Many in Grahamstown remember the day in 1996 when a presidential motorcade took former president Nelson Mandela through the town, accompanied by the sound of the Cathedral bells, joyously ringing as Mandela was honoured as Freeman in the City of Grahamstown.
Many in Grahamstown remember the day in 1996 when a presidential motorcade took former president Nelson Mandela through the town, accompanied by the sound of the Cathedral bells, joyously ringing as Mandela was honoured as Freeman in the City of Grahamstown.
People dropped everything. Offices, schools and lecture halls emptied, as people flocked to greet Mandela. "It was good, lots of excitement, lots of joyousness. You could see it in the way the people expressed themselves," said Black Sash Provincial Advocacy Manager Jonathan Walton, who was serving on the Transitional Local Council at the time.
There was widespread enthusiasm for the historic event, held as it was only two years after the first democratic elections. "The mood on the day was indescribable," Walton said. The town, like the country as a whole, had finally emerged from an era riven with protest and repression. The time when the majority were deprived of the freedom to vote was still fresh in people's minds.
"To witness Nelson Mandela be a recipient of the Freedom of the City, a city trapped in a colonial history, was marvellous. "Hopefully the children who witnessed that event remember it." Walton said those who had served on the transitional local council at the time included Supreme Court of Appeal chairperson, Justice Lex Mpati; Makana Municipality’s internal audit committee chairman, Chris Mbekela and Springbok Logistics Manager at SA Rugby, Charles Wessels.
Mandela was the ninth freeman to receive this honour on 16 May 1996. He followed South African poet and writer, Guy Butler, who was born and educated in Cradock and attended Rhodes University. An article in Grocott's Mail (Friday,17 May 1996) tells of Mandela arriving by Air Force helicopter from Port Elizabeth.
He was met by mayor of Grahamstown, Mzukisi Mpahlwa, Premier of the Eastern Cape, Raymond Mhlaba, and an SANDF Commander who wasn't named in the article. Mhlaba, an active South African Communist Party member and an Umkhonto we Sizwe commander in the early 1960, who spent 25 years of his life in prison with Nelson Mandela, was quoted telling the former president, "This is your country, we are your people. Feel comfortable with us all."
Before the processions began at a stadium, Mandela travelled through M street, which is now known as Mandela Street. According to former councillor Michael Whisson, also on the TLC at the time the stadium was "full of very happy people, with singing and dancing, including the President himself".
Whisson added, "A group of Indian girls performed a stately dance for him, and he insisted on shaking each of them by the hand to thank them. One or two seemed about to faint with excitement as he greeted them." The procession moved up the hill to reopen the restored 1820 Settlers National Monument.
Whisson tells of a packed theatre welcoming Mandela, who was escorted by St Andrew's College Pipers. "He walked on to the stage and noticed Guy Butler, the last person to be made a Freeman, sitting at the end of the front row. "He paused, went to the edge of the stage and bent forward to grasp Guy's hand in greeting.
He had a scripted speech, but soon began speaking from the heart – acknowledging all who had contributed to the peaceful transformation. "The audience was electrified – it was an unforgettable moment of hope and reconciliation," Whisson said.
Mpahlwa was quoted saying that the council's decision to bestow its highest honour on Mandela had the blessing of the majority, which was illustrated by the numbers that had come to witness this event. The illuminated scroll that was presented to Mandela stated that the decision to confer the honour on him, the unanimous resolution of the Transitional Local Council, was to pay homage to him for his service to the people of South Africa – "a man of towering moral structure" and sought to honour "his contribution to peace, prosperity and harmony among all who live, labour and seek educational and cultural enrichment within our City and beyond".
The words on the scroll went on to say, "[He] sacrificed his legal career to devote himself to the struggle for a just society. Who suffered imprisonment 27 years and upon his release, he led our country to its first experience of democratic government."
The scroll was reportedly designed by Michael Ginn and the words on the scroll were written by Whisson. Ginn used leaved branches ( "hlahla" in Xhosa) as part of the design which were taken from the Cape Chestnut, one of the trees that grew in High Street.
Register of the freemen of Grahamstown (as published in Grocott's Mail on Friday,17 May 1996) 1. Josephine Ethel (Josie) Wood – July 2, 1962 2. The First City Regiment – September 4, 1962 3. Charles Henry Wood – July 27, 1966 4. The 6 SA Infantry Battalion – March 31, 1967 5. Johannes Nicholas Malan – April 23, 1970 6. Jacobus Johannes Fouché – July 15, 1974 7. Harry Frederick Oppenheimer – February 9, 1983 8. Frederick Guy Butler – October 25, 1993 9. Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela – May 16, 1996
