No Future Without Forgiveness

Elected the first Black president of South Africa in 1994, Mandela was instrumental to ending apartheid and creating the TRC. As the recognized leader of the anti-apartheid movement, Mandela negotiated the transition from the racist system to democracy with de Klerk. For so doing, both Mandela and de Klerk received the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1993. Tutu remarks that Mandela was the right person to lead the nation in this historical moment given both his legitimacy as one who suffered atrocities under apartheid and his magnanimity or generosity of spirit. He did not seek revenge on the white population; he wanted only peace and unity.

Mandela joined the African National Congress (ANC) in 1944 and played a key role in the resistance to pass laws and end apartheid throughout his adult life. He set up the first Black South African law practice in 1952 and advocated nonviolent protest of apartheid. For this reason, the government targeted and harassed him. After the Sharpeville Massacre and the official ban on the ANC, Mandela supported the use of force and helped establish the ANC’s militant wing. In 1963, the government arrested him and put him on trial for sabotage and treason. Defiant, Mandela boldly defended his actions in the name of freedom. However, in 1964, the government sentenced him to life in prison.

Until 1982, when officials transferred him to another prison, Mandela served his time at the infamous Robben Island facility. Throughout his incarceration, he was considered the de facto leader of the resistance. The government released him in February 1990. President Mandela named Tutu TRC chair, which Tutu attributes to Mandela’s understanding the TRC’s need for leaders with pastoral backgrounds. The mission of promoting national unity was a spiritual more than a legal one.

Madikizela-Mandela was the wife of Nelson Mandela from 1958 until their separation in 1992. Many Black South Africans considered her the Mother of the Nation. She suffered terribly under the apartheid regime—jailed for months, strictly limited in her movements, and internally exiled. Despite that continual harassment, she worked diligently to end apartheid. Sadly, her connection to the beating and kidnapping of four Black youths—whom the resistance movement considered traitors—compromised Madikizela-Mandela’s reputation. Her chief bodyguard murdered one of the boys.

Tutu tells her story to show how apartheid corrupted its victims. Dehumanized by the system, they imitated their oppressors’ behavior. At Tutu’s urging, Madikizela-Mandela made her first public apology to the murdered child’s family at a TRC hearing. While others considered the apology tepid, Tutu was pleased for this small step toward reconciliation.

The president of South Africa from 1989 to 1994, de Klerk negotiated the end of apartheid with Mandela and jointly received the Noble Prize for Peace with him in 1993. Previously, he lifted the ban on the ANC and released Mandela from prison. For those actions, Tutu praises de Klerk and is grateful that he was in power at this historic turning point.

However, Tutu argues that de Klerk missed an opportunity for greatness. Instead of apologizing unconditionally for his past actions, he qualified his statements. He also tried to undermine Mandela’s political prospects in the post-apartheid system. Tutu’s disappointment is understandable given de Klerk’s long association with the National Party, representing it in Parliament and various ministerial roles since 1972. De Klerk initially joined Mandela’s government of national unity as second deputy president but resigned in 1996.