Nation is in anguish

PEOPLE go reluctantly about their daily business, anxious the moment will come, anxious they will miss the announcement, not certain how they will respond.

Seldom, if ever, have South Africans been so united in our concern for one person.

For months, even years before Nelson Mandela’s release from Victor Verster prison, throughout the Free Mandela campaign, there were rumours that the moment was imminent, the time had come.

When President FW de Klerk made the announcement on February 2 1990, people still could not believe it would really happen.

Tens of thousands gathered outside the prison and along the route to Cape Town’s city hall and Grand Parade where he was to make his first speech after 27 years in captivity.

It was perhaps the most representative mix of South Africans ever to gather with a single purpose – to see and hear Nelson Mandela, the most important player in an uncertain future.

But the greatest turnout of people began on April 27 2004, the first day of voting in the first democratic election – a moment Mandela had shepherded into existence by his own willingness to talk reason and readiness to lead.

The anxiety was as great then, in many ways, as now. Partly because of world interest in the staggering defeat of apartheid and massive coverage by the world media, largely because of Mandela’s growing stature, no statesman before or since has so captured the attention and hopes of so many diverse people around the world.

There was a pervasive belief that if South Africa could do it, so could many many others.

His ultimate act of statesmanship was to step down when his first term was done.

And now we come to a long vigil outside a hospital, outside homes in Houghton and Soweto, Qunu and Mvezo and many other places. Hundreds gather to show respect, to pray, to pay tribute, to wait.

Journalists jostle for the latest information, the picture, and the moment. Inevitably the pressures bring outbursts, as from daughter Makaziwe, castigating the media yet giving a television interview; reports of arguments within the family; denials, and tears. The anxiety affects none more deeply than the family.

The visit of an American president, himself a grandson of Africa, begins almost unnoticed. The Durban July stands ready to postpone. The country waits in suspense. South Africa knows our greatest citizen must one day leave; that we must be ready, and hope or pray that he will go in peace.