Mandela, The Myth and Me

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0:00:02 > 0:00:12This programme contains strong language and scenes which some viewers may find disturbing.

0:00:26 > 0:00:27MAN TYPES

0:00:30 > 0:00:32CROWD CHEER AND SING

0:00:37 > 0:00:40Dear Tata Mandela, I must have been seven years old

0:00:40 > 0:00:44when I first heard your name, Nelson Mandela.

0:00:44 > 0:00:47You were this mysterious figure who captured my imagination.

0:00:47 > 0:00:50You came to symbolise our struggle for freedom.

0:00:51 > 0:00:56I stand here before you

0:00:56 > 0:00:58not as a prophet,

0:00:59 > 0:01:05but as a humble servant of you, the people.

0:01:14 > 0:01:18Growing up in a village in Limpopo in the 1980s,

0:01:18 > 0:01:21my late grandmother spoke about you

0:01:21 > 0:01:24as this revolutionary who was going to free us from apartheid.

0:01:29 > 0:01:31She always spoke in harsh tones

0:01:31 > 0:01:34for fear of being detained or killed.

0:01:34 > 0:01:38I was warned never to mention your name, even to my friends.

0:01:38 > 0:01:43You became my hero, and from that moment, I was curious about you.

0:01:43 > 0:01:45All the images of you were banned,

0:01:45 > 0:01:49so I started to imagine you as this character from folk tales -

0:01:49 > 0:01:54half-man, half-beast, with one huge eye in the middle of your forehead

0:01:54 > 0:01:57that could see everything, an all seeing-eye.

0:01:58 > 0:02:01You were strong and you would crush your enemies.

0:02:10 > 0:02:14I remember going to town with my grandparents in the 1980s.

0:02:15 > 0:02:17I remember being confused

0:02:17 > 0:02:20as to why my grandparents stood at the window to buy stuff,

0:02:20 > 0:02:23while white people went right into the store.

0:02:23 > 0:02:27I witnessed a few times

0:02:27 > 0:02:30how young white kids spoke rudely to my grandparents.

0:02:32 > 0:02:35Their humiliation was palpable, their anger was silent

0:02:35 > 0:02:37and their pain was unbearable.

0:02:45 > 0:02:48Every nation bears the burden of history and memory.

0:02:48 > 0:02:52What should we remember and what should we forget,

0:02:52 > 0:02:53and who decides?

0:02:56 > 0:03:00Tata Mandela, did you have to take on a different identity

0:03:00 > 0:03:03and become a new person in order to transcend the past?

0:03:15 > 0:03:18Nelson Mandela has amazing magnetism.

0:03:18 > 0:03:22When you're in his presence, he looks at you and he greets you,

0:03:22 > 0:03:24and you think he recognises you.

0:03:24 > 0:03:27You think he knows who you are, and sometimes maybe he does

0:03:27 > 0:03:29because you're a very familiar face.

0:03:29 > 0:03:32Sometimes he has no clue, you know, and that's fine.

0:03:32 > 0:03:37But he has that leadership quality, that magnetic quality,

0:03:37 > 0:03:40that photogenic quality that makes a leader loved.

0:03:41 > 0:03:42The people's man.

0:03:43 > 0:03:45I wanted to write this letter to him.

0:03:45 > 0:03:49So I wrote this letter and it was published "Dear Madiba",

0:03:49 > 0:03:53just saying how I felt about his five years in office.

0:03:53 > 0:03:55When he saw me the next day he said,

0:03:55 > 0:03:58"Hmm, you've written me a love letter, hey?"

0:03:58 > 0:04:01I said, "Yes, sir, I thought I should write you a love letter".

0:04:01 > 0:04:06So he says, "Well, I think I should get you to marry me".

0:04:06 > 0:04:08And of course we just laughed, you know?

0:04:08 > 0:04:13He was always very, very charming and flirtatious,

0:04:13 > 0:04:17but also very...I mean, anybody who says

0:04:17 > 0:04:23"Oh, he's all conciliatory and loving, and wonderful",

0:04:23 > 0:04:24I don't see that.

0:04:24 > 0:04:27He is ice cold...

0:04:27 > 0:04:32and as, you know, as cold as ice.

0:04:32 > 0:04:34Cold as ice!

0:04:34 > 0:04:38I tried to argue with Madiba a couple of times,

0:04:38 > 0:04:42and you had to be pretty brave to try to stand up to him.

0:04:42 > 0:04:45Nobody else really stood by,

0:04:45 > 0:04:48everybody was very quiet.

0:04:48 > 0:04:50People didn't want to cross him.

0:04:50 > 0:04:57He had an anger about him, a strong temper.

0:04:57 > 0:05:01He's forgiving, and if he flared up with you,

0:05:01 > 0:05:04as he did with me on two occasions,

0:05:04 > 0:05:09and you went to complain to him afterwards,

0:05:10 > 0:05:17you then found him smiling and giving you a nice little pat on the back.

0:05:17 > 0:05:21"Ronnie, don't worry about it. What I said, I said in that meeting.

0:05:21 > 0:05:23"Now, don't worry about it. Forget it."

0:05:23 > 0:05:27But he had achieved what he set out to do, to demolish my argument.

0:05:29 > 0:05:32Really wonderful.

