"We owe it to all the peoples of the sub-continent to ensure that they see in us, not merely good leaders waxing lyrical about development, but as the front commanders in the blast furnaces of labour, productive investments and visible change."
Nelson Mandela, Southern African Development Community (SADC) 15th anniversary summit, Johannesburg 13 September 1995.
Nelson Mandela, Southern African Development Community (SADC) 15th anniversary summit, Johannesburg 13 September 1995.
"… we charge you with the responsibility to lead our peoples and Continent into the new world of the next century – which must be an African Century – during which all our people will be freed of the bitterness born of the marginalisation and degradation of our proud continent of Africa."
Nelson Mandela, speech to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) summit, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso 8 June 1998.
Nelson Mandela, speech to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) summit, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso 8 June 1998.
"I am the product of Africa and her long-cherished view of rebirth that can now be realised so that all of her children may play in the sun."
Nelson Mandela's final speech as president to the South African parliament, Cape Town 26 March 1999.
Nelson Mandela's final speech as president to the South African parliament, Cape Town 26 March 1999.
"South Africans must recall the terrible past so that we can deal with it, forgiving where forgiveness is necessary but never forgetting"
Nelson Mandela, on leaving office as South African president, 15 June 1999.
Nelson Mandela, on leaving office as South African president, 15 June 1999.
"I must step down while there are one or two people who admire me."
Nelson Mandela, Daily Nation, Kenyan paper, 16 June 1999.
Nelson Mandela, Daily Nation, Kenyan paper, 16 June 1999.
"A tragedy of unprecedented proportions is unfolding in Africa"
Nelson Mandela, closing speech of the International Aids Conference, Durban December 2000.
Nelson Mandela, closing speech of the International Aids Conference, Durban December 2000.
"The time is always right to do right"
Nelson Mandela, "The 100 Best Things Ever Said by Men" in South Africa's Men's Health magazine, February 2002.
Nelson Mandela, "The 100 Best Things Ever Said by Men" in South Africa's Men's Health magazine, February 2002.
"The work of the [Truth and Reconciliation] Commission, imperfect as it may be, has laid a foundation on which South Africans can work to forge a common understanding of their past."
Nelson Mandela, as quoted in New African January 2003.
Nelson Mandela, as quoted in New African January 2003.
"South Africans have no concept of time and this is also why we can't solve poverty and social problems… It's now 10 years since the fall of the Apartheid government and we cannot blame Apartheid for being tardy."
Nelson Mandela, 22 August 2003.
Nelson Mandela, 22 August 2003.
