THE LAST MILE - MANDELA AFRICA AND DEMOCRACY

 

PRODUCER/DIRECTOR : JENNIFER POGRUND

 

DURATION : 30 minutes 34 seconds

 

Note: TITLE denotes arrival in a new place. This was done in the original English version with a running crypton title, to give the effect of a telex machine, or arrival board at an airport, and consistent therefore with the beginning titles.

 

DOCUMENTARY STARTS

00:01:07:14

Voice over

an island prison off the coast of Africa . . . not Robben Island but Goree in Senegal . . . where generations of African slaves were incarcerated before being shipped out to the new world. . . in November 1991, Africa's most famous ex-prisoner of aii, Nelson Mandela visited the site for the first time, thereby bringing together the continent's past and present. . . . this documentary is an account of Nelson Mandela's reaction to Africa, the continent which gave birth to him and which, in the time he was imprisoned turned him into its greatest folk hero...

 

MAN TITLE OF FILM: 00:01:43:17 to 00:01:53:05

“The Last Mile - Mandela, Africa and Democracy"

 

TITLE 00:01:55:02 to 00:02:00:00

Arrival Accra, Ghana

00:01:55:02 - Voice over

Nelson Mandela's return to West Africa was an emotional occasion . . . in 1962 he was sent by the African National Congress to drum up support for the organization's newly-launched armed struggle. . . Then, he was a man on the run and it proved to be his last trip abroad for 30 years. Now he returned to the welcome of heads of State like Ghana's Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings . . . .

 

00:02:20:11

but some things hadn't changed. . . . the chief purpose for his trip - just like it had been thirty years earlier was still to appeal for help in his struggle against white rule. .

 

1) MANDELA TO CAMERA

On both occasions I went to Ghana as a freedom fighter who wants to normalise the political situation in his own country.

 

00:02:45:08 - Voice over

on his last visit Ghana had recently attained independence from the colonial era. . . its new leader was the legendary Kwame Nkrumah whose ideas deeply influenced Nelson Mandela . . .

 

2) MANDELA 00:02:56:08

My return to Ghana, after almost thirty years, is a kind of homecoming..

 

3) MANDELA TO CAMERA 00:03:11:16

Nkrumah's ideas have been fully realized because Africa now is completely free except our own country. And he made the shrewd observation, which influenced his political activities both inside and outside Ghana, that Ghana Could never be free if any part of Africa was still under Colonial rule . . .

 

00:03:51:24  - Voice over

in Accra's Revolution Square, Nelson Mandela lays a wreath for all those who died in Africa's wars of liberation, including members of his own African National Congress. . .

 

00:04:06:15

despite the calm appearances, Ghana's path of independence since the heady days of Kwame Nkrumah has not been easy. . . in 1966, Nkrumah himself was overthrown and over the years as Nelson Mandela languished in prison, Ghana’s economy went into steep decline; a series of incompetent and increasingly corrupt governments followed another, often interrupted by violent military Coups.

 

 

00:04:34:11

Ghana's present leader is the charismatic air force officer, Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings who lives in a castle built by Ghana's colonial rulers. . . since he seized power on New Year's Eve 1983, Rawlings has succeeded in getting the economy back on track, but its cost Ghana long years of authoritarian rule. . . only now is democracy a real possibility. . .

 

00:04:57:05

Nelson Mandela knows that hard lessons have been learnt . . .

 

4) 00:05:01:00 MANDELA TO CAMERA

There are concepts of democratic values which in the situation prevailing in Africa have not been easy to apply. And there has been a lot of Corruption in some of the countries, not all, but in some of the countries in Africa, there has been quite a great deal of corruption. And a man like Rawlings has tried to clean the administration of Ghana in spite of the fact that he is the head of a military government which would not comply with all the concepts of democracy, democratic values as known in the west.

 

00:05:44:05

But, the colonial powers never reality developed Africa, the colonies which ruled. The little infrastructure that was set in motion was always orientated towards the coloniser, not to the masses of the people in the country. The roads from the capital city or from other industrial cities went to the seaports in order to ensure the export of raw materials which are going to come back into the country in the form of processed goods, and very expensive, at prices which cannot be afforded by the average population. That was the first, the main hurdle which all African leaders have had to overcome.

 

00:06:40:18 Voice Over

 

Africa's new democratic wind of change is now blowing through Ghana . . . in response to popular pressure, Jerry Rawling's military government has pledged to hold multi-party elections by the end of the year. . . in keeping with the type of democracy Nelson Mandela is fighting for in a future South Africa. . .

