Remembering Nelson Mandela

I am quite saddened by the passing of Nelson Mandela, having lived through a great era in South Africa. I feel privileged to have been so close to all of the amazing changes that happened, from the late 80’s when the country was still under Apartheid rule and there was talk of Nelson Mandela being released.

I remember how fearful all of the older generation was at this prospect but also how scared they were of him dying in prison and the inevitable if that happened. It was a very dark and quite scary time in South African politics and life was lived on a nice edge. I remember being in one of the largest bomb blasts (set up by the then banned ANC) with dead and injured around me and wondering what was going on and why was there so much anger and intolerance amongst all the people of South Africa. I was quite scared, I was only 14 or 15 years old.

I remember the day Nelson Mandela was released from prison and we all watched on TV in disbelief and wondered what would happen and how our lives would change. We all expected civil war, chaos and mayhem and there was an immense fear amongst the white minority. I was 19 and was able to go anywhere in the world and decided to stay in South Africa.

There was no civil war, in fact the period from 1990 until the mid 2000’s are seen as the best and most productive years South Africa has ever experienced and for me it was the best years of my life. I remember when we won the World Cup in 1995. I was living in Johannesburg, having moved there from Durban when Nelson was elected president in 1994, and working at one of the oldest and most progressive companies in South Africa (Nampak) that had adopted a Black Empowerment policy for it’s 125 year history shunning the apartheid government’s white policy. I felt honoured to work there and loved every minute of it. I was privileged to work alongside my fellow black colleagues for the first time in my life and still count them, almost 20 years later, amongst my closest friends.

I was at Nampak when Nelson Mandela was president and it was the most amazing period of my life. The country was awash with optimism and having a real leader with so much thought for his fellow human beings running the entire country was liberating for all of us.

It was a fantastic time that I remember fondly, many of the people I meet in Australia often tell me how lucky I am to live here now, and I don’t disagree with them, we all are very fortunate to live in such an amazing country and should never take that for granted, but I also want to tell them how lucky I was to have been born and lived in South Africa and experience the incredible highs and lows that can only be felt once in a lifetime and are all thanks to Nelson Mandela.