0:05:32 > 0:05:34His face, his eyes,

0:05:34 > 0:05:39we see the, I think, the non-violence principle,

0:05:39 > 0:05:43and the quite sort of wise thinking

0:05:43 > 0:05:49reflects in his face and his eyes.

0:05:52 > 0:05:58This one almost seems like a kind of monk, fasting for this target,

0:05:58 > 0:05:59something like that.

0:06:00 > 0:06:03I felt like he would look stern.

0:06:03 > 0:06:05He'd look like a stern person,

0:06:05 > 0:06:08somebody who lives within his principles,

0:06:08 > 0:06:13eats vegetables or water, you know, something like that.

0:06:13 > 0:06:20He enhances in me the desire to be good in the way he talks

0:06:20 > 0:06:22and the octave that he uses, or his voice.

0:06:22 > 0:06:27I have to say, with it comes...

0:06:27 > 0:06:31a frustration of some sort.

0:06:41 > 0:06:46The frustration I have when I see on the television

0:06:46 > 0:06:50all these, you know, stars standing next to him.

0:06:51 > 0:06:56Does it make them feel better about, you know, themselves, or...?

0:06:56 > 0:07:00I have no idea, I just feel that there's something wrong, really,

0:07:00 > 0:07:01going on with that.

0:07:06 > 0:07:09There isn't enough space for the revolutionary,

0:07:09 > 0:07:11there isn't enough space for arguing,

0:07:11 > 0:07:13for taking up arms, there isn't enough space

0:07:13 > 0:07:16for talking about land and real redress in that narrative.

0:07:16 > 0:07:20No, we only have space for the man who doesn't like suits, and children.

0:07:20 > 0:07:23So even the icons of that narrative

0:07:23 > 0:07:27exist in this kind of teddy bear old man,

0:07:27 > 0:07:31laughing, crying, soft selves.

0:07:33 > 0:07:37There is a perception that South Africa is a miracle country,

0:07:37 > 0:07:39but there were no miracles.

0:07:39 > 0:07:43People fought for freedom and people paid a huge price.

0:07:43 > 0:07:45The land is stained with blood.

0:07:47 > 0:07:50REPORTER: 'This is Mandela's first television interview.'

0:07:54 > 0:07:57'I asked him what it was that the African really wanted.'

0:07:57 > 0:08:02The Africans require, want,

0:08:03 > 0:08:07the franchise, on the basis of one man, one vote.

0:08:07 > 0:08:08They want political independence.

0:08:08 > 0:08:10There are many people who feel

0:08:10 > 0:08:13that it is useless and futile

0:08:13 > 0:08:16for us to continue talking peace and non-violence

0:08:16 > 0:08:21against a government whose reply is only savage attacks

0:08:21 > 0:08:24on an unarmed and defenceless people.

0:08:37 > 0:08:40Tata Mandela, how do you feel about interacting

0:08:40 > 0:08:45with the very same people who once labelled you as a terrorist?

0:08:47 > 0:08:51There are MPs, Conservative MPs, who, in their student days,

0:08:51 > 0:08:54used to wear "Hang Nelson Mandela" badges,

0:08:54 > 0:08:58for whom Mandela was a terrorist and they wanted him,

0:08:58 > 0:09:02if not locked up for ever, then probably executed.

0:09:02 > 0:09:07Now he's everybody's favourite uncle, he's the hero.

0:09:07 > 0:09:10There was confusion and controversy

0:09:10 > 0:09:13here in the United States

0:09:13 > 0:09:17as to whether Nelson Mandela was a terrorist.

0:09:17 > 0:09:21I would never have used such a characterisation, but many did.

0:09:21 > 0:09:23But you'd never find anyone in the United States

0:09:23 > 0:09:25who would even want to admit that they did that.

0:09:25 > 0:09:29The question of how he helped to resolve, peacefully,

0:09:29 > 0:09:34the conflict in South Africa, is one of his greatest achievements.

0:09:34 > 0:09:39But it mustn't be permitted to conceal

0:09:39 > 0:09:43this militant man of the people.

0:09:43 > 0:09:48MANDELA: I have fought against white domination.

0:09:48 > 0:09:51And I have...

0:09:51 > 0:09:54I was a teenager when I first heard your voice.

0:09:54 > 0:09:58Someone made me listen to your Rivonia trial speech.

0:09:58 > 0:10:02It was inspiring, and I listened to your voice again and again.

0:10:02 > 0:10:05..of a democratic and free society

0:10:05 > 0:10:10in which all persons will live together

0:10:10 > 0:10:15in harmony and with equal opportunities.

0:10:15 > 0:10:18It is an ideal

0:10:18 > 0:10:23for which I hope to live for,

0:10:23 > 0:10:28and to see realised.

0:10:28 > 0:10:31But, my lord,

0:10:31 > 0:10:34if it need be,

0:10:34 > 0:10:38it is an ideal

0:10:38 > 0:10:43for which I am prepared to die.

0:10:44 > 0:10:49When I was born, you had already been in prison for over a decade

0:10:49 > 0:10:51and yet in my grandmother's eyes, you were a hero.

0:10:53 > 0:10:54I never questioned her wisdom.

0:11:09 > 0:11:12My grandmother was overprotective of me

0:11:12 > 0:11:15and I stayed in the house all the time with her.

0:11:15 > 0:11:18Most of the time, nothing happened,

0:11:18 > 0:11:22but once in a while I would see an army truck driving past

0:11:22 > 0:11:27carrying young, white soldiers, their guns sticking out.

