Tokyo Sexwale, an anti-apartheid veteran
and recently sacked government minister,
was playing to the gallery. He earned
laughter with a decent impression of
Nelson Mandela 's famously inimitable
voice. Noting the presence of British actor
Naomie Harris, the cynosure of all cameras,
the recently separated Sexwale quipped: "I
came alone, you know."
The African National Congress (ANC)
stalwart was in Johannesburg to introduce
the director, producer and cast of
Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom , the
long-awaited $35m film adaptation of
Mandela's autobiography
that premieres in South Africa on Sunday.
Mandela's daughter, Zindzi, told how she
found the movie "therapeutic". However,
the man who plays Mandela, star of The
Wire and Luther, Idris Elba, was missing
due to a severe asthma attack for which he
had had to be hospitalised.
Harris, who is the new Miss Moneypenny in
the James Bond series
, plays Mandela's wife Winnie, and got the
seal of approval from "the mother of the
nation", according to producer Anant
Singh. "Mama Winnie was very moved by
it," he said. "She turned to me as the movie
ended and said, 'It's beautiful, don't
change anything, I love it. Naomie is perfect
as me. Naomie is African; she's got Africa in
her'."
Harris admitted that the prospect of
capturing Winnie's accent was "terrifying".
Asked for her impressions of post-
apartheid South Africa , she commented:
"Obviously, in 20 years the country has
come an extraordinarily long way, but
change is a slow thing. I don't think that
Mandela, when he went into prison, ever
expected that it would take 27 years before
he came out and a further four years after
coming out of prison before he actually
became president and was able to properly
dismantle apartheid.
"Change is slow and it takes generations,
and I think there's been huge progress, but
there's still a lot more progress to go, and I
think most South Africans would agree with
that."
The glossy biopic comes about six months
before Mandela's beloved ANC faces the
toughest election in its history, in effect, a
referendum on its 20 years in government
and whether it has fulfilled or squandered
the legacy of South Africa's first black
president.
During that period Africa's liberation
movements have lost their shine and, in
some cases, fought dirty to retain power. It
took two decades for Robert Mugabe to
face a serious challenge in neighbouring
Zimbabwe.Some analysts predict that, while
the party is still assured of victory, its
parliamentary majority could dip below
60% for the first time. That could deepen
internal factionalism before the 2019
election, where defeat may not be
unthinkable.
But the ANC still holds the ultimate ace:
Mandela. A man mythologised in his own
lifetime, his command on South Africans'
affections is impossible to compete with.
Will the release of Mandela: Long Walk to
Freedom burnish the legend still further
and win votes for the ANC?
"I hope so," chuckled Paul Mashatile , South
Africa's arts and culture minister, predicting
a 70% share. "It's a good story. I think it's
really continuing to give people hope that
it's a great organisation that came from
great leaders. But sometimes voters tend to
vote on the basis of the challenges that
they have today."
Mashatile is overseeing next April's
celebrations of the 20th anniversary of
multiracial democracy, and recently
announced a nine-metre statue of Mandela
for the Union Buildings in Pretoria. But he
denied that the ANC is trading on nostalgia.
"We don't necessarily want to use that for
elections. Nelson Mandela is bigger than
everybody now. He's a treasure, he's the
gift of the whole nation, and I think in this
period in his life we want all South Africans
to claim him."
The ANC knows it must play its ace carefully
or face accusations of exploitation. It was
criticised for parading a frail Mandela at its
pre-election rally in 2009 and for
organising a photo-opportunity at the
ailing statesman's home this year. With
Mandela now 95 and in a critical condition,
the great unknown about the election is the
impact of the emotional earthquake that his
death would cause.
Some believe the sentiment and pageantry
around his loss would rally sympathy for
the party to which he is so devoted that he
once joked he would seek out a branch in
heaven. Justice Malala, a political
commentator and columnist, said: "Without
being distasteful, if Nelson Mandela was to
die now, it would be a massive boost for
the ANC."
But it is also possible that reflections on
Mandela's singular achievements could
prompt unflattering comparisons with the
current president, Jacob Zuma . His first
term in office has been plagued by
disasters, such as the police massacre of 34
striking mineworkers in Marikana, and
scandals including the projected spending
of 270m rand (£16.63m) on upgrades to his
rural home. He also failed to fulfil an
ambitious job creation programme, to curb
street protests and to get the economy
motoring.
