Read: Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, 1918 – 2013

Nelson Mandela, fondly called Madiba, the much revered prisoner-turned-president who led the fight against apartheid and injustice in South Africa, alas, lives no more. He was 95. A great statesman and a beacon of hope for millions across the world fighting racial segregation, his remarkable life is a testimony of his gargantuan efforts to make the world a much better and a peaceful place to live and co-exist with each other.

South African authoress Nadine Gordimer's heart-felt memoir in The New Yorker on the global icon:
In 1985, the apartheid President P. W. Botha offered Mandela his freedom if he unconditionally renounced all violence as a political instrument. Mandela's reply was read out by his daughter Zindzi, at a huge stadium in Soweto: "Let him renounce violence. Let him say that he will dismantle apartheid. Let him unban the people’s organization, the African National Congress. . . . I cannot and will not give any undertaking at a time when I and you, the people, are not free." >>

May his soul Rest In Peace!

N.B.: Take a trip down memory lane with Google's Nelson Mandela Digital Archive Project. An unbelievable treasure trove!

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