TRIBUTE TO MADIBA
Mandela was born on July 18, 1918, in the Transkei, South Africa. In his
autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, he recalled his childhood as a simple,
joyful time. Tapping into the culture of black resistance, Mandela helped
organize demonstrations against the country's system of racial segregation. ”It is
an idea for which I hope to live for and to see realized but my Lord, if it needs
be, it is an idea for which I am prepared to die," Mandela said, when he went
on trial for sabotage in 1963. He escaped the gallows but was sentenced to life
in prison. He would spend the next 27 years behind bars. In prison he became a
symbol of the anti-apartheid movement and the focal point of international
campaigns to do away with racial segregation in South Africa.
South African President F.W. de Klerk made several offers to free him but
Mandela would accept only an unconditional release. In 1990, de Klerk did just
that. The four years between Mandela's release from prison and South Africa's
first democratic elections in 1994 were tumultuous but Mandela's paternal,
grandfatherly presence had a calming effect across the country. In 1993, he and
de Klerk shared the Nobel Peace Prize. After winning the 1994 election,
Mandela reached out to South Africans of all races to help build an equitable and
prosperous country. Possibly his greatest political move was his decision to serve
only one term as president. This was partly because he was 80, but also because
he said he wanted to establish a tradition of contested, democratic elections. He is
regarded as the saviour of the country.