“It always seems impossible until it’s done” said the great man Nelson Mandela and he did it all. He was a lawyer, freedom fighter, guerrilla movement leader, president, Nobel peace prize winner, inspirational leader and a global ambassador for peace. The man said what he believed and did what he said. Another one of the quotes, that supports his life is, “It is what we make out of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another.” The way he inspired the South African rugby team to win an unlikely World Cup in 1995, has many lessons for present day business leaders and country heads.
In the movie ‘Invictus’ directed by Clint Eastwood, could not believe the moment when President Mandela walked onto the Johannesburg pitch at the final game of the 1995 Rugby World Cup dressed in the jersey of the Springboks captain, encouraging black South Africans to rally around the once-hated all white national rugby team, inspiring the team to win the World Cup. He inspired a fractured nation of blacks and whites, to seek a united future.
He had courage, conviction, resilience, persistence and many more characteristics. His biggest legacy would be his willingness to forgive and forget with no bitterness. This helped peacefully end an era of white domination and make reconciliation happen in South Africa.
His brief profile will not do justice to what he stood for, but is good enough to give goose bumps to anyone;
* Born, July 18, 1918
* Mandela enrolls at the University of Witwatersrand to obtain a law degree.
* In 1947 Mandela forms the African National Congress Youth League, of which he is elected secretary. Mandela is elected president of the ANC Youth League in 1951.
* Mandela and Oliver Tambo open the first black law firm in South Africa in Johannesburg in 1952.
* In June, Mandela leads a campaign of civil disobedience against the country’s racist apartheid laws. He and 19 others are arrested for their role in the “Defiance Campaign” and are given a suspended prison sentence.
* In April 1960, decides to form an underground guerrilla military wing called Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation). Mandela, who is now vice president of the ANC, is appointed the group’s first leader.
* Mandela leaves South Africa illegally in January 1962 and is caught and sentenced to five years in prison upon his return in July.
* On June 11, 1964, Mandela and seven others are convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. He is sent to Robben Island, where he serves the first 18 of his 27 years in prison.
* Newly elected president F.W. De Klerk legalizes the ANC, relaxes apartheid laws, and orders the release from jail of Mandela and the other political prisoners. Mandela walks out of prison a free man on Feb. 11, 1990.
* Mandela and F W de Klerk are awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Dec. 10, 1993, for their efforts to bring stability, equality, and true democracy to their country.
Elected President in 1994
* Uses rugby to unite a nation. hosts and, against all odds, wins — the Rugby World Cup in 1995.
* Mandela retires after one term as president in 1999, instead of claiming the position for life.
* Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s first black president, died Thursday, Dec. 5, 2013. Some of the inspirational leaders like Gandhi and Martin Luther King did not survive assassinations to live a full life like Mandela. May be an indication that no bitterness could be created against Mandela.
“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.” ― Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom
Suren Rajakarier/ Leadership 