Mandela was pressured to abandon key elements of ANC’s Freedom Charter as president

Nelson Mandel fought for his people and consequently sacrificed 27 years of his life behind bars. Upon his release, he was still undeterred as he continued to make the same pro-people pronouncements.

But as president, Mandela came under pressure to abandon key elements of the Freedom Charter that his party The African National Congress had crafted to truly liberate Africans in South Africa from the effects of Apartheid.

These observations are part of several made from an illuminating Diaspora Weekly interview on DNT with Dr. Bheki N. Mfeka, Economic Advisor and Strategist for the City of Johannesburg.

When Mandela “came out of prison, he still maintained those (radical ideological) beliefs, but he shifted” when he became president, said Mfeka citing his attendance in January 1992 of the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he had to shake the hands of F. W. de Klerk who threw him in jail, as a key turning point.

Mandela was leaned on by “leaders of the commanding heights of the global economy” to depart from stances such as nationalization of mines and banks, which were key pillars of the ANC Freedom Charter.

After Davos, “he was observed to have changed,” said Mfeka.

But even before Davos, Mandela was thought of as having been “captured,” a term used by the ANC to describe elements of their members who are suspected as having been compromised by the establishment.

For example Mandela, after his release from jail, was catered for by the Oppenheimer family who controls a large portion of the South African economy. “Remember when he had nothing when he came out of prison,” Mfeka pointed out.

Furthermore, Mandela needed the same Oppenheimer family and other similar wealthy families to even run the country. Not to mention that the ANC had to concede more than it wanted to at the 1994 negotiations that paved the way to end Apartheid.

Thus according to Mfeka, all four African leaders, Mandela, Mbeki, Zuma, and Ramaphosa have had to lead South Africa constitutionally handicapped. Incidentally, Zuma, the only one of the four to have pushed harder for reforms in favor of Africans happen to be the one who finds himself in legal trouble and currently in prison.

More of the Highly Illuminating interview with Dr. Bekhi Mfeka, which will air on DNT this Saturday at 9am to follow.

DNT News.

 

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