Who else is in Mandela’s league?

All possible superlatives have already been exhausted in the description of former South African President Nelson Mandela, who died on December 5 after a long battle with a lung infection.

The iconic leader is to be laid to rest today in his birth place of Qunu in what friend and former anti-apartheid fighter Cyril Ramaphosa called the end of Mandela’s Long Walk to Freedom—the title of Mr Mandela ‘s autobiography.

US President Barack Obama said at the memorial on Tuesday “we will never see the likes of Mandela again.” He described him as a “giant of history.”

Mr Onapito Ekomoloit, a veteran journalist and former press secretary to President Museveni described Mandela as a “man of two centuries.” Several other figures have over the week combed corners of their memory to find the right words to describe Mandela, who spent the first half of his life fighting white domination and obnoxious system of apartheid, 27 years in jail, five in power as his country’s first black president (from 1994 to 1999) and retired from public life after another 10 years and the last eight suffering increasingly failing health.

But did Mandela play in his own league or are there men and women, who even if they did not reach the very top of greatness and influence of Mandela could be described as close enough to claim a place in his Hall of Fame? Who are they? And what of those who got close and for one reason or the other failed to reach the pinnacle or squandered their opportunity?

1. Nelson Mandela (1918—2013, South Africa)

In physic Mandela stood tall and was a giant by just that description, in birth he was born royal, in knowledge he stood out and graduated as a lawyer. He was born at a time white South Africans were tightening their grip on that country applying tougher measures to further subjugate the native black people.

To that end the environment also suited Mandela’s rise to greatness. Enduring nearly three decades in jail at the notorious Pacific Ocean detention facility of Robben Island, Mr Mandela secured his unrivalled place in history when he came out of prison to preach love rather than hate; reconciliation in the place of revenge and his acknowledgement that in a first globalising world seeking exclusion instead of inclusion and accepting one another as people transcended any bitterness to move the country forward.

He engraved this place by showing a rare sense of humility once he completed the transition from prisoner to president and embarrassed thousands of leaders when instead of hanging onto power given his country’s unique circumstances and his own contribution, handed over just after one fiver-year term.

Out of the presidency he spent 10 years using his global fame to promote causes he had failed to accomplish as president, raising money for charitable causes like HIV/Aids and preaching global peace.

He reached out to world pariahs living the promise of being truly non-aligned. With this, his high place in history was sealed.

2. Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948, India)
Born Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, he championed India’s resistance to British colonialism and is the champion of non-violent civil disobedience in the struggle for freedom.

Trained as a lawyer, Gandhi, started his struggle against British colonial domination in South Africa, among the Indian communities of that country where he worked as an expat lawyer between 1893 until 1914 when he transferred his efforts back to his home country at least four years before Mandela was born.

He fought for India’s independence and was assassinated in 1948 but the legacy he left has been seen as a guiding light to India, the world’s largest democracy to this day. Though inequality remains, Gandhi’s place in history was guaranteed.

3.Rev Dr Martin Luther King Jnr. (1929-1968, USA)

Born Michael King, his father changed his name in honour of the German reformer Martin Luther, and indeed he was not to be disappointed as King Junior grew to become the most outstanding icon of the black emancipation struggle in the United States.

Trained as a Baptist minister, Dr King was assassinated in 1968 but after leading numerous struggles that form a critical block of the war against racial segregation in the United States.

He won the Nobel Prize for peace in 1964 and earned global endearment for embracing non-violence to push back against a brutal crackdown by successive governments.
His “I have a dream” speech delivered at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC, during what he dubbed a “million man match” on Washington remains one of the most inspiring speeches of our time.

4.Mother Teresa (1910 –1997 Calcutta, India)

She is on this list because she most likely would attract the least criticism to her inclusion given her achievements in life. An Albanian born Indian Roman Catholic nun, Mother Teresa, like Mandela, is a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. She bagged hers in 1979 for her extra-ordinary work with the most vulnerable sections of society.

The mission she founded, Missionaries of Charity today operates in 133 countries across the globe with a membership of more than 4,500 nuns. Members of the order must adhere to the vows of chastity, poverty and obedience, and the fourth vow, to give “Wholehearted and Free service to the poorest of the poor,” reports the online encyclopedia, Wikipedia.
Since her death in 1997, Mother Tereza has so far moved three steps towards possible Sainthood, a pinnacle achievement in the Catholic faith. She was beatified in 2003.

Mother Tereza was born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu in Skopje, the current capital of Macedonia. She left her family for missionary work aged 18 and never saw her mother and sister again. The Missionaries of Charity, according to Mother Teresa, was to care for “the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the blind, the lepers, all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared for throughout society, people that have become a burden to the society and are shunned by everyone.”

Upon her death, Mother Teresa was granted a state funeral by the Indian government, her body lay in repose for a week before burial and among those who eulogised her, the Prime Minister of Pakistan described her as “a rare and unique individual, who lived long for higher purposes.

