NELSON Mandela the South African peace activist who led the anti-apartheid movement and spent for 27 long years in prison finally died on Friday. Apartheid is a form of racial discrimination and segregation unleashed by the white African rulers who had colonised South Africa. Mandela became South Africa’s first black President in 1994 and the world’s anti-apartheid icon. He led South Africa’s transition from white-minority rule in the 1990s. Born in 1918 in the Eastern Cape, Mandela joined the African National Congress in 1943 and worked ceaselessly for his people. This Nobel Peace Prize laureate was one of the world’s most revered statesmen for preaching reconciliation despite being imprisoned for 27 years. Mandela stepped down from active politics in 2004 and made his last public appearance in 2010, at the football World Cup in South Africa. He was greatly influenced by Mahatma Gandhi’s model of passive resistance which won India its independence from the British in 1947. Mandela believed he could also end the apartheid regime by following in Gandhi’s footsteps.
Mandela’s fellow campaigner against apartheid, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, says he was not only an amazing gift to humankind but he also made South Africans and Africans in general feel good about being who they are. In a sense Mandela gave the Africans a sense of national pride and a patriotic fervour. He was a supporter of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission headed by Bishop Tutu because he wanted no revenge on white South Africans including those who had been at the helm of affairs and were therefore responsible for the regime of state perpetrated violence on black Africans. In Mandela’s death the people of South Africa have lost a leader of great vision and integrity. His book The Long Walk to Freedom is a personal account of his struggle against apartheid and also against his personal weaknesses. Mandela continues to inspire all those who believe in human rights and who strive for those rights despite great oppression.
