Mandela, punishment and the tragedy of forgetting

Mandela, punishment and the tragedy of forgetting

Nelson Mandela, in the Long Walk To Freedom, demanded that black people “forget the past“. This comes after white people, who ruled South Africa for more than 300 years, used their political power to sustain a racialised rule of law, where being black was equivalent to being a nothing that exists — a kaffir.  For Mandela, forgetting the past is the prerequisite for the embracement of democratic triumph over the horrors of apartheid. This spirit …