0:11:27 > 0:11:30I would feel my grandmother's hand tugging at mine

0:11:30 > 0:11:34as she dragged me away into the safety of the house.

0:11:37 > 0:11:38DEMONSTRATORS SING

0:11:59 > 0:12:02Tata Mandela, while you were incarcerated,

0:12:02 > 0:12:07young people driven by a sense of urgency and yearning for freedom

0:12:07 > 0:12:09took the apartheid regime head on.

0:12:11 > 0:12:15Some had been inspired by your example of militant youth.

0:12:15 > 0:12:19Some were killed, while others were detained.

0:12:19 > 0:12:22Do you know what happened to some of that generation?

0:12:28 > 0:12:31For three months, we were in hiding,

0:12:31 > 0:12:35and after three months they found us and arrested us.

0:12:37 > 0:12:39I was a young journalist

0:12:39 > 0:12:44and I suddenly found myself in this...in the belly of the beast

0:12:44 > 0:12:46of what was apartheid.

0:12:49 > 0:12:52And so then they did exactly what I was fearing,

0:12:52 > 0:12:57that they would use my pregnancy in the whole interrogation process.

0:12:58 > 0:13:03Basically, they tried to wear me down,

0:13:03 > 0:13:07interrogated me constantly, etc.

0:13:07 > 0:13:10But then, eventually, when they couldn't get me to co-operate

0:13:10 > 0:13:13and this time I did have information,

0:13:13 > 0:13:16and this time it was very definite information,

0:13:16 > 0:13:18they finally came up with this idea

0:13:18 > 0:13:21that they were preparing this chemical for me to drink

0:13:21 > 0:13:23that would burn the baby from my body.

0:13:25 > 0:13:29That was probably the hardest moment for me,

0:13:29 > 0:13:33because that was the moment when I had to decide,

0:13:33 > 0:13:38"What are the choices that I make? Do I let my child die,

0:13:38 > 0:13:44"or do I let my child live and send a whole lot of people to jail?"

0:13:45 > 0:13:47It was almost like no choice.

0:13:51 > 0:13:52I decided to say to them

0:13:52 > 0:13:56"Well, do what you have to do. Do what you have to do."

0:13:58 > 0:14:02Of course, I remember them clearly. I remember their eyes.

0:14:02 > 0:14:07I see the eyes of very cruel, vicious men.

0:14:12 > 0:14:16Sometimes in a crowd, I see them. Of course it's not them,

0:14:16 > 0:14:22but I see somebody who looks like one of them, and then I'm terrified.

0:14:24 > 0:14:27The one that tortured myself and my husband

0:14:27 > 0:14:32and others in '85, he actually met with my husband,

0:14:32 > 0:14:35and he sent a message to say, you know,

0:14:35 > 0:14:39something like he wanted bygones to be bygones,

0:14:39 > 0:14:42and he wanted to find out how my child was.

0:14:44 > 0:14:47How can you find out how the child was that you wanted to kill?!

0:15:11 > 0:15:17Tata Mandela, whenever I go back to my village, I get depressed.

0:15:17 > 0:15:19I'm moved by the poverty,

0:15:19 > 0:15:23and shocked at the cemeteries bursting with my childhood friends.

0:15:23 > 0:15:27Should I dare ask, whose freedom is it?

0:15:27 > 0:15:30Was the struggle for all or was the struggle for a few?

0:15:48 > 0:15:51I couldn't believe it. It was impossible.

0:15:51 > 0:15:56When they told me that my sister had died in the bomb blast,

0:15:57 > 0:16:02I wouldn't believe it because my sister was not the military type.

0:16:04 > 0:16:11She was very feminine, and liked clothing and socialising.

0:16:12 > 0:16:16I could not imagine my sister doing military training

0:16:16 > 0:16:23and getting involved with bombs or guns.

0:16:24 > 0:16:26I dismissed it immediately.

0:16:28 > 0:16:36When we got to the mortuary, they led me round the corridor,

0:16:36 > 0:16:38which curved to your left.

0:16:40 > 0:16:41And...

0:16:43 > 0:16:48there was a cloth over my sister's body,

0:16:48 > 0:16:53and they opened it up and asked me to identify her body.

0:16:54 > 0:16:56At first, it didn't look like her

0:16:56 > 0:17:01and they said it was the best they could do to put it together.

0:17:03 > 0:17:07Her eyes were out of her sockets.

0:17:07 > 0:17:11Her mouth was open.

0:17:11 > 0:17:13Um...

0:17:24 > 0:17:29I was...I lost my emotions. I couldn't cry, I couldn't...

0:17:33 > 0:17:34It was almost like I was...

0:17:39 > 0:17:43I was a broken human in the sense of having no emotions.

0:17:49 > 0:17:51I'm an artist, I've been to art school.

0:17:51 > 0:17:54And I've tried drawing my sister.

0:17:55 > 0:17:59And I can only draw what I saw in the morgue.

0:17:59 > 0:18:03I can't draw my sister as a whole person.

0:18:10 > 0:18:12South Africa was created by its people,

0:18:12 > 0:18:16not by one individual's greatness.

0:18:18 > 0:18:25There were too many sacrifices, and it was a unified struggle.

0:18:25 > 0:18:30And we can't give all the glory to one person.

