IS ICON A SELLOUT OR SAVIOUR?
Artwork still divides SA opinion
THE face of a smiling Nelson Mandela cropped onto a can of Lucky Star pilchards – with the words “sold out” below it – is immortalised on the web.
It is the artwork of Ayanda Mabulu, the controversial artist who has caused a stir again with his latest painting tackling state capture.
His Mandela painting, which he dropped last December, supported the contentious argument that Mandela sold out black people.
Somewhat taboo, the debate about whether Mandela was a true icon or a sellout erupts now and then. Julius Malema, leader of the EFF, reignited the debate during a tour of England.
Proponents of the narrative argue Mandela was softened by his apartheid jailers. The end product of that was that the wealth of the country remained in the hands of white people after democracy was attained, the argument goes.
Those standing in the opposing side maintain Mandela is a doyen of the country’s democracy, that he acted in the best interests of everyone to avoid a deadly civil war in the early 1990s.
Ardent drivers of Mandela Day campaigns are likely to fall into this category of Mandela die-hards.
Lindsay Maasdorp, spokesman of Land First, Black First, a new organisation subscribing to black consciousness, said it was difficult not to conclude Mandela sold out.
By getting into “neo-liberal agreements” during his presidency, Mandela “entrenched white power in the pseudo-democracy that we experience today”, Maasdorp said.
“Those agreements to basically safeguard white capital are why black oppression is maintained today. This is why the argument [he] sold out is indisputable.”
William Chauke, a Tshwanebased web developer who has offered to design websites for two NGOs on Mandela Day, rubbishes the notion that Mandela sold out.
“Madiba transformed SA,” he said. “He sacrificed his own freedom for the freedom of others.
“He reconciled with those who jailed him for the sake of freedom and peace. He did as Jesus Christ did by forgiving those who persecuted him.”
Njabulo Nzuza, secretary general of the ANC Youth League, said: “To those who will come and say Mandela was a sellout, [we say] never at any point was Mandela a sellout.”
Nelson Mandela Foundation chief executive Sello Hatang said the legacy of Mandela speaks for itself and there was no need for the foundation to defend him.
Hatang said Mandela himself said he was not perfect but that everything he did was with good intention.
He said what was left for the foundation was to carry the legacy of Mandela forward.