The day I met Mandela

Face to face with Madiba: Standard Group’s Editorial Director Chaacha Mwita  side by side with Apartheid hero Nelson Mandela in Nairobi when he visited Kenya in 2005.   [PHOTO: Jeniffer wachie/STANDARD]

By Chaacha Mwita

In my house, there is a picture on the wall that draws disbelief, admiration, and, on occasion, envy, from those who see it. It is a picture of the late Nelson ‘Madiba’ Mandela and I seated next to each other.

The picture was taken in October 2005 when Mandela accompanied his wife, Graça, who was heading a NEPAD delegation to an African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) meeting in Nairobi, Kenya.

Since he was here on holiday, all meetings were strictly private. Publicly, he only spoke once and briefly — at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) where he spoke of Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya’s first president: “We read about Kenyatta in the press and he showed us that we did not have to wait to be liberated. We could liberate ourselves”. The media understood these to be his last public utterances on that trip and they left him alone. I stubbornly refused.

Mandela was one of my heroes. He was in Kenya for two weeks. I couldn’t just sit and let the 14 days go by. I, therefore, pulled all the strings I could and got my name into a list of VIPs who would meet Mandela on the seventh floor lounge of Intercontinental Hotel, Nairobi, later that week.

Accompanied by a friend with marvellous South African connections, we arrived at the hotel just ahead of Mandela. We took the very next lift after his and arrived on the seventh floor at the same time as him. As we stepped out into the lounge, we seemed like part of his entourage — a status we enjoyed for the next hour or so.

The lounge was a chaotic mix of expectant people. I remember thinking, “Everybody wants a piece of Mandela.” Among those in the crowd were Michael Joseph (then CEO of Safaricom), Bethuel Kiplagat (then a peace mediator in Somalia), PR socialite Gina Din Kariuki, Willy Mutunga (now Kenya’s Chief Justice), and Anyang’ Nyong’o (then Planning Minister and official event host).

I literally rubbed shoulders with Madiba as we moved along the queue that had magically formed in the room. I heard most of his exchanges with his wife, host, aides and admirers. Graça particularly doted on him, referring to him only as Papa. “This way Papa... These (camera) lights are not good for Papa’s eyes... Papa needs to sit down...” and so on, she said.

Shortly, Mandela, who could not stand for long, was shown to a chair. Two others were placed next to it, one on either side, which Nyong’o and Kiplagat promptly occupied. Then someone asked everyone to queue and greet Madiba. By then, my anxiety at meeting Mandela was gone. I felt like I had known him for a long time. So, I stepped forward briskly and shook his hand smiling, and said: “Chaacha Mwita, I am a journalist.”

“A journalist?” Mandela asked shaking my hand firmly.

“A managing editor actually... of the Sunday Standard, one of the major newspapers in Kenya,” Nyong’o said helpfully.

“Ah! You seem a little young for such a position,” Mandela replied half-jokingly. I was 32.

“Yes, it gets stressful sometimes,” I replied.

“You know, journalism is much like politics. You do it in the name of the people. If you do it well, society gains; if you do it badly, society suffers. I hope you do it well,” he said and spontaneously patted my shoulder with his left hand. It felt good... marvellous, like the sealing of a kinship. I would later sit next to him for that famous photo.

From that encounter, I learnt a lot about Mandela, greatness and life. Mandela was real, simple, humble and ordinary. Despite his advanced age, he maintained a rare charm and lucidity. He gave one the reassurance that one had his full attention. His impact on me was instantaneous and, definitely, lifelong. I even picked up the habit of patting others on the shoulder: It says, this is genuine; this is kinship. And yes, President Barack Obama is right in his tribute to Mandela: Madiba was a “courageous and profoundly good” person… one who definitely “belongs to the ages”.

I am honoured to have met and exchanged a few words with him and hope for myself one of the favours God granted him: A graceful ageing!