Mandela: leader among leaders
Chief among African leaders, Nelson Mandela is one of few statesmen to have achieved almost universal respect around the world and across the political spectrum.
His role in fighting apartheid, his imprisonment on Robben Island - where he came to symbolise the struggle of oppressed people around the world - and his ability to steer South Africa through the crisis of its re-birth, earned him the international reputation of benevolent negotiator and quintessential peacemaker.
Imprisoned for 27 years for his opposition to apartheid, Mandela came out of prison in 1990 expressing no bitterness towards his tormentors. Instead, he championed reconciliation among South Africa’s polarised races, espousing the principles of nation-building and co-operative governance.
Mandela was one of the few leaders cabable of inspiring confidence both inside and outside the country. Few others would have managed to unite the disparate warring parties and steer South Africa from what
seemed to be the brink of civil war.
To some, Mandela has a near-omnipotent power at the negotiating table, carrying with him an indubitable moral authority and gentle but firm sense of fairness. In 1993, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, which he shared with former South African president FW de Klerk.
Mandela with Oprah. "Everyone wanted to have a photo opportunity with him: the Spice Girls, Princess Di, various heads of state and miscellaneous politicians ... the list is endless." (Desmond Tutu in his foreword to Mandela: a Life in Cartoons)
As South Africa’s first democratically elected President in 1994, Mandela tackled the challenge of uniting both the country’s racial groupings and a fragmented public service whose delivery
mandate was skewed in favour of the white population.
A significant milestone of the Mandela presidency was the exemplary constitution-making process, which delivered a document that is the envy of the democratic world.
Mandela is equally known for taking a strong stand against the giant world powers – especially in defence of Africa. As President, he was unrestrained in embracing the ANC’s former allies, such as Libya’s Muammar Gadaffi and Palestinian Liberation Organisation leader Yasser Arafat, in spite of criticism from the United States.
His position has also made for fluid relationships with both Russia and China, former communist allies of the ANC.
Since handing over the reigns of the presidency to Thabo Mbeki in 1999 – Mbeki had been groomed for the job since 1994 – Mandela has played a key role as middleman in crisis-hit areas.
In particular, he has sealed a peace deal with the warring factions in Burundi, after replacing Tanzania’s Julius Nyerere – an African leader of similar status - as chief negotiator.
He was also called upon to hammer out a peace agreement in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and although this was thwarted by the intransigence of the warring parties, Mbeki has taken up the task, and South Africa has recently sponsored a 45-day conference of DRC groups aimed at finding a political solution to the war that has been raging in the vast central African country for more than four years.
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