8 great quotes by the legendary Nelson Mandela

By Sicebise Msengana

Pic: Knysnakeep.com

18 July is the day we celebrate the life of Tata Nelson "Madiba" Mandela--father of the South African nation. This great gentleman guided our nation through it's dark hour and led it to  freedom. Some of you may not know him. But he is the man who stood up for what he believed in and paid the ultimate price of serving 27 years in Robben Island.

The  apartheid government was one of the most cruelest regimes in the twentieth century. All it's policies were established to systemically enslave non-Whites, particularly the Black people. The crimes committed by the intolerant, mindless, psychotic, racist, genocidal Afrikaner government are among the worst crimes in history. Tens of thousands of Black South Africans were slaughtered and millions were denied their human
rights.

Strange enough, it was a crime to be non-White in South Africa in those dark days. But men of courage like Olivier Tambo, Chief Albert Luthuli, Govan Mbeki, Walter Sisulu, Bram Fischer, Chris Hani and many others resisted the evil system that was being "normalized" and imposed on the majority of South Africans. After many years of countless sacrifices and hard work it paid off in the General Election of 1994. "Winds of Change" were blowing on our nation.

I'm forever grateful for the sacrifices these men and women made for me and millions other  South Africans. We are enjoying the fruits of their hard work. Here are the famous quotes by the legendary statesman which inspired the world:

1.  “If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.”
2.  "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world."
3. " We pledge ourselves to liberate our people from the continuing bondage of poverty, deprivation, suffering, gender and discrimination."
4. "For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others."
5. "Learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear."
6. "After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb."
7. "There can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way in which it treats it's children."
8. "I do not deny that I planned sabotage. I did not plan it in a spirit of recklessness nor because I have any love of violence. I planned it as a result of a calm and sober assessment of the political situation that had arisen after many years of tyranny, exploitation and oppression of my people by Whites."