0:18:36 > 0:18:41# Free Nelson Mandela

0:18:42 > 0:18:46# Free

0:18:46 > 0:18:49# Free

0:18:49 > 0:18:55# Free, free, free Nelson Mandela. #

0:18:55 > 0:18:58I remember being in London.

0:18:58 > 0:19:01It was not long after I'd come out of hospital

0:19:01 > 0:19:05after I was blown up in 1988.

0:19:05 > 0:19:09And it was the Free Mandela concert at Wembley.

0:19:09 > 0:19:14# Free Nelson Mandela

0:19:17 > 0:19:22# Free Nelson Mandela

0:19:30 > 0:19:34And I didn't know what you do at a pop concert.

0:19:34 > 0:19:35I'd never been to one.

0:19:35 > 0:19:40I belonged to the classical music and jazz kind of grouping.

0:19:40 > 0:19:44Do you stand up? Do you wave?

0:19:44 > 0:19:4970,000 young people and me, and it was fantastic.

0:19:49 > 0:19:53# Free Nelson Mandela!

0:19:53 > 0:19:55And the cheering just went on for hours and hours.

0:19:55 > 0:19:58These were supposed to be the yobbos,

0:19:58 > 0:20:00the youth of England who had no idealism,

0:20:00 > 0:20:02only interested in material things.

0:20:02 > 0:20:07And here they were, inspired by that individual.

0:20:07 > 0:20:11So it wasn't anything that he actually said in particular

0:20:11 > 0:20:15that they were responding to. It was what he stood for.

0:20:15 > 0:20:18The symbol of Mandela became, in that sense,

0:20:18 > 0:20:21more powerful than the reality of Mandela.

0:20:26 > 0:20:30I remember the day you were released from prison vividly.

0:20:30 > 0:20:34By then I was a teenager, living with my mother in Johannesburg.

0:20:34 > 0:20:37I watched your release on television.

0:20:37 > 0:20:42When you finally came out, you looked normal, like my grandfather.

0:20:42 > 0:20:45You looked frail, but you were waving and smiling at the crowds.

0:20:51 > 0:20:53I remember, when he came out of prison

0:20:53 > 0:20:54I was there, covering the story.

0:20:54 > 0:20:57The great anxiety for a lot of people

0:20:57 > 0:20:59was that he simply couldn't possibly live up

0:20:59 > 0:21:03to this enormous legendary myth that had been built up about him.

0:21:03 > 0:21:04Yet the remarkable thing was,

0:21:04 > 0:21:07as we saw in that very first press conference

0:21:07 > 0:21:10on the morning after his release, at the home of Archbishop Desmond Tutu,

0:21:10 > 0:21:12he actually exceeded the myth.

0:21:12 > 0:21:15He has this sort of tremendous sense of himself,

0:21:15 > 0:21:21like a great Shakespearean or Greek dramatic hero.

0:21:24 > 0:21:27RADIO NEWS JINGLE

0:21:27 > 0:21:29'Good morning.

0:21:29 > 0:21:32'It's expected that only family members

0:21:32 > 0:21:34'will be visiting Madiba in hospital today...'

0:21:36 > 0:21:40I must say, I was disappointed by the image I saw of you.

0:21:40 > 0:21:42I always imagined that as my superhero,

0:21:42 > 0:21:47you would somehow find a way to break down the prison walls.

0:21:47 > 0:21:50You would lead an army made up of our people.

0:21:50 > 0:21:52We would then walk through my village,

0:21:52 > 0:21:56arms aloft, victorious after defeating the enemy.

0:21:57 > 0:22:01But I was surprised by the restraint and gentle tone of your voice.

0:22:01 > 0:22:05Where was the fire in your voice? Where was the anger?

0:22:12 > 0:22:17MANDELA: Your tireless and heroic sacrifices

0:22:17 > 0:22:20have made it possible

0:22:20 > 0:22:24for me to be here today.

0:22:26 > 0:22:29I therefore have placed

0:22:29 > 0:22:33the remaining years of my life

0:22:33 > 0:22:36in your hands.

0:22:36 > 0:22:37CHEERING

0:22:44 > 0:22:48I remember hearing people singing as they marched past my mother's flat.

0:22:48 > 0:22:50There was such an excitement.

0:22:53 > 0:22:56I had so many unanswered questions.

0:22:56 > 0:22:59You had just come out of prison after 27 years.

0:22:59 > 0:23:05You had sacrificed all - your wife, your children and your career.

0:23:05 > 0:23:11I went to join the crowd. The spirit of the moment took over.

0:23:11 > 0:23:15We were very focused

0:23:15 > 0:23:18on South Africa being the centre of the world in those days.

0:23:18 > 0:23:22And I knew at that moment, our world had changed.

0:23:22 > 0:23:24And it was an unknown future.

0:23:24 > 0:23:27But it had to be a future that was better than our past.

0:24:07 > 0:24:09BABY CRIES

0:24:19 > 0:24:21Politicians remind people from time to time that "You're free.

0:24:21 > 0:24:25"1994 freed you. Nelson Mandela freed you", you know.

0:24:25 > 0:24:29They drum that into people's minds and they end up believing it.

0:24:29 > 0:24:33Even though they stay in the dampest place on earth,

0:24:33 > 0:24:36surviving on pap and cabbage every day,

0:24:36 > 0:24:40living in the most degrading and appalling conditions,

0:24:40 > 0:24:45they will believe that they are free.