Her life-long devotion to the care of the poor, the sick, and the disadvantaged was one of the highest examples of service to our humanity.” The former UN Secretary-General Pérez de Cuéllar said: “She is the United Nations. She is peace in the world.” Her funeral was covered for days by global media.

5.Pope John Paul II (1920-2005, Rome)

Pope John is moving fast on the journey towards sainthood much of it shaped by his 26 years as Pope. Described as the most travelled Pope of his time, Pope John Paul was born Karol Józef Wojtyła of Polish parents. During his papacy Pope John Paul travelled to 129 countries covering some 1, 100, 000 kilometers.

He visited Uganda in 1993. An outspoken critic against apartheid in South Africa, Pope John Paul is on record for calling for a regime of economic sanctions against the apartheid government in South Africa and conducted a 10-nation tour of countries surrounding South African to demonstrate his disapproval of what was happening in that country.

He was also the first world leader to refer to the mass killing of minority Tutsi by majority Hutu in Rwanda as genocide.

6.Julius K. Nyerere (1922—1999, Tanzania)

He never won a Nobel peace prize, but is on the journey towards Sainthood, Nyerere, better known as Mwalimu, the honour name his country preferred to call him, was Tanganyika’s independence prime minister in 1961 and became president in 1964 after Tanganyika joined with the Island of Zanzibar to create the modern state Tanzania. He was in power between December 1961 until November 1985 when he retired.
A strong believer in a link between socialism and African traditional culture of communal living and sharing, Nyerere became a strong face of the political ideology.

But his attempt at communal villages known as Ujaama was a disaster and even he regretted it later. He is credited for among others support to various African liberation Movements in the fight against colonialism and living a structure that has ensured Tanzania has not suffered civil war unlike her neighbours.

7.Kwame Nkrumah (1909-1972, Ghana)

Nkruma led Ghana’s fight for Independence and his biggest claim to fame at least on the African continent is his championing of pan-Africanism and his push for a United Africa. Monuments, Institutions or parts of Institution across the continent are named after Nkrumah as a man who carried a big dream for Africa.

However, his reputation at home in Ghana and the world was significantly sullied by his authoritarian tendencies and suppression of opponents. But as a man who grabbed a moment of history to ink his name on the conscience of history, Nkrumah succeeded, the reason he is on this list.

He justified some of his actions by the need to industrialise and build critical infrastructure some of which investments still stand in present day Ghana.

8. Patrice Lumumba (1925-1961, DRC former Zaire)

Like a few others we shall refer to here, Lumumba’s life was snuffed out early before his full impact could propel him further on the path of greatness or one of destruction and self-ruin but the inspiration he stirred earns him a place on this list.

It is mainly the manner and motive of his killing and the people behind his early murder that endeared him to many and continues to ensure his name maintains space on the more positive attributes. The first Prime Minister of independent Zaire (now DRC), Lumumba was a firebrand union activists, who attempted to take over and steer the giant, immensely endowed central African country through independence.

It is believed, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the United States, the United Kingdom’s MI6 and the Belgian government over saw his brutal assassination in Kinshasa fearing his vitriolic socialist ideas. Some of his admirers believe his murder was the biggest contributor to the troubles that have dogged one of the world’s most naturally resource endowed country.

9.Thomas Isidore Noel Sankara (1949-1987, Burkina Faso)

Described as a Marxist revolutionary and pan-Africanist, across the continent young idealistic continued to don T-shirts with his face and the question; ‘Who killed Sankara?’, years after his death. He grabbed power in a populist coup and launched what is still believed to be the most ambitious transformation programmes on the continent.

He renamed Burkina Faso from its colonial name Upper Volta to its current name which also means, the Land of Upright men. He championed agrarian self-sufficiency, eschewed the influence of multi-national lenders like the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, which he believed were agents of colonialism.

His domestic policies were focused on preventing famine with agrarian self-sufficiency and land reform, prioritising education with a nation-wide literacy campaign, and promoting public health by vaccinating 2.5 million children against meningitis, yellow fever and measles.

Other components of his national agenda included planting more than 10 million trees to halt the expanding desertification of the Sahel, doubling wheat production by redistributing land from feudal landlords to peasants, suspending rural poll taxes and domestic rents, and establishing an ambitious road and rail construction programme to “tie the nation together”.

On the localised level, Sankara also called on every village to build a medical dispensary and had more than 350 communities construct schools with their own labour.
Moreover, his commitment to women’s rights led him to outlaw female genital mutilation, forced marriages and polygamy, while appointing females to high government positions and encouraging them to work outside the home and stay in school even if pregnant.

OTHERS

1. John Garang (South Sudan)
2.Leopold Sedor Senghor (Senegal)
3. Samora Machel (Mozambique)
4. Chinua Achebe (Nigeria)
5. Princess Diana (United Kingdom)
6. Winston Churchill (United Kingdom)
7. Theodore Roosevelt (USA)
Those who nearly made it
Jerry Rawlings (Ghana)
Muammar Ghaddafi (Libya)
Robert Mugabe (Zimbabwe)
Emperor Hiale Selassie (Ethiopia)