This extraordinary man, sentenced to life imprisonment in 1962, who served 27 years in jail for his beliefs, walked free, without bitterness, to lead the rebuilding of South Africa as a multi-ethnic nation founded on human rights and the rule of law.

The cause for which Nelson Mandela fought throughout his life was based on the hopes and dreams of South Africans who were excluded from full rights of citizenship and repressed by the evil force of apartheid.

The freedom movement built a mass base not only at home, but also through global solidarity networks around the world.

Those networks extended to New Zealand.

South Africa was far away, and was probably best known to New Zealanders for the strength of its rugby teams.

Many New Zealanders loved the game, too. When the rugby ties with South Africa became the focus for New Zealand's anti-apartheid movement, many were reluctant to acknowledge that accepting engagement with racially segregated teams amounted to condoning the regime that mandated them. Continue reading.

Helen Clark is the former Prime Minister of New Zealand, and is the United Nations Development Programme Administrator.

Source: The Listener

Image: Mandela in 1994 looks through the bars of the Robben Island cell he was held in for 18 years Jurgen Schadeberg/Getty Images

For several years, even as your health faltered irreparably and rumours of your increasing fragility could no longer be denied, the world refused to release its hold.

We said prayers, sent love and held vigils until we had brought our Madiba — a man who had lived longer than most — back to life. Such was our belief in the immortality of our hero that we were incapable of relinquishing you.

But now, despite our efforts, you are gone.

I said my own private goodbye almost two years ago, when I visited Robben Island on a trip back to my homeland. As the ferry skated across Table Bay, a cold wind blew in through one of its hatches.

A young man made everyone laugh when he said, 'Ladies and gentlemen, we will vote to have this door open or closed. This is a free and fair election — you will only be allowed to vote once!'

I had left the country a decade earlier, and was touched by the benign, self-deprecating tone so many black South Africans now adopted when referencing the past. The country's social undertone had transformed so radically I felt I could pluck a chunk of it from the atmosphere and take it home with me. Continue reading.

Catherine Marshall grew up in South Africa under apartheid. She is a journalist and travel writer.

Source: Eureka Street

Image: Stephen Davies

He has a personally signed copy of 'A Long Walk to Freedom'.

His wife bought it for him as a Father's Day gift when she was working as a school nurse at St Mary's Diocesan School for Girls in Pretoria.

"Mandela's granddaughter was at the school and she saw it sitting on my wife's desk and asked why it was there."

"She took it home and he signed it for me."

On the day of Mandela's famous inauguration in 1994, between 100 and 150 of Olivier's students were used as ushers for the celebration.

This was done in recognition of the Catholic school's decision to open their doors to all races after the Soweto uprising in 1976.

"After we opened doors in 76, we were directly targeted by the state," Olivier said.

"None of the state schools would play sport against my college and the government was actively working to shut down Catholic schools in the 80s and early 90s, until the whole mood changed with Mandela."

Source

• Stuff.co.nz
• Image: Hindustan Times

Lapsley was active in support of the liberation struggle in South Africa and was critically injured in an assassination attempt by parcel bomb in Zimbabwe in 1990. He lost both hands and an eye.

Since then he has dedicated himself to the reconciliation process and heads a trauma healing centre in Cape Town.

Two exhibitions of photos by Auckland photographer John Miller - entitled "Redeeming the Past - my Journey from Freedom Fighter to Healer" - will also show as part of the conference,

One, a tribute to the many New Zealanders who stood up for the struggles of the South African people, will depict two decades of activism in 100 black and white images. The other will focus on the 1981 Springbok Tour and show as a continuous loop of 300 colour slides.

The exhibitions, created by Wellington digital printer Out of the Box, have been supported by MFAT and the New Zealand Rugby Union.

The conference, "When Hope and History Rhyme" is part of an international series of events to mark the centenary of the African National Congress.

Local contributors to the conference include Peter Harris, Pat Hohepa, Ripeka Evans, Mike Law, Margaret Hayward, Russell Marshall, Ted Thomas, Geoff Chapple, Rosslyn Noonan and Jock Phillips. New Zealand sportspeople who made a stand on the issue will also speak - All Blacks Bob Burgess and Graham Mourie, and athlete Anne Hare.

Source

• Stuff.co.nz
• Scoop
• Image: Italian Politics with Walston
  

"It's difficult to gauge what, if any, impact public opposition to the Springbok tour in New Zealand had in the eventual unravelling of apartheid in South Africa. What is less uncertain though, is the role the tour played in our own progression as a nation," he says.

Read Michael Cummings' Editorial in the Manawatu Standard

Image: You Tube

Michael Cummings is the editor of the Manawatu Standard