By Franco Ordoñez
fordonez@charlotteobserver.com

South African icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela challenged Johnson C. Smith University graduates Sunday to become "instruments of change" in the ongoing fight against racism.

In a 30-minute commencement address, the ex-wife of former President Nelson Mandela wished parents a happy Mother's Day, cracked a couple of jokes and gave a fiery speech on worldwide oppression and gender discrimination.

The 74-year-old heroine of the anti-apartheid movement said she accepted university president Ron Carter's invitation to speak to graduates, in part, to thank the international community for its help in ending legal racial segregation in South Africa in 1994.

"In supporting our struggle, you restored in us our faith in humanity...," she said. "Too often, when things get better, it's easy to forget those who helped us escape a life where one had to live life as a fourth-class citizen in the country of one's birth."

Known as the "Mother of the Nation," Madikizela-Mandela became an international symbol of resistance when she took up a leadership role in the fight against apartheid and advocated for her husband during his 27-year imprisonment.

Warns of complacency

In her speech to graduates, Madikizela-Mandela quoted from the speech Martin Luther King Jr. gave in 1964, when he won the Nobel Peace Prize, and said South African activists found inspiration from American Civil Rights leaders like King, Booker T. Washington, Rosa Parks, Angela Davis and the Black Panthers.

She warned the audience of complacency in light of the progress. She said "male privilege" is dependent on the oppression of women. And citing disparities between blacks and whites, she called the United States a case study of how the dynamics of power and self-interest sustain racism.

"Despite significant gains derived from the Civil Rights Movement, the enactment of anti-discrimination laws and judicial decisions, racial justice continues to elude millions of African-Americans...," she said. "Statistics on poverty, unemployment and income show that the slow advances made during the 1960s and the 1970s have been reversed."

Problems at home

In a meeting with reporters on Saturday, Madikizela-Mandela spoke of the many economic and political problems that still plague her own country 17 years after its first free elections in 1994. Although the black majority now controls South Africa’s government, the vast majority of the nation’s wealth remains firmly in the hands of the white minority.

The unemployment rate in post-Apartheid South Africa is extremely high, especially among blacks, and trade unions that once fought side-by-side with the African National Congress to overthrow white rule have more recently taken to the streets to protest the ruling party, which retains overwhelming popularity with the nation’s voters. Some young black South Africans, frustrated over the slow pace of economic change, are now calling on the ANC to nationalize the country’s rich gold and diamond mines.

In her meeting with reporters, Madikizela-Mandela, who serves in the South African parliament, said such a move would be bad for the country economically.

“How can we nationalize the mines today without chasing away the investors?” she said. “If we start nationalizing now, even the investors that are in the country now would feel their capital is not safe. Investors will only invest in South Africa if the country is stable.”

'hoodwinked'

At Sunday’s JCSU commencement, however, Madikizela-Mandela appeared to take a brief swipe at her ex-husband, who some say was more concerned with racial reconciliation than with economic justice.

“We allowed ourselves to be hoodwinked with seductive phrases like ‘Rainbow Nation,’” she said, using a phrase most closely associated with the former president, who will turn 93 in July.

Asked about her ex-husband’s health, Madikizela-Mandela said Nelson Mandela is doing well.

“He’s a tough old bird,” she told Qcitymetro.com.

A controversial figure

Carter, who got to know Madikizela-Mandela in South Africa during the movement, thanked her for challenging the students to reach out across the globe and credited her with inspiring a new school project working with a village in Haiti.

"You have shown us that a nation can be born when you care," he told her.
Madikizela-Mandela is also a controversial figure who has been convicted of fraud, kidnapping and accessory assault.

Elliot Betrand, 23, who graduated with a degree in mathematics, said he wasn't bothered by the controversy that surrounds Madikizela-Mandela and instead was honored to have such an international icon speak at the school.

Student Government Association President Erica Hilton, 21, said Madikizela-Mandela shed perspective on the Civil Rights movement and how it compared to struggles in South Africa.

She said she was inspired by Madikizela-Mandela's message to be original thinkers who will use their gift of education to advance humanity.

"She wants us to go out in the world and be leaders," Hilton said. "It makes me want to go out and save the world."

Carter, at Saturday's media event with Madikizela-Mandela, said he was thrilled to have her as a commencement speaker.

"Tell me any transformative leader who is not controversial," he said. "Martin Luther King was controversial. Gandhi was controversial. Jesus was controversial."
***
Qcitymetro.com Editor Glenn H. Burkins contributed to this report.

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