0:24:45 > 0:24:48And the answer would be: Freed from what?

0:25:44 > 0:25:47Nelson Mandela was a mantra.

0:25:47 > 0:25:50They used the words "Nelson Mandela" as shorthand,

0:25:50 > 0:25:54a shortcut to mean the solution to all our problems of apartheid,

0:25:54 > 0:25:59of colonialism, of impoverishment, of life and its hassles.

0:25:59 > 0:26:01BOYS CHANT

0:26:04 > 0:26:08The songs, the chants became a rallying call.

0:26:08 > 0:26:12Nelson Mandela was seen as the person who would save us,

0:26:12 > 0:26:13save these kids.

0:26:13 > 0:26:16Not save them from political inequality,

0:26:16 > 0:26:19but pull them out of these lives of poverty and misery,

0:26:19 > 0:26:23of shit education, of suffering, of violence.

0:26:26 > 0:26:31Tata Mandela, I remember catching glimpses of the violence

0:26:31 > 0:26:34that happened in the 1990s after you were released.

0:26:36 > 0:26:41The media headlines screaming Black On Black Violence,

0:26:41 > 0:26:44but behind the scenes, the apartheid force were at work

0:26:44 > 0:26:48sowing divisions, turning brother against brother.

0:26:54 > 0:26:55Thousands died.

0:26:56 > 0:26:58There were also the right wing groups

0:26:58 > 0:27:02trying to set fire to the country, to stop the march of history.

0:27:16 > 0:27:20I have hazy memories because I was confronting my own demons.

0:27:21 > 0:27:23My mother started falling ill

0:27:23 > 0:27:26and I watched her life fall apart.

0:27:26 > 0:27:29Politics did not seem that important after all.

0:27:33 > 0:27:35I have read that without your leadership,

0:27:35 > 0:27:38the country would have descended into a civil war.

0:27:44 > 0:27:50My experience of our war was very intimate, very close up.

0:27:50 > 0:27:53It was people in hand-to-hand combat,

0:27:53 > 0:27:57often using rocks and bricks as weapons, Knobkerrie sticks,

0:27:57 > 0:28:00spears made from reinforcing rods.

0:28:00 > 0:28:04And that's how people killed each other, the vast majority,

0:28:04 > 0:28:06by touching each other.

0:28:06 > 0:28:07That's horrible,

0:28:07 > 0:28:11because you know that there's fear, there's eye contact.

0:28:11 > 0:28:14You're making eye contact with a killer,

0:28:14 > 0:28:16and you're talking about this thing.

0:28:18 > 0:28:21It's the smell of human blood.

0:28:21 > 0:28:25It's got a distinctive, horrible smell,

0:28:25 > 0:28:29nauseating and rich and terrible.

0:28:29 > 0:28:33And the sounds. Intimate sounds of people killing each other.

0:28:33 > 0:28:35You can't get them out of your head.

0:28:37 > 0:28:39We were so caught up in it,

0:28:39 > 0:28:43these child soldiers who went to war on behalf of their neighbourhoods,

0:28:43 > 0:28:48of their party, of their president-to-be, Nelson Mandela.

0:28:57 > 0:29:04The negotiation process is completely in tatters.

0:29:04 > 0:29:07I can no longer explain

0:29:09 > 0:29:11to our people

0:29:12 > 0:29:14why we continue

0:29:16 > 0:29:19to talk to a government, to a regime

0:29:20 > 0:29:23which is murdering our people,

0:29:23 > 0:29:26which is conducting war against us.

0:29:26 > 0:29:29We want arms! We want arms! We want arms!

0:29:30 > 0:29:32I did not follow the negotiations,

0:29:32 > 0:29:36as I was going through my own personal stuff.

0:29:36 > 0:29:40I was a late bloomer. I had just discovered girls.

0:29:43 > 0:29:45I was eligible to vote in 1994.

0:29:48 > 0:29:52I was excited about the prospects of my country.

0:29:52 > 0:29:56I thought that the elections and your victory would end the nightmare

0:29:56 > 0:29:59that has haunted our people for centuries.

0:29:59 > 0:30:01The elections meant freedom for our people.

0:30:01 > 0:30:03At least, that's what I thought at that time.

0:30:10 > 0:30:12SONG:

0:31:16 > 0:31:18The Berlin Wall had fallen, Russia had fallen,

0:31:18 > 0:31:21and that threat didn't exist any more.

0:31:21 > 0:31:25Now all of us were inhabiting market capitalism. This was it.

0:31:25 > 0:31:26This was the way it was going to be.

0:31:26 > 0:31:29This was the beginning, the middle and the end.

0:31:29 > 0:31:31Those battles were going on in the ANC, nationalisation was over.

0:31:31 > 0:31:34Even if people were saying things about nationalisation,

0:31:34 > 0:31:35no-one was listening.

0:31:35 > 0:31:38If Mandela had, to use an English phrase,

0:31:38 > 0:31:41cocked a snook at that, in other words,

0:31:41 > 0:31:48shown a position of "Do what you dare,

0:31:48 > 0:31:52"but we are going to at least ensure

0:31:52 > 0:31:56"that the major bloodsuckers, those vampires, those mining houses,

0:31:56 > 0:32:02"pay a restitution which will enable us

0:32:02 > 0:32:04"to really help our people

0:32:04 > 0:32:07"much more than we possibly can otherwise",

0:32:07 > 0:32:10then we would have got away with it.