 

5) 00:06:58:04 MANDELA TO CAMERA

There is definitely a movement in Africa away from authoritarian rule to a multi-party democracy where each party will be free to canvas its own political views. That movement has now taken a very strong form in Africa. It seems to me that very soon it is going to be a flood, and that is something that we have to welcome.

 

4 TITLE

00:07:36:03 to 00:07:41:14

Arrival Cote D*Ivoire (Ivory Coast) Yamoussoukro

 

00:07:41:13 Voice Over

the official South African flag was on display in only one country on Nelson Mandela’s trip: the Ivory Coast has always maintained close relations with the Pretoria government. The ANC leader’s mission here was to restore relations with an African country that had in the past Welcomed the old rulers of apartheid.

 

6) 00:09:06:20 MANDELA

(press conference)

We in the African National Congress believe in a free and vigorous press. Because the press can serve as a mirror in which we can see ourselves. Be consciously aware of our weaknesses and mistakes.

 

00:09:35:21 Voice Over

travelling through this country placed Nelson Mandela in a difficult position . . . the Ivory Coast is not a model of many democratic principles. Its idiosyncratic president, Houphet-Boigny is an old style despot who has ruled ever since independence from the French in the 1960's . . . opposition has either been crushed or bought off. For the vast majority of this population, there has been little or no improvement to their quality of life . . .

 

00:10:04:02

but Nelson Mandela's schedule does not allow him time to meet the people. And since the ANC needs to build bridges with such countries, he is unwilling to criticise even this African ruler who showed such scant support for him whilst he was in prison. . .

 

7) 00:10:25:06 MANDELA

Well, Mr President, you are looking very well.

 

8) 00:10:27:13 MANDELA TO CAMERA

I was tremendously impressed by President Houphet-Boigny. Firstly, he gave us a review of the problems of Africa and its relations with the industrial world which I thought by any standard was very remarkable. And he was able to explain his policy towards South Africa. In fact, one of things that he said to me, was you have been criticising me for urging co-operation, dialogue with South Africa. You criticised me very severely. But now you are doing what I told you to do about twenty years ago. Well, the timing of course was not right, but nevertheless there is some validity in what he says.

 

00:11:35:17 Voice over

in the capital Yamoussoukro stands President Houphet-Boigny's greatest memorial: the Lady of our Peace Basilica, the world's biggest church, three times the size of St Peter's in the Vatican . . . it took 1.500 localis ten years to build, the president says it was entirely funded out of his own pocket. . . designed as a pilgrimage centre for Africa's Catholics, it has a seating capacity of seven thousand and room for a further ei even thousand standing - in a country where only twelve percent of the population are Christian . .

 

00:12:12:24 TRANSLATOR 1

And of course it is air-conditioned. All the seats have its own air-conditioning unit. .

 

9). 00:12:23:11 MANDELA

Oh, I see

 

00:12:37:08 TRANSLATOR  2

Within the inside of the Basilica has sixty pillars, 60 columns. When we look at the stained glass windows, you might not make much of it. But we have 8400 metres. In fact, this is the biggest single unit of stained glass windows in the world. .

 

00:13:00:14 TRANSLATOR 3

 

And in fact in order to fully appreciate the beauty of the stained glasses, you need to come here very early in the morning, at dawn, or at dusk, you know, sunset, in order really to see the play of colours. . .

 

00:13:18:24 Voice Over

but for many, the Basilica has become a symbol of the inequality within the Ivory Coast. . . in an economic climate of rising unemployment and falling standards of living the government is accused of only benefiting an undemocratic elite.

 

10) 00:13:34:24 MANDELA TEO CAMERA

The whole of Africa, the whole of the world can be put under that criticism. In the capitalist world, the criticism that is being made by democrats is that the economic system there as well as the political system benefits only a few. And it's a Criticism which you can make very generally. And we are not keen to interfere in the domestic affairs of any country. And we have confidence in the leadership of each particular country that they'll be able to address and sort out the problems of their country.

 

00:14:20:04 Voice Over

earlier this year President Houphet-Boigny fought what he called multi-party elections. Sixty per cent of the voters turned out and after thirty years of unchallenged rule, his own party won an overwhelming majority . . . but the president's critics remain adamant that the ballots were rigged and were little more than a charade. . . However, the elections did at least show a democratic awakening of some Sort . . .

