Nelson Mandela

The world pays homage

African Business presents a small sample of the millions of words from
around the world that have been expressed to mark the passing of the
greatest figure we have ever known.

Cyril Ramaphosa,
former SecretaryGeneral of the ANC

Ahmed Kathrada,
fellow defendant at
the Rivonia Trial and
fellow prisoner on
Robben Island
Madala, as you lightheartedly started calling
me some years ago, it both grieves me and
inspires me to write this to you now, with the
hour of your death still a fresh wound in our
peoples' hearts.

It matters not how strait the gate.

How charged with punishments the
scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
Ban Ki-Moon,
Secretary-General of
the United Nations

This grandest of all

baobab trees left deep
roots that reach across
the planet.
Nelson Mandela showed us the way with
a heart larger than this stadium and an
infectious smile that could easily power its
lights. In fact, it lit up the world.
Nelson Mandela was more than one of
the greatest leaders of our time. He was one
ofthe greatest teachers. And he taught by
example. He sacrificed so much and was
willing to give up everything - for freedom
and equality, for democracy and justice.

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Bill Clinton,
former President
of the United States

Nelson Mandela taught us so much about

so many things. Perhaps the greatest lesson,
especially for young people, is that, while
bad things do happen to good people, we
still have the freedom and responsibility to
decide how to respond to injustice, cruelty
and violence and how they will affect our
spirits, hearts and minds.
In his 27 years of imprisonment, Mandela endured physical and emotional abuse,
isolation and degradation. His trials purified his spirit and clarified his vision, giving
him the strength to be a free man even
behind bars, and to remain free of anger
and hatred when he was at last released.
Mandela's enduring legacy is that,
under a crushing burden of oppression he
saw through differences, discrimination
and destruction to embrace our common
humanity.
Thanks to his life and work, the rest of
us are closer to embracing it too.

The Mandela that we

came to know, admire
and love - even before
we had seen him - was
a person whose entire being was dedicated
to the plight of humanity. This dedication
was most directly evident in his struggle
for the liberation of South Africa's black
population: the African people, Coloureds
and Indians.
As discrimination, oppression and
exploitation defy national boundaries, so
too did Mandela's message echo across the
globe.
FW de Klerk,
former President of
South Africa

Mandela has walked

a long road, and now
stands at the top ofthe
hill. A traveller would
sit and admire the view. But the man of
destiny knows that beyond this hill lies
another and another. The journey is never
complete. As he contemplates the next hill,
I hold out my hand to Mr Mandela - in
friendship and in cooperation.
Nelson Mandela's courage, charm and
commitment to reconciliation and to the
Constitution were an inspiration not only
for South Africans but for the whole world.
I believe that his example will live on and
that it will continue to inspire all
South Africans to achieve his vision of
non-racialism, justice, human dignity and
equality for all.
African Business I January 2014

South Africa, the world

thanks youfor sharing
Nelson Mandela with us
BarackObama

Kofi Annan,
former Secretary-General
of the United Nations

Barack Obama,

Jacob Zuma, President of South Africa

South Africa needed a leader like Madiba to

help us through a difficult transition from
It is hard to eulogise any man - to capture
apartheid to a free democratic society.
in words not just the facts and the dates
People often ask me what difference one
In the bumpy road to our historicfirstfree
that make a life, but the essential truth of a
person can make in the face of injustice,
conflict, human rights violations, mass pov- person - their private joys and sorrows; the and fair elections, there are many times that
quiet moments and unique qualities that il- he brought our nation back from the brink
erty and disease.
luminate someone's soul. How much harder of catastrophe.
I answer by citing the courage, tenacHe leaves behind a deeply entrenched legto do so for a giant of history, who moved
ity, dignity and magnanimity of Nelson
acy of freedom, human rights and democracy
a nation toward justice, and in the process
Mandela. The most important lesson he
in our country. In his honour we commit
moved billions around the world.
leaves us with, however, is not about the
ourselves to continue building a nation based
promise of visionary leadership. Rather, I
He was not a bust made of marble, he
on the democratic values of human dignity,
believe, it is about the potential within each was a man offleshand blood, a son and a
equality and freedom.
of us individually - men, women, citizens
husband, a father and a friend, that is why
everywhere - to help build just and cohewe have learned so much from him and that
sive societies. Mandela may have been the
is why we can learn from him still.
It is in deep mourning that I pay
best known and reveredfigurein the world
Nothing he achieved was inevitable, in
my respects to an extraordinary
but he was the most gentle, good-humoured the arc of his life, we see a man who earned person, probably one of the greatest
and mischievous of icons. As UN Secrehis place in history through struggle and
humanists of our time and a dear
tary-General, I got used to being greeted by shrewdness and persistence and faith.
friend of mine
him, with a big smile, as 'Boss'.
He not only embodied Ubuntu; he
Sepp Blatter, Fifa president
taught millions to find that truth within
themselves. It took a man like Madiba to
Morgan Freeman,
free not just the prisoner, but the jailor as
Gordon Brown,
US actor who played
well; to show that you must trust others so
former Prime
Mandela in Invictus
that they may trust you; to teach that reconMinister of the
The world lost one of the
ciliation is not a matter of ignoring a cruel
United Kingdom
true giants of the past
We'd both lost children past, but a means of confronting it with
century. Nelson Mandeinclusion, generosity and truth. He changed
and we had what was
la was a man of incomlaws, but also hearts.
not a statesman-toparable honour, unconquerable strength, and
statesman conversation but a father-toAnd when the night grows dark, think
father conversation.
of Madiba, and the words that brought him unyielding resolve - a saint to many, a hero
to all who treasure liberty, freedom and the
That was Mandela all the time - the per- comfort within the four walls of a cell:
dignity of humankind.
sonal care he took in his relationships, his
It matters not how strait the gate,
great sense of humour .... he was just a very
How charged with punishments the scroll, As we remember his triumphs, let us, in
his memory, not just reflect on how far we've
complete and warm human.
I am the master of my fate:
come, but on how far we have to go. Madiba
I am the captain of my soul.
may no longer be with us, but his journey
continues on with me and with all of us.

