By: Leslie Koroma
Nelson Mandela's legacy in sports
Division, suspicion and rumors of a race war festered in the nation as his first term of office wore on into a second year. In 1995 with South Africa selected to host the Rugby World Cup, Mandela saw an opportunity to unify his nation through sports. An avid sports man himself and a pugilist at heart he seized upon a moment in time to bring his nation together and strengthen the bond of what would become a rainbow nation.
In a now very well documented series of events on the lead up to the Rugby World Cup, to which a detailed documentary film by ESPN and a film by Clint Eastwood (Invictus) is now credited, Mandela solicited and
Mandela proved he was the better man and a more graceful and benevolent a soul than most thought, following in the footsteps of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr, he embraced the principles of non-violence to achieve his goal of leading and healing a divided nation.
In 1994 he was elected to the highest office in the land, as President of South Africa;
…. What an improbable story and journey.
The world watched and witnessed the ascension of a man from the depths and despair of human existence in the pits of hell of a Robben Island prison cell to the glory of power and grandeur of the halls and luxuries of the palaces of the highest office in South Africa.
African Sports Monthly Feature