Nelson Mandela’s Life and Death Game of Chess
“Prisoner 46664, you must pull your finger out of your arse!” It was an unearthly screech, but it did not have the affect the pronouncer had intended. All his cajoling, his beatings, his threats, his invectives, seemed merely to bolster the resolve of his adversary, prisoner 46664.
The guard standing atop a high mound in the South African heat was Colonel Piet Badenhorst. As head commander at the Robben Island prison, he took particular pleasure in exercising his power over 46664, also known as, Nelson Mandela. Power, envy, hatred, indoctrination were all plausible causes for his particular disdain. Most of all, however, it was a frustration in his inability to cow the imperturbable Mandela. Worse, it infuriated Badenhurst that so many warders were going easy on Mandela. Badenhorst had even heard reports of guards walking to the closet and getting Mandela and his friends extra blankets whenever they asked.
Later, Mandela would explain that this was no accident. His strategy was to first befriend the low level unit warders, because they were in fact the most important person in a prisoner’s life. Were he to have asked the minister of justice to help procure blankets, there would have been no response; were he to seek help from the commissioner of prisons, the response would be that to provide more blankets was against regulation; were he to petition the head of the prison, the denial would be on the grounds that to provide Mandela with an extra blanket, meant he would have to do the same for all the other prisoners. But, befriend one’s warder, and he would simply walk down the hallway and fetch an extra blanket.
As head commander at the Robben Island prison, he took particular pleasure in exercising his power over 46664, also known as, Nelson Mandela.
By the end of his twenty-six year stint in prison for his anti-apartheid stance, Mandela’s power was near to that of Commander Badenhorst’s himself. Like a master chess-player, Mandela would lay out his final maneuvers and knock out the haughty king.
Mandela was fast become an international figure, the world was watching the island, and he was prepared to strike.
His first maneuver against Badenhorst was to utilize his many allies to smuggle word out that Badenhorst was abusing prisoners. Instantly, the South African government sent three investigative judges to discover whether the claims had any merit. Once on the island, the judges requested a private meeting with Mandela. To their surprise, Mandela requested that Badenhorst be allowed to attend the meeting.
Befriend one’s warder, and he would simply walk down the hallway and fetch an extra blanket.
This move was simply the fox preparing to strike. Mandela calmly recounted to the investigators a recent beating that had occurred on the prison. In the midst of his explanation Badenhorst interrupted in a rage and told Mandela that he should not speak about things he had not seen himself.
With the same demeanor that had fostered Badenhorst’s deepest enmity, Mandela did not respond; instead, in an even, measured tone. like a man reciting a laundry list, he stated “If he can threaten me here, in your presence, you can imagine what he does when you are not here.”
His strike rung true. Badenhorst was transferred from the island. Mandela’s power increased.
This move was simply the fox preparing to strike.
By the time Mandela was released from prison, he was so powerful that he was able to use his imprisonment as a bargaining chip to affect change in Africa. The government was now attempting to sell him on the idea of leaving the prison. His long prison stay taught him how to understand the decision making process within the prison system, allowing him, like a master architect, to know exactly where the foundational pillars were. Little by little, he surrounded and then demolished — or, rather wooed — the right people to achieve his ends.