0:32:10 > 0:32:11We would have gained that.

0:32:11 > 0:32:14WOMAN: You know, Mandela is like Moses.

0:32:14 > 0:32:16- TRANSLATOR:- Nelson Mandela ist wie Mose.

0:32:16 > 0:32:19Sowie Mose die Israeliten befreit hat, hat Nelson Mandela uns befreit.

0:32:19 > 0:32:23Historians often mention the end of apartheid

0:32:23 > 0:32:25and the fall of the Berlin Wall

0:32:25 > 0:32:28as two major historical events of the 20th century.

0:32:28 > 0:32:30The Berlin Wall might have fallen,

0:32:30 > 0:32:34but many more walls still exist everywhere in the world.

0:32:34 > 0:32:38Every day in South Africa, I'm aware of these walls that divide us

0:32:38 > 0:32:40despite your promise to break them down.

0:32:40 > 0:32:44WOMAN'S VOICE: ..Shot on 15th March, 1973.

0:32:48 > 0:32:51Never, and never again

0:32:51 > 0:32:53shall it be

0:32:53 > 0:32:55that this beautiful land

0:32:55 > 0:32:57will again experience

0:32:57 > 0:33:01the oppression of one by another.

0:33:01 > 0:33:05The sun shall never set

0:33:06 > 0:33:10on so glorious a human achievement.

0:33:10 > 0:33:13Let freedom reign.

0:33:13 > 0:33:14God bless Africa.

0:33:14 > 0:33:17I thank you.

0:33:17 > 0:33:18CHEERING

0:33:21 > 0:33:22I have gooseflesh.

0:33:24 > 0:33:28I was there when Madiba spoke.

0:33:28 > 0:33:31We knew it was an exalted occasion.

0:33:31 > 0:33:33That was the time of "pinch me".

0:33:33 > 0:33:36It was kind of unbelievable that in South Africa,

0:33:36 > 0:33:39a country of so much division and hate

0:33:39 > 0:33:41and at each other's throats,

0:33:41 > 0:33:46and here came these eloquent, beautifully phrased words,

0:33:46 > 0:33:51and it wasn't tub-thumping and promising everything to everybody.

0:33:51 > 0:33:56We've seen him on film recently, and he's frail.

0:33:56 > 0:33:58There's still that marvellous smile,

0:33:58 > 0:34:01but progressively, the body is getting weaker

0:34:01 > 0:34:05and we're beginning to live with the image of the person fading away.

0:34:10 > 0:34:14I'll never forget being in front of the Union Building in Pretoria

0:34:14 > 0:34:15on that marvellous day,

0:34:15 > 0:34:18looking at all the other leaders from around the world,

0:34:18 > 0:34:19and having the privilege

0:34:19 > 0:34:25to represent the American people, along with many other Americans.

0:34:25 > 0:34:27Good morning. Good morning.

0:34:27 > 0:34:30- How are you?- I'm very well. Yourself?- I'm so happy.

0:34:33 > 0:34:37- COLIN POWELL:- But I saw it in a way that the others did not see it,

0:34:37 > 0:34:38because I was a soldier.

0:34:38 > 0:34:41What moved me so deeply, and what I've never forgotten,

0:34:41 > 0:34:43is that the first ones to come up

0:34:43 > 0:34:48were the generals of the South African Defence Forces,

0:34:48 > 0:34:52the four men who were in charge of the South African armed forces,

0:34:52 > 0:34:56leading their new Commander-in-Chief, Nelson Mandela.

0:34:56 > 0:34:59And I said, "God, I've lived to see this."

0:35:05 > 0:35:07If you look at many of the struggles,

0:35:07 > 0:35:09the anti-colonial struggles,

0:35:09 > 0:35:12the struggles against the empire, or against the colonies,

0:35:12 > 0:35:17those who take power after it, generally through armed struggle,

0:35:18 > 0:35:24end up being people who are unable to construct the democratic society

0:35:24 > 0:35:28or the just society that they wanted or they said they wanted.

0:35:28 > 0:35:29Ladies and gentlemen,

0:35:29 > 0:35:34the President-elect of the Republic of South Africa...

0:35:34 > 0:35:39They are unable to adjust their minds and their hearts

0:35:39 > 0:35:46to a situation of creating a society that's not "Us against them,

0:35:46 > 0:35:50"I'll kill you, you'll kill me, only one of us is right."

0:35:51 > 0:35:57Mandela moves from one possibility of an armed struggle against a foe

0:35:57 > 0:36:02that certainly deserves to be vanquished militarily,

0:36:02 > 0:36:07to a transition to democracy which has been, I think,

0:36:07 > 0:36:12one of the major issues of the last 30 or 40 years in our century.

0:36:13 > 0:36:15Our feelings were that

0:36:15 > 0:36:19"We are not going to speak to the apartheid regime

0:36:19 > 0:36:23"for the crimes that they committed against us."

0:36:24 > 0:36:29But our brains said "If you don't talk to these people,

0:36:29 > 0:36:31"this country's going to go up in flames."

0:36:31 > 0:36:37So we had to reconcile our blood with our brain,

0:36:37 > 0:36:40our feelings with our logic.

