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Fin24 user Frans Joubert tells how Nelson Mandela's statesmanship helped avert civil war. He writes:
I never met Mr Mandela - but he changed me and my dad forever.
We stayed in Boksburg at the time, the epicentre of apartheid and also what I considered the possible flashpoint of a civil war. It was so bad my dad had sandbags in front of every door and window and more than 5 000 rounds of ammunition in the house.
He was ready for war and I was afraid, especially because I did not actually understand what this was about.
And then Chris Hani was shot, and I saw that we were going to have to fight to the last bullet for something we did not believe in; in fact, we (as the white youth of the day) realised just how wrong we were - but here we were, ready to die because "dad said so".
And then he came on TV, the one person I never expected to see and he called for calm and incredibly unity of the entire nation and my view of the world, as my dad explained it, changed forever. I saw we were a nation - this was Madiba, and my dad agreed, and we both voted YES (in the referendum).
That day he made us a nation and today, as I sit here and mourn his death, I realise his passing is reminding me that we are in fact once again a nation.
- Fin24
*Share your memories of Nelson Mandela with Fin24 users.
I never met Mr Mandela - but he changed me and my dad forever.
We stayed in Boksburg at the time, the epicentre of apartheid and also what I considered the possible flashpoint of a civil war. It was so bad my dad had sandbags in front of every door and window and more than 5 000 rounds of ammunition in the house.
He was ready for war and I was afraid, especially because I did not actually understand what this was about.
And then Chris Hani was shot, and I saw that we were going to have to fight to the last bullet for something we did not believe in; in fact, we (as the white youth of the day) realised just how wrong we were - but here we were, ready to die because "dad said so".
And then he came on TV, the one person I never expected to see and he called for calm and incredibly unity of the entire nation and my view of the world, as my dad explained it, changed forever. I saw we were a nation - this was Madiba, and my dad agreed, and we both voted YES (in the referendum).
That day he made us a nation and today, as I sit here and mourn his death, I realise his passing is reminding me that we are in fact once again a nation.
- Fin24
*Share your memories of Nelson Mandela with Fin24 users.
