Knowing Mandela

The passing away of Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela in December 2013, aged ninety five, stirred up a renewed interest in this giant of a man.

Best remembered for his 27 years spent in prison as a political detainee, Mandela championed the rights of his people, and fought a good fight against the entrenched Apartheid (racial segregation) system of South Africa.

To learn about his life story, particularly from the early 1960s onwards is a study of the country's dramatic transformation from a racialist-based polity to one where multi-culturalism is officially legislated. After reading all the tributes to the man, I purchased a slim volume which served me well as an immediate introduction to Mandela - not just his story, but the inner man as well.

Interestingly, John Carlin's book, written with his journalistic flair but also transcended by a deep estimate of his subject, was printed in August of 2013, three months before Mandela's death. I highly recommend the book to anyone seeking a brief overview of the man and his convictions.

I quickly learnt that John Carlin had also written a previous book on Mandela in 2008, Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game which made a Nation, which was quickly made into a movie, titled Invictus. It outlined how Mandela, recently elected as the first black President of the new, reformatted South Africa 1994, managed to bring a country together during the 1995 Rugby World Cup, which was eventually won by South Africa (against the odds).

The remarkable part of the story is the manner in which Mandela convinced the majority black population to support what was up-till-then a whites-only game, AND also win over the confidence of the white population to a good extent. While no fairy tale, the continued efforts to rectify decades of racialist government policies and attitudes has been a measured success.

Both the book and the film are excellent done. Well worth the time. Starring the illustrious Morgan Freeman and ably supported by Matt Damon, the film does very well to set in sharp focus the issue of racial discrimination in sport and society.

Read the Guardian's review of Playing the Enemy here.

Interested to hear Nelson Mandela articulate his intelligently-crafted convictions on a world stage? Watch him being interviewed in 1990, just after his release, by the American TV host Ted Koppel. This interview was one of the first public viewing of Mandela that the world had after 27 years of incarceration.

I have often wondered how Mandela, having been so mistreated by the Apartheid system for so many decades, could seek to reconcile with his enemies. His willingness and touching ability to win over even those who were his prison guards (whites) is a sobering lesson on the power of forgiveness.

After his passing, one of Mandela's personal bodyguards came on national television to share how Mandela made a deep impact on his life. This is an emotional interview given by a grown, military man, Rory Stein.

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