0:36:40 > 0:36:45And we decided that "Look, if we use violence,

0:36:45 > 0:36:47"these people are stronger than us.

0:36:48 > 0:36:52"And they will be able to hold the upper hand.

0:36:52 > 0:36:55"But if we sit down to talk to them,

0:36:55 > 0:36:57"they can never answer our case".

0:36:57 > 0:37:00And that's what we did.

0:37:00 > 0:37:02APPLAUSE

0:37:09 > 0:37:13We've been asked to say it doesn't matter, get over it.

0:37:13 > 0:37:14We can just get over it.

0:37:14 > 0:37:16We didn't matter, what happened to us doesn't matter,

0:37:16 > 0:37:17how we feel doesn't matter,

0:37:17 > 0:37:20how we've become the people we are doesn't matter.

0:37:20 > 0:37:22The nonsense that still continues to happen,

0:37:22 > 0:37:24who doesn't have power, the landlessness doesn't matter.

0:37:24 > 0:37:27It doesn't matter, let's just turn a new page.

0:37:28 > 0:37:31Reconciliation, the expectation of forgiveness

0:37:31 > 0:37:34and reconciliation without justice, is itself an injustice

0:37:34 > 0:37:36that we're supposed to co-sign on.

0:37:36 > 0:37:38I'm not co-signing on it.

0:38:00 > 0:38:04Tata Mandela, can I confess to you that in moments of anger

0:38:04 > 0:38:09and disillusionment, I fantasise about the revolution we never had?

0:38:09 > 0:38:12I'm not saying this lightly, as war scars people for ever.

0:38:12 > 0:38:16Do you think it is better to accept a dirty compromise than go to war?

0:39:00 > 0:39:03Tata Mandela, do you ever have moments of weakness,

0:39:03 > 0:39:04or anger and resentment,

0:39:04 > 0:39:08when you want to line up your enemies against the wall

0:39:08 > 0:39:09and shoot them?

0:39:21 > 0:39:23When I was filming in Nigeria,

0:39:23 > 0:39:27four people were killed as two bombs hit two newspaper offices.

0:39:29 > 0:39:30I was terrified.

0:39:31 > 0:39:34How do we engage with those who feel aggrieved

0:39:34 > 0:39:36and are prepared to sacrifice their lives

0:39:36 > 0:39:40and the lives of others to make their point?

0:39:47 > 0:39:52I know what I'd like to do to those killers in Nigeria right now.

0:39:54 > 0:39:57On the other hand, I would be grateful

0:39:57 > 0:40:01for somebody who is able to do what I cannot do,

0:40:01 > 0:40:04just in order to enable the entity to survive.

0:40:04 > 0:40:09So it's on that axis that people like me are permanently crucified.

0:40:09 > 0:40:12On one hand, we know what is needed,

0:40:12 > 0:40:15what must take place

0:40:15 > 0:40:20in order for the totality of society to survive.

0:40:20 > 0:40:22But at the same time,

0:40:22 > 0:40:25to preserve my own sense of balance in humanity,

0:40:25 > 0:40:29I would like to see some of those slowly roasted on a spit,

0:40:29 > 0:40:32you know, to serve as an example to all of us.

0:40:33 > 0:40:38When I was lying in bed, recovering in hospital in London

0:40:38 > 0:40:42after the bomb where I lost my arm and the sight in an eye,

0:40:42 > 0:40:43somebody sent me a note and said,

0:40:43 > 0:40:46"Don't worry, Comrade Albie, we will avenge you."

0:40:46 > 0:40:47And I thought,

0:40:47 > 0:40:52"Are we going to cut off arms and blind people in one eye?

0:40:52 > 0:40:54"What good is that going to do me?"

0:40:54 > 0:40:58And I said, "If we get freedom and democracy in South Africa

0:40:58 > 0:41:01"and a rule of law, roses and lilies will grow out of my arm,

0:41:01 > 0:41:03"and that would be my soft vengeance."

0:41:05 > 0:41:08Tata Mandela, have you heard the whispers of our people

0:41:08 > 0:41:12that those who butchered and violated their loved ones

0:41:12 > 0:41:13got away with murder?

0:41:15 > 0:41:17Where's justice for them?

0:41:17 > 0:41:20Don't you think we should have had public trials, like Nuremberg?

0:41:49 > 0:41:54Tata Mandela, we are not where we should be as a country.

0:41:54 > 0:41:58We are living every day suspended between a dream and a nightmare.

0:42:10 > 0:42:14Tata Mandela, what was the ultimate price of peace?

0:42:24 > 0:42:26You cannot justify

0:42:26 > 0:42:31the structural violence, the degradation,

0:42:31 > 0:42:34the re-traumatisation that post-apartheid means,

0:42:34 > 0:42:37precisely because you have refused to materially

0:42:37 > 0:42:39transform and transfer power

0:42:39 > 0:42:41by saying "It could have been so much worse,

0:42:41 > 0:42:43"we would have been dying in the streets".

0:42:43 > 0:42:46Well, you know, depending on who you are,

0:42:46 > 0:42:47people are dying in the streets.

0:42:57 > 0:43:01Whatever conditions of poverty and inequality exist in South Africa

0:43:01 > 0:43:06would have been infinitely worse than anything we are today.

0:43:06 > 0:43:08South Africa could so easily have become

0:43:08 > 0:43:13a sort of Palestine, Israel, Sudan, Congo, or whatever.

