Victor Nze
11 November 2009
Book Title: Winds of Change in South Africa (From Apartheid to Freedom)
Author: R. B Alade
Year of Publication: 2009
Reviewer: Wale Okediran
My first encounter with Dr. Raphael Alade's writings was his 1975 book, The Broken bridge which was a reflection of his experience during the Nigerian Civil War. I later followed him up in his 1990 Dreams of tomorrow, a fictional account of the training of a medical doctor from village life to postgraduate.
In Winds of Change in South Africa the erudite surgeon/author documents events that took place in South Africa from 1652 to 1999 when President Mandela retired from active politics.
In the Foreword to the book, Professor Ayo Banjo, Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, considered the book a remarkable work for two reasons. Firstly, it is a book on recent socio-political developments in South Africa written by a Nigerian and secondly is the fact that in spite of the very detailed nature of this study, the author is neither a professional historian nor a political scientist.
Divided into forty chapters, the first 15 chapters of the book examined the pre-colonial times in South Africa as well as the critical period of Apartheid and its eventual collapse. From here, the author devoted the next ten chapters to the preparation for South Africa elections until Mandela's Inauguration on May 10, 1994.
The last 15 chapters elaborated the momentous events that shaped South Africa up till Mandela's retirement from active politics in 1999. Some of these events include; Local elections in South Africa, Mandela's divorce from Winnie, The Trial of General Magnus Malan, The Trial of Piete Willem Botha, the emerging post-Apartheid state of South Africa and Mandela's reconciliation efforts as a strategy of government.
In elaborating about South Africa's Pre-colonial times and the years of apartheid, Dr. Alade expectedly relied heavily on Newspapers reports from as back as 1950 till present day. Thus, publications such as the South African based newspapers Cape Times, Sunday Times and Sunday Express featured prominently as the research papers.
In addition to these sources, the author through intensive and elaborate research was able to vividly capture the sufferings and the dehumanizing of South Africans under their colonial rule from 1948 until the collapse of apartheid.
As the author explained "Apartheid was designed to maintain supremacy of the whites over non-whites in South Africa. Indians and coloreds were treated better than the blacks who were at the lowest rung of the ladder of the color register".
Apartheid had been practiced by the white people in South Africa since the Dutch came there in 1652. According to the author, some of the official state policies of racial segregation included the banning of the non-whites population from schools attended by whites. Also, the mixed marriage and immorality act made associating, kissing or intimately interacting with whites illegal and marriage across racial lines were prohibited.
The church in South Africa also played a great part in the morbid politics of apartheid. In reference to Reverend Father Matthew Kukah's article Theology of Apartheid; "Apartheid was designed to fit and achieve what could not be done by brutal force. It was necessary for the races to be separated argued the proponents of the doctrine because as they claimed, that was the way the lord had ordained it from the beginning. Whites and blacks, like the sheep and goats in the bible, had to be separated because that was the way the Maker had designed it and said it would be".
Chapters four to 12 which featured details of the African National Congress movement and Apartheid to 'Rivonia' where Mandela and his colleagues were sentenced to life imprisonment were culled from Nelson Mandela famous autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom.
These chapters presented the essential situation around Mandela and South Africa as seen through the eyes of the subject. Apart from detailing Mandela's personal struggles, these very important chapters also enumerated the struggle against apartheid in all its ramifications.
By all standards, one of the most remarkable chapters in the book was chapter 16 which detailed the collapse of Apartheid and Mandela's Release from Prison.
Apart form detailing the activities of members of International Community in the final onslaught against apartheid, the chapter also detailed President de Klerk's desperation when International Sanctions and Local Pressure forced him to release Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners. On 10th February 1990, Nelson Mandela was released. His now famous moving speech was well captured on page 132 of the book.
Another very important event was the debate between President de Klerk and Mr. Nelson Mandela the two main presidential candidates for the general election in South Africa. The event which was well elaborated in chapter 20 was also covered by the South African Broadcasting Corporation. This was followed by the post-election interview in chapter 24.
The remaining of the book covered historical events such as "The South African Unity Government" the divorce of Winnie by Mandela as well as the trials of General Magnus Malan and Pieter William Botha.
Weaving together a tapestry of historical research, Mandela's personal experiences and a plethora of documented evidence, Dr. Raphael Alade had been able to put together a formidable historical and intellectual book which will for a very long time continue to be the source of important information on South Africa and its very famous son, Nelson Mandela.
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