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Former
President Daniel arap Moi with South African
President Nelson Mandela in Nairobi |
Murumbi replied saying that for
diplomatic reasons, the ANC would not be allowed to have its own base as
its rival, the PAC, was already vibrant in Tanzania. The PAC had
captured the imagination of most Africans as it was entirely black-led
while the ANC had a mix of Whites, Indians, Coloureds and Communists. It
is perhaps for this reason that Mandela had met Odinga, believed to be
sympathetic to Communists, and not the Prime Minister.
Mphalele
hoped that this ‘freedom movement’ based in Kenya would have Kenyan
members organise protests and demonstrations against South Africa,
tackle the refugee problem so that it did not become a burden for them
and build a general anti-apartheid mood in relation to South Africa. In
Murumbi’s reply to Mboya, he mentioned that the cash-strapped Kenya
African National Union would not be able to assist financially but he
would consult with Mzee [Jomo Kenyatta] to see if anything could be
done. Nothing seems to have come of it.
BLOWING HOT AND COLD
The
government was in correspondence with many heads of state but never the
ANC. Murumbi, who served as minister and then Vice President between
1962 and 1966, chronicled most of these correspondences. Government
officials seem not to have officially travelled to South Africa.
Despite
the independence governments’ apathy to the South African cause,
individuals and groups of Kenyans had tried to play a part in the
struggle.
The Committee of African Organisations in
London formed in 1958 planned a common line of attack on oppressive
regimes on the continent. Among the members of the organisation were the
Kenyan Students Association and the East and Central African Study
Circle.
On June 26, 1958, they organised a meeting to
draw the attention of the British public to the oppressive nature of the
South African government. They held a vigil outside South Africa House
in London, distributed copies of boycott leaflets and urged British
citizens to boycott all South African imports.
During
the deadlock between ANC and the Inkatha Freedom Party in 1994, a little
known Kenyan was one of the people crucial to the talks: Prof
Washington Jalang’o Okumu, a Kenyan mediator, influenced Chief
Mangosuthu Buthelezi’s decision to resume negotiations with Mandela’s
side.
After Mandela became president, he travelled to
Kenya more than once, but it never seemed to thaw relations much. From
being snubbed at the airport to the sudden evacuation of the South
African High Commissioner from his Nairobi residence in 2004, the
subtleties of personal interaction that would have assuaged feelings
injured over the years just were not there.
President Mwai Kibaki first visited South Africa in August 2003.
Mandela
later visited Kenya as a retired president. During his October 2005
visit with wife Graca Machel, Mandela praised the Government for
consolidating peace and opening up democratic space. He said Kenya was a
good example of an emerging democracy which should be emulated by other
countries in the region. He also praised President Kibaki’s leadership
and the Government for speeding up development.
He
cited the free primary education programme as key to empowering the
Kenyan youth to cope with modern challenges. President Kibaki said he
and other African leaders were inspired by Mandela’s wisdom and
leadership, especially with regard to the liberation of South Africa and
promotion of peace and freedom globally.
“You have
done Africa proud. We are greatly inspired by your endless efforts to
make the world a better place by spearheading peace and reconciliation
as a way of restoring human dignity,” President Kibaki told Mandela.
Yet,
as two independent nations, Kenya and South Africa have had uneasy
relations cluttered by issues such as the lopsided trade imbalance
between them, to competition for first-among-equals status in peace
making and international relations.
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