 

00:14:47:14

back on the plane, the visit prompts Nelson Mandela to recall tales of his youth and how democracy was practised in pre-colonial times. .

 

11) 00:15:08:05 MANDELA TO CAMERA

Our background as African societies throughout the continent has been described by experts, anthropologists and economists as having been democratic, where the land belonged to the tribe, where you had the clan system, which meant that every member of that can could rely on this organization for support, and where you had extended families, and where visitors travelling miles from their country carried no provision because each village in which he stopped would treat him with utmost hospitality, and where the affairs of the tribe were in the hands of a democratic body, where everybody above a certain age was entitled to attend. That is the background of Africa.

 

TITLE

00:16:26:17 to 00:16:31:19

Arrival Abidjan Cote D’ Ivoire

 

 

 

12) 00:16:28:04 MANDELA TO CAMERA

 

Now you have had a situation where Africa had been colonised, and where there was no observance of human rights at all by the colonial powers. When they withdrew it took some time in order to change perceptions towards the maintenance of democratic values because there had to be a tight grip, because the withdrawal of the colonial powers was itself a process, not ar. event. And they left many elements which tried to carry on the old colonial system by new means. And therefore, there had to be a tightening up by political leaders and governments. But now, fortunately, that is a thing of the past. Africa is moving away from that type of system, to one you know, which accepts without equivocation, democratic values.

 

TITLE

00:17:37:07 to 00:17:42:05

Arrival Goree Island Senegal

 

00:17:42:07 Voice over

 

Nelson Mandela's arrival on the old prison island of Goree brought the entire population out on the beaches. . . for them, his struggle for freedom for the past three decades meant as much as it has done to the people of South Africa…

 

00:18:01:21

as he walked through the cells where so many African slaves had been held, oranded and stamped like animals whilst they awaited shipment to the Americas, Nelson Mandela was clearly moved by what he saw. . . the thick prison walls with their distant views of the Atlantic Ocean seemed to echo his own experiences…

 

l3) 00:18:21:04 MANDELA TO CAMERA

Well, I can assure you that it was a devastating experience. As you are aware, between 20 and 35 million people were enslaved, and if you look at the matter from the point of view of the population of the continent at the time, that was a very large figure. They almost robbed the continent of its human power. And it also, the institution of slavery also helped to strengthen the belief that Africa had

 

00:19:12:04

No history, it had no culture.

 

00:19:14:21 TRANSLATOR 4

 

So by this way it was goodbye to Africa.

 

TITLE

00:19:37:19 to 00:19:41:00

Arrival  Dakar Senegal

 

00:19:35:03 Voice Over

a short ferry ride away from Goree lies Dakar, the capital of Senegal, a country which is often called the intellectual capital of Africa. . . with a vibrant political system which embraces a colourful range of different political parties, many look to Senegal as the true torchbearer of African democracy...

 

14)00:20:07:21 MANDELA TO CAMERA

 

One of the very firm impressions we have come back with is the unqualified support of the anti-apartheid struggle in this country by the OAU, by the whole continent of Africa. And then the second issue is the ability of African leaders to address the problems of the country. They discussed the situation in various parts of Africa : in Liberia, in the western Sahara, in Somalia, and other areas where there is conflict. And they have taken concrete steps to send missions to these areas to resolve the problems. So Africa is very much concerned about what is going on, on the continent, and they wanted to restore peace so that economic development cari take place in an atmosphere where there is free political activity, peace and security.

 

00:21:23:18 Voice Over

it was in Dakar that Nelson Mandela was presented with Africa’s most prestigious human rights award, the Colombe D'Or, by Senegal 's president, Abdul Diouf . . . but even here there is still little agreement about the best fort of government for Africa. . .

 

00:21:41:02 Voice Over

many countries initially adopted socialism in an attempt to eradicate the worst excesses of their colonial past. . . but Africa changed much in the time Nelson Mandela was away . . . a whole generation of rulers has come and gone and all cover the continent the old policies are being thrown out . . .

 

these upheavals have affected the ANC deeply . . . as it struggles to adapt to the new world order, many of its ideals and being re-thought by the leadership . . .