"He's a huge liability," Malala said. "Zuma
is the reason the ANC will suffer a big
reversal of fortune and a reduced majority,
probably to below 60%. The middle class
will continue to revolt against Zuma. The
big issue is whether they will go out and
vote."
The ANC faces an unprecedented challenge
from both right and left of the political
spectrum. The Democratic Alliance is
striving to cloak itself in the colours of the
liberation struggle
and even claiming to be Nelson Mandela's
true heir, while the new Agang SA is led by
the formidable Mamphela Ramphele, an
anti-apartheid activist and the former
girlfriend of Steve Biko, with whom she
founded the black consciousness
movement.
But perhaps the most intriguing new threat
is the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) , led
by Julius Malema, a former president of the
ANC youth wing who campaigned for Zuma
at the last election but has become his
nemesis. EFF, which launched in Marikana
among a sea of red berets, aims to seize
the socialist revolutionary ground that the
ANC occupied during the struggle, accusing
the ruling party of being co-opted by white
capitalist interests and failing to redress
profound inequalities.
Some say that Malema gives a good cause a
bad name. His gift for populistrhetoric that
fires up the discontented masses has even
earned comparisons with Hitler. But Malala
acknowledged: "Malema is scratching at the
scab of the new South Africa. Whatever he
might say and whatever a joke he might be,
when you see the demographics there's
something there."
Among Malema's most prominent allies is
Andile Mngxitama , an admirer of Biko and
now the EFF's international relations
"commissar".
"The ANC has reached the limit of what it
can imagine and what it can do," he
insisted. "Twenty years of devastation are
the most eloquent argument against the
ANC. You can't spin your way out of 20
years. The ANC is no longer the party of
liberation that is going to do something for
you. They will try to use history, but we will
point to that koppie in Marikana where a
democratic government shot dead its own
people."
Citing a 1994 speech in which Mandela
said, "If the ANC does to you what the
government of the National party did to
you, you must do to the ANC what you did
to the government of the National party,"
Mngxitama added: "That language finds
more resonance today. Nelson Mandela at
his best does not speak for the ANC of
today."
As for the potential impact of Mandela:
Long Walk to Freedom , Mngxitama said
dryly: "In South Africa we are not
persuaded by films. This is not America. It
could also backfire: it's becoming very
difficult to associate the image of Nelson
Mandela with the contemporary ANC."
This will be the first election in which South
Africans born after 1994 – the "born-free
generation" – will be eligible to vote. They
have no memory of apartheid, nor
Mandela's imprisonment, and therefore
lack the emotional ties of their parents. But
it remains to be seen how many will
register to vote or whether apathy will
prevail.
Nor should the ANC's well-oiled electoral
machine be underestimated. Threatened by
a breakaway party, Cope, at the last
election in 2009,the ANC healed its internal
divisions with iron discipline and fell just
short of a two-thirds majority. It still has all
the advantages of incumbency, including
money. While Zuma is much mocked by
tweeting urbanites, his routine of singing,
dancing and speechmaking in his first
language, Zulu, appeals to the crowds in
rural areas.
And the ANC does have a positive story to
tell about three million houses supplied,
more citizens connected to electricity, a
growing black middle class and a reduction
in absolute poverty. It has shown
compassion in providing 16 million social
grants to the poor and earned international
acclaim for turning around the fight against
HIV/Aids.
Nevertheless, perception is key and more
and more South Africans view the ANC's
glass as half-empty: a jaded organisation
tarnished by corruption, delivering too little
too slowly and in inexorable decline. And
just as Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
risks turning the collective history of the
anti-apartheid struggle into a one man
show,so the ANC's current travails run
deeper than the idiosyncrasies of its
present leader.
Moeletsi Mbeki ,a political economist and
brother of Mandela's successor, Thabo
Mbeki, said: "We don't vote for Jacob
Zuma. We vote for the party. This election is
really about the credibility of what the party
has done over 20 years. South Africa is in a
stagnating situation. We are sitting with a
third of the adult population unemployed
and there is no sign that is going to change.
The ANC has run out of steam in terms of
moving the country beyond where it is
now."
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