Mandela made his mark at the Rivonia trial

“During my life time I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if need be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.” That’s one of the many quotes by the departed anti-apartheid hero Nelson Mandela.It is not everyday that the death of an individual is greeted with scenes of celebration, especially in the African culture. Yet that has been the case with the death of Nelson Madiba Mandela. Minutes after the sad news of the demise of anti-apartheid hero was announced, South Africans jammed the streets to celebrate his life in song and dance.This celebration of life well lived brought back memories of the anti-apartheid struggle. Songs and dances were symbols of the struggle. Nineteen years after the fall of the apartheid regime in South Africa, this symbolism has not been lost.Minutes after the news of Mandela’s demise, tributes poured in from all corners of the world. World leaders, sports personalities and many from the entertainment world all in unison hailed Madiba as one of the most important personalities that have shaped world politics.President Paul Kagame tweeted: Madiba- President (1st, post-apartheid SA) passes on – but what is certain, he will continue to live in the hearts of many of us.A lot will be said of Mandela given his larger-than-life status and his role in shaping world politics. There is something that stands out in the life and times of Nelson Mandela; his April 20, 1964 speech at the Rivonia Trial.In life, every person comes face-to-face with a situation that will either make or break them. Such a moment came for Mandela during the infamous Rivonia trial. Faced with the spectre of being sent to the gallows, Mandela did not flinch in his defence speech during the trial. He looked at his accusers in the eye and delivered a speech that will forever be etched in history.The Speech ‘I am Prepared to Die’ included in a compilation of famous speeches that shaped the hundred years of the 20th century is one that summarises Mandela’s life’s struggles for human dignity.“…We fight two features which are the hallmarks of African life in South Africa and which are entrenched by legislation which we seek to have repealed. These features are poverty and lack of human dignity...”Through his speech, Mandela laid bare the challenges that Africans were faced within a country that ‘could be one of the richest countries in the world’ but a land of ‘extremes and remarkable contrasts.’Despite all the ‘injustices’ enshrined in ‘legislation designed to preserve white supremacy,’ Mandela struck a figure of a statesman determined to fashion a country where black and white people had a right to lead dignified lives.At the Rivonia trial he laid his mark. The subsequent 27 year jail term did not break his spirit; it only fortified his will to fight for a free and just society, something he would prove latter when he became the President of the ‘Rainbow Nation’ in 1994.The world will be poorer without Madiba.The writer is a journalist with The New Times.