 

15) 00:22:10:03 MANDELA TO CAMERA

 

The ANC does not believe in socialism. We are a broad national movement which combines various strands of political thought ranging from the far right to the extreme left, embracing liberal and conservative views. And if you study our basic policy document, the Freedom Charter, you will find that it is based on free enterprise. And the land, for example, there is no nationalisation of the land, and the land is subject to individual ownership. And in actual fact, when the Freedom Charter is applied, when the provisions of the Freedom Charter are applied, capitalism amongst Africans Will flourish as never before. I wrote an article in 1956 to this effect, to say private enterprise when a democratic system is introduced, will flourish in this country as never before. And the only exception is a clause which calls for the nationalisation of the mines, the financial institutions, and monopolies. That is done because of the conditions in the country. It's a clause which was actually adopted in the constitution of the present ruling National Party, in the 'forties, so there is nothing unique in that. There is no elements of socialism in the policy of the ANC , whatever may happen in the future.

 

00:24:25:19 Voice Over

a symbol of the new Africa, Senegalese superstar Youssou N'Dour sings his tribute to Nelson Mandela . . .

 

16) 00:24:34:08 MANDELA

We have heard all the good things about you, and the support which you are giving us, and through art, which is able to reach areas, which we as politicians cannot reach.

 

00:24:48:12 YOUSSOU N’DOUR

 

We now know that in Africa, especially in the third world, that people are aware of the extent of their power. This was not the case before, where there were many dictatorships, and governments ruled by force. But now, the people say, there are millions of us, we can demonstrate in the streets, thousands have died, but we will get what we want. And people are ready to go forward. And We have seen in Mandela, someone who encourages this system of refusal, and who has inspired the people around him. One cannot separate Mandela from this process of democratisation that is now taking place in Africa.

 

00:25:43:19 Voice Over

fourteen days after he returned to South Africa in 1962, he was captured and did not re-emerge a free man for 27 years...this time his return was followed by constitutional negotiations at CODESA with the same government that had once branded him a terrorist and a traitor . . .

(Note: CODESA = Convention for a Democratic South Africa)

 

17) 00:26:01:07 MANDELA TO CAMERA

 

Undoubtedly a change has taken place in South Africa. That change may not meet the demands which the democratic movement in the country has put forward. And the crisis, the present crisis facing the country, is an illustration that those demand is have not been met by the government. Nevertheless, there has been some change, and that we must acknowledge. And CODESA is a very important political development in the country, and through the struggles of the people which have been staged for decades, we have been able to reach a position where the oppressed people of this country are now beginning to exercise effective control over their destiny.

 

00:27:20:16 Voice Over

the past few months have shown that the ANC still commands widespread support on the streets. . . the mass action has strengthened Nelson Mandela’s belief that the end is now finally in sight...that the struggle which has been his life for the past five decades is about to bear fruit, allowing South Africa to take up its place in the political mainstream of the Continent. . .

 

18) 00:27:43:00 MANDELA TO CAMERA

 

We are travelling the last mile, and there may be difficulties, there may be crisis, but the writing is definitely on the wall, and the days of this government are numbered.

 

END CREDITS 00:30:27:06 to 00:31:31:18

 

Produced and directed by Jennifer Pogrund

 

Written and narrated by

Tom Carver

 

Camera

Dewald Aukema

 

Sound

Tony Bensusan

 

Editor

Henion Han

 

Nelson Mandela interviewed by Mike Hanna

 

Camera

Peter Tischhauser

 

Sound

Alan Gerhardt

 

Post production

Henion Han

 

Technical Co-ordinator

Frank Meyburgh

 

On line editor

Mark Gibbert

 

Final mix

Panorama Sound

 

Associate Producer William Kentridge

 

Initial funding

Friedrich Ebert Foundation, South Africa Royal Danish Embassy, Pretoria Norwegian Consulate General, Cape Town

 

Special thanks to

Peter Bruckner, Ambassador of Denmark to South Africa. Dr Winfried Veit, Aud Lise Norheim, Rolf Berg, African National Congress, Office of the President, Department of International Affairs, Department of Information.

 

Andre Zaaiman, Tanya Slabbert, Amena Frense, Chris McGreal, Corrie Corfield, Catherine Meyburgh, Edi Wes, Deon Smith, Richard Atkinson, Erik Boel, Phillip van Niekerk, Claire Wright, Lauren Jacobson, Nicholas Hooyberg, Larry Shore, Thomas Rome.

 

"New Africa "

“Things Unspoken"

“Nelson Mandela”

 

* The Lion"

Written by Youssou N’Dour and Habib Faye. Published by Editions Virgins Musiques.

Performed by Youssou N’Dour and the Super Etoile de Dakar.

 

Copyright Jennifer Pogrund 1992

 

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