On the trail of Mandela’s long walk
Mbongeni Mguni | Tuesday December 16, 2025 11:28
The solemnity of 8115 Vilakazi Street must have something to do with its walls. Bullet ridden from frequent casual shots taken as part of intimidation campaigns by apartheid patrols, and also burnt by the same police, the red-bricked house is a sanctuary for deep reflection and meditation.
Unlike other monuments, guests at 8115 generally tour in silent respect or keep their chatter to a gentle whisper. The world-shaking impact of what those walls witnessed over the years, the tears of a family hounded and torn apart and the enduring legacy of the African courage fostered at 8115, is something that demands that one keeps their mouth shut and simply takes in the history.
House 8115 is heavy on the spirit, with the exhibitions of Mandela’s correspondence with international leaders, his various awards, memorabilia and the heart-wrenching black and whites of Winnie capturing her own lonely, overlooked and underappreciated struggle. In fact, a full length portrait of Mandela playing with his dog offers a welcome shifting of the mood, from numbing to a lighter look at the human side of the icon.
As tourists trudge silently through the small rooms, everyone is engaged in their own reflections. Mine are on what Mandela would make of a world where 31 years after South Africa’s independence and 12 years after his death, Africans are still fighting to have their voice heard on the global stage of politics and economics.
You see, my visit to Vilakazi Street recently was part of a side-tour of the B20, the business forum of the G20 Summit that took place in Johannesburg last month. As part of a small team, we retraced the route taken by Hector Pietersen, the 12-year old murdered during the famous Soweto uprising in 1976. We went right to spot he was shot, then along the path he was bravely carried by Mbuyisa Makhubo for help, eventually dying and becoming a global rallying point for the fight against the egregious injustices of apartheid.
Round the corner and up the road we went to 957A Vilakazi Street, the home of the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu, also igniting a flurry of pondering and emotions.
But it was at Mandela House that my thoughts settled. South Africa’s hosting of the G20 caused a global storm with the US unhappy about the theme (Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability), South Africa’s opening up of the event to more Africans and many other issues.
Threats were issued in the week we were in Johannesburg, some form of ‘coercion by absentia’ took place as some leaders declined to attend the Leaders Summit and in general, an air of tension or determination was apparent, depending on which side of the dispute you stood.
This is the backdrop for why, at 8115, my thoughts settled on what Mandela would make of the whole thing. In his volumes of letters, it’s clear Mandela was a strong believer in not only pan-African unity, but the power of global cooperation. In fact, to a certain extent, the global distaste and condemnation of apartheid hastened its end or made its continuation uncomfortable for those who insisted on its existence.
You see, the global order is rapidly changing. It would be easy to say this is a form of deglobalisation where the multilateral order of the post-Second World War is giving way to more walls and tariffs being put up, as countries look more at the sole good rather than the common.
President Donald Trump’s America First policies are read as a rebuke of multilateralism or the philosophy where many countries with different views and goals work together to combat global issues such as inequality, climate change, radicalism, poor governance and others.
It would be easy, but it would not be accurate. From within the walls of 8115, my view was more that from the US and West-led post-war era, more super-powers particularly on the other side of the globe, are pushing for a multipolar world. China, India, Russia and the South East Asian giants all want a piece of the pie, diplomatically, militarily, economically, politically and in many other ways.
America’s policies may be opening the space for these actors to flex their weight more than before, but certainly they have not been resting on their laurels waiting.
And where is Africa in all this? Again, it would be easy to say the continent is watching from the sidelines as the powers wrestle, as it has done before from the Industrial Revolution onwards.
But again, that is not only too easy, but not accurate. Rather, Africa has become the theatre of global attention, the continent of the future with the greatest untapped natural resources, including a youthful population and the economic space for growth that comes with being also the most under-developed region.
And so, powers such as China, India, Russia are all looking for influence and handholds in Africa, together with other emerging players such as Turkey and the Persian Gulf nations. The rise of the multipolar world and the pushback against the US/Western led era can be seen in the more frequent discussions of global ‘dedollarisation’, which is essentially the efforts by governments, to reduce the use of the US dollar for reserves and as the currency of global trade.
However, studied carefully, the US’ America First policy resonates with the approach by its rival superpowers. America, rather than being seen as pursuing its “splendid isolation” posture of the 1930s, is actively hunting for strategic economic partnerships in Africa, particularly around the globally sought critical minerals.
In March, Trump issued an executive order categorising critical minerals such as copper and others as national security assets and establishing a Supply Chain Resiliency initiative. The same order also directed US government financial agencies to fund exploration and home production of the specified critical minerals. The US agency tasked with financing this effort has already offered $375 million to two projects in Botswana.
Africa’s leaders, to some extent, appear to be developing strategies to ensure that they more gainfully benefit from the global attention, whether for critical minerals or any other resource or sector. However, they do not appear to have a working continent-wide approach, but rather each country is engaging with the superpowers on a deal-by-deal basis, an approach that could lead to the same value stripping of the past centuries.
For critical minerals, Heads of State did adopt the Africa Green Minerals Strategy at the African Union’s ordinary session in February 2025, but that paper does not compel individual countries to change their minerals investment laws when dealing with the superpowers.
Outside of critical minerals, the superpowers have been able to carve up Africa on a deal-by-deal basis, often riding on some countries’ poor governance and corruption, as well as a lack of institutions and capacity. The continent also continues to struggle with its own demons such as coups, human rights abuses and rubber-stamp supranationals.
Exiting 8115, I wonder whether Mandela would be encouraged or disappointed with the way Africa has continued in his absence. Has anything changed in the way the continent engages with the world? Certainly, more attention is being paid to the continent, but how is the continent engaging with this attention for the benefit of its citizens? How is the continent engaging with itself?
Elsewhere, these types of thoughts would be difficult to condense, but at 8115, they come easily, helped by the knowledge that another man had much weightier thoughts within the same red-brick walls.
He and many around him had the courage to make a change. Others died for that change. Do today’s Africans have the same boldness? Do you?