Nelson Mandela, the first black president of South Africa and leader of the anti-apartheid movement, has passed away on December 5, 2013, at the age of 95. The current South African President Zuma announced, “Our nation has lost its greatest son. Although we knew that this day would come, nothing can diminish our sense of a profound and enduring loss…what made Nelson Mandela great was precisely what made him human. We saw in him what we seek in ourselves.” President Zuma’s U.S. complement, President Obama, said, “We’ve lost one of the most influential, courageous and profoundly good human beings that any of us will share time with on this Earth. He no longer belongs to us – he belongs to the ages.”
In 1964, Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment at Robben Island for leading the African National Congress against the apartheid first with peace, and then with violence. After 27 years of imprisonment, Mandela was released due to the escalating protests for his freedom and FW de Klerk’s, the white president of South Africa at the time, decision to unban the ANC and release Mandela. FW de Klerk described Nelson Mandela as a “unifier…[with] a remarkable lack of bitterness.” Despite his imprisonment for 27 years, Mandela preached peace and reconciliation among all the races of South Africa rather than initiating a bloodbath between the blacks and whites that many believed was imminent after Mandela’s release from prison. Mandela knew that the way to unify and help progress in South Africa was through peaceful and just methods. During the 2004 celebration of a decade of democracy in South Africa, Mandela announced, “We were expected by the world to self-destruct in the bloodiest civil war along racial grounds. Not only did we [F.W. de Klerk and Nelson Mandela] avert such racial conflagration, we created amongst ourselves one of the most exemplary and progressive nonracial and nonsexist democratic orders in the contemporary world.” Mandela’s superb accomplishment of creating a system of democracy, peace, and justice in a nation on the verge of civil war marks him as the one of the greatest reconcilers the world has ever seen.
In 1990, immediately following his release, he continued the movement to end the apartheid and racial segregation. F.W. de Klerk and Nelson Mandela shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 for “transitioning the nation from a system of segregation.” Nelson Mandela and the ANC’s efforts were rewarded with the first multi-racial election in 1994, when many of the South Africans got their first sweet taste of democracy. Nelson Mandela was elected president on April 29, 1994, making history as the first black president of South Africa. He set a precedent for all the following presidents of South Africa, similar to George Washington. After serving one term, Mandela stepped down from office in 1999 but continued to be involved with peace negotiations throughout Africa, as well as securing the nation of South Africa as the host of the 2010 World Cup.
Nelson Mandela’s fight for freedom and equality was a lifelong journey that leaves the nation of South Africa indebted to his magnanimity. He describes this journey as, “After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb. I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come. But I can rest only for a moment, for with freedom comes responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not yet ended.”