24

President of the United States

African Business I January 2014

Usain Bolt,
Jamaican sprinter and
Olympic champion
One of the greatest human beings ever.
May your soul rest in peace. The world's
greatest fighter.

Hamid Karzai,
President of
Afghanistan
Nelson Mandela has
passed away, an icon
of our time, for man's
dignity, equality and
freedom, a selfless human being, who
struggled not only for the black South Africans against Apartheid, but for the dignity
of all of us. History will throw a very kind
light on him. Mandela deserves it.

Bill Gates,
founder of Microsoft
You can see the power
of his example in one of
my favourite photographs ever. My dad
went to visit him in
South Africa along with President Jimmy
Carter. President Mandela took them to a
clinic that cared for infants born with HIV.
As reporters and photographers looked on,
he picked up one of the babies and held it
in his arms. President Carter and my dad
did the same. The next day, the image of all
three men cradling HIV-positive babies was
broadcast throughout South Africa.
It sent a powerful message: that people did
not need to be afraid of touching a person
with HIV.
African Business I January 2014

Desmond Tutu, Archbishop Emeritus

and fellow Nobel Peace laureate
He was amazing. Who will forget his support for the retention of the Springbok emblem for rugby, although it was much hated
by blacks? And that breath-taking gesture
when he walked on to the turf at Ellis Park
wearing a Springbok jersey to present Franois Pienaar the trophy for beating the All
Blacks in the final of the 1995 Rugby World
Cup, with the huge crowd of mainly Afrikaner spectators chanting "Nelson, Nelson
..." And who could have believed that we
would live to see the day when blacks in
Soweto would be celebrating a Springbok
victory, as they did in 1995?
Madiba was an amazing gift to us and to
the world. He believed fervently that a leader
is there for the led, not for self-aggrandisement. He was like a magician with a magic
wand, turning us into this glorious multicoloured rainbow people.

Dilma Rousseff, President of Brazil

His fight has become a model, not only for
Africa, but for all those who struggle for
justice, freedom and equality.
The example of this great leader will guide
all those who fight for social justice and peace
in the world.

Angela Merkel,
Chancellor of
Germany
Mandela led by shining
example and his political legacy of peaceful
resistance and the
rejection of racism will continue to be an
inspiration for people around the world.
Several years in prison could not break
Nelson Mandela or embitter him - out of
his message of reconciliation came a new,
better South Africa.

Raila Odinga, former

Prime Minister of
Kenya
Nelson Mandela was
one ofthose rare
human beings that we
are persistently looking for and we only come across once in a
century or a generation, and only if we are
lucky. We are lucky to have lived in his time
and to have witnessed him rise to become
a legend while he still lived. In Mandela's
death, the world has lost a great symbol
for what humanity can achieve with good
intentions and persistence.

He was my hero, my friend. Let us

carry on his work. He was one of the
most influential people in my life.

Muhammad AM,
former world
heavyweight boxing
champion
What I will remember most about Mr
y, Mandela is that he was
a man whose heart, soul and spirit could
not be contained or restrained by racial
and economic injustices, metal bars or the
burden of hate and revenge. He taught us
forgiveness on a grand scale.

Pele, football legend

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