of his globe- trotting voyages, Mandela counts his blessings. Seldom do people endure the anguish that Mandela did during his five-decade long fight for freedom, and still live longer to relish the fruits of their toil.

But there is an emotional price tag on this, as was evident at the funeral of his friend and comrade, Walter Sisulu, last year.

"In the last few years we have walked this road with greater frequency, marching in the procession to bid farewell to the veterans of our movement, paying our last respects to the fallen spears of the nation from a generation now reaching the end of a long and heroic struggle," Mandela said then.

"Those of us from that generation, who are singled out to stay the longest, have to bear the pain of seeing our comrades go."

Mandela's life since birth has been somewhat unpredictable.

Few would have thought that a man born in an arid backwater of South Africa would later become one of the most revered personalities of the 20th century, not least the first black and democratically elected president after three centuries of repressive colonial rule.

Said his successor, Thabo Mbeki, at the time that Mandela passed on the presidential baton in 1999: "The accident of your birth should have condemned you to a village. Circumstances you did not choose should have confined you to a district."

Refusing to succumb to his restrictive circumstances, Mandela enrolled for a BA degree at Fort Hare University shortly after matriculating at Healdtown in the Eastern Cape.

Expelled from the university, he left for Johannesburg to complete his degree before beginning his studies for a law qualification. It was there that Mandela joined the ANC in 1942. He came under the radical influence of Sisulu, Anton Lembede and other ANC leaders whose opposition to the party's non-militant approach towards the National Party government led to the formation of the ANC Youth League in 1944.

Mandela's prominent role in the Defiance Campaign of 1952 saw him scale the heights of the youth league and he rose to deputy president. Banned and arrested, Mandela was one of the accused in the Treason Trial.

He was also one of the former ANC leaders, both imprisoned and exiled, who kept the ANC united during the trying times of the struggle.

Like most of them, he never betrayed the struggle, even when offered early release by his jailers in exchange for accepting apartheid's bantustan policy, including agreeing to go back and settle in the so-called independent Transkei.

Mandela walked out of jail on February 11 1990 and was elected president of the ANC a year later at the party's first conference inside the country.

While Mandela's release was a significant boost for talks between the apartheid government and the ANC, it ushered in a sense of urgency among the country's black population, yearning for freedom under their own government, often with fatal consequences.

Despite thousands of people being killed and right-wing-planted bombs exploding in isolated parts of the region now known as Gauteng, Mandela always preached peace.

It was he who calmed the nation after the assassination of Communist Party leader Chris Hani. It was also Mandela who assured white citizens, amid threats of a civil war and mass emigration, that they had a place in the sun in the new South Africa.

That Mandela was a man of peace and reconciliation became more palpable during his presidency after he was inaugurated as head of the country's first democratically elected government on May 10 1994.

Thanks to Mandela ( though he was not one to claim personal credit for his nation-building efforts) the country's race relations have never been better.

The challenge facing South Africa now, it is often pointed out, is to narrow the divide between the rich and the poor.

Mbeki, Mandela's successor, is very much aware of this. While nation-building and reconciliation may have been the hallmark of Mandela's presidency, Mbeki has made poverty the most important priority of his government.

Mbeki once complained about being interviewed by the country's top journalists for an hour after his State of the Nation address, yet none of them asked him a question about poverty, which had been the thrust of his speech.

It was only after Mandela quit formal politics that he paid more attention to development projects.

Through his legacy projects - the Nelson Mandela Foundation and the Mandela Children's Fund - he has raised millions, if not billions, of rands to fund programmes that include the building of schools and clinics and bursaries for disadvantaged but academically deserving students.

Mandela is a beacon of hope for millions of HIV/Aids sufferers around the world, and he has been a thorn in the side of the government for its initial reluctance to provide drugs to those in need of them.

Mandela attended the World HIV/Aids conference in Bangkok, Thailand, this week, despite announcing last month that he would significantly scale down his public appearance schedule.

Mandela's love of children has seen him support organisations that look after orphans, street children and the sickly. His affection for children stems from being away from his family and his own children for decades.

His birthday would be incomplete without children among the guests, who in the past have included the likes of former US President Bill Clinton. Mandela would overrule his security people, and even delay proceedings, to make time to greet children.

Apart from his knee and hearing problems, nothing suggests that Mandela is about to succumb to old age.

He guards his health jealously and heeds his doctor's advice to dress warmly.

At 86 today, he is no average old man.

Nwel'olude Madiba.

May you have many more birthdays.

040718
ST040705

Always watch for outdated information. This article first appeared in 2004. This material is designed to support, not replace, the relationship that exists between you and your doctor.

AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All information contained on this website, including information relating to health conditions, products, and treatments, is for informational purposes only. It is often presented in summary or aggregate form. It is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professionals. Always discuss treatment options with a doctor who specializes in treating HIV.

Copyright ©1980, 2004. AEGiS. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content. .