The Mandela myth

Schoolchildren are currently being taught - rightly - the legacy of Nelson Mandela and his message. What they are not being told is how Mandela and the African National Congress had campaigned for armed aggression against the tyrannical Apartheid regime, and how his widow Winnie was not beneath executing (in rather gruesome fashion) a few duplicitous blacks who spied for their White oppressors.

A legend is made up of many elements. The new film about Mandela, providentially released around the time of his death, may put these things into focus. His is just one name of many (such as Steve Biko, Oliver Tambo and Desmond Tutu) who fought for the freedom of a fair and just South Africa, but who ultimately has become the one talisman of the cuase.