0:43:19 > 0:43:22"So your kids are actually going to be locked into poverty,

0:43:22 > 0:43:25"I don't know what happened to your water,

0:43:25 > 0:43:27"you're never going to get land -

0:43:27 > 0:43:29"Oh, but how much luckier are you

0:43:29 > 0:43:31"than people who get shot in the streets!"

0:43:31 > 0:43:32It's insulting.

0:43:43 > 0:43:47If there would truly be any reconciliation,

0:43:47 > 0:43:51it's for us to say to our fellow whites in South Africa -

0:43:51 > 0:43:53"Give back".

0:43:53 > 0:43:57I think what we should be doing is to say from 1652,

0:43:57 > 0:44:00how much wealth has been plundered from black people?

0:44:00 > 0:44:01The land, the cows and, you know,

0:44:01 > 0:44:04the dreams and ambitions that have been stolen from black people,

0:44:04 > 0:44:07let us calculate that and put it in monetary form

0:44:07 > 0:44:10and say "Ha! Collectively, all the whites must pay that back".

0:44:10 > 0:44:13You know, then that will be a reconciliation.

0:44:13 > 0:44:16Well, you cannot, you just cannot undo,

0:44:16 > 0:44:21and you cannot make reparations for the crimes of centuries,

0:44:21 > 0:44:24for the cruelties of centuries,

0:44:24 > 0:44:28for the enslavement of a people in a far-off land.

0:44:28 > 0:44:29Where do you begin?

0:44:40 > 0:44:43We are here, we are where we are as a result of war,

0:44:43 > 0:44:46and no amount of negotiation will bring about justice.

0:44:46 > 0:44:49It will be war that brings about justice,

0:44:50 > 0:44:55even at the cost of the ultimate sacrifice.

0:44:55 > 0:44:59We are going to have to get justice done in this country.

0:45:41 > 0:45:45Tata Mandela, I have a recurring nightmare.

0:45:45 > 0:45:50It's a beautiful evening at a restaurant with a group of friends.

0:45:54 > 0:45:59Men in balaclavas holding rifles storm into the restaurant

0:45:59 > 0:46:00and start shooting.

0:46:08 > 0:46:11I hide under the table. Some friends have been shot.

0:46:11 > 0:46:14Some of their blood spills onto my face.

0:46:14 > 0:46:16I try to wash it away, but it won't go away.

0:46:21 > 0:46:22'Passengers in the last carriage,

0:46:22 > 0:46:26'please move towards the front doors to leave the train.'

0:46:26 > 0:46:29People across the globe associate you with peace.

0:46:29 > 0:46:32I remember how you tried to use your status as a global icon

0:46:32 > 0:46:36to stop the invasion of Iraq, but no-one listened to you.

0:46:36 > 0:46:39I remember the only argument I ever had with him

0:46:39 > 0:46:42was when he phoned me up to say,

0:46:42 > 0:46:45"Peter, what Tony Blair is doing in Iraq is bad,

0:46:45 > 0:46:47"it's not going to work".

0:46:48 > 0:46:52What I sensed with Nelson Mandela at that moment

0:46:52 > 0:46:54was a great frustration

0:46:54 > 0:46:58that he felt the invasion of Iraq by mainly America and Britain,

0:46:58 > 0:47:01with other allies, was the wrong thing to do.

0:47:01 > 0:47:03He thought it would be catastrophic,

0:47:03 > 0:47:06and he thought it would undermine all that Tony Blair was doing.

0:47:06 > 0:47:09And in many respects, if you look back, he was right.

0:47:09 > 0:47:12Tony Blair never recovered, outside America,

0:47:12 > 0:47:18the trust he'd had with the British public and the international public,

0:47:18 > 0:47:22from the time he took the decision to go with George Bush into Iraq.

0:48:16 > 0:48:20Do I think peace is possible? Of course it's possible.

0:48:20 > 0:48:22My whole life has been devoted to peace.

0:48:22 > 0:48:24Even though I'm a soldier and I had to fight,

0:48:24 > 0:48:26I have always tried to fight

0:48:26 > 0:48:29in a way that ends the conflict quickly,

0:48:29 > 0:48:32so that we can get back to peace.

0:48:33 > 0:48:36But the reality is, there are bad people,

0:48:36 > 0:48:38there are bad systems in this world.

0:48:39 > 0:48:42I was once asked why we didn't just use soft power,

0:48:42 > 0:48:44why America used hard power.

0:48:44 > 0:48:47Well, it was hard power that defeated the Nazis,

0:48:47 > 0:48:51it was hard power that ended the conflict with Japan.

0:48:51 > 0:48:55And what did America do after using hard power?

0:48:55 > 0:48:58We rebuilt the nations that we'd used the hard power against.

0:48:58 > 0:49:01We used soft power.

0:49:01 > 0:49:05So I'm always for solving a problem without a war,

0:49:05 > 0:49:07but if war comes, I'm the one who knows how to do it.

0:49:16 > 0:49:19RADIO: 'Mr Mandela has remained in critical condition

0:49:19 > 0:49:20'for six days at a Pretoria hospital...'

0:49:20 > 0:49:24Tata Mandela, the invasion of Iraq

0:49:24 > 0:49:27was immoral and based on lies.

0:49:27 > 0:49:29I was in New York at that time

0:49:29 > 0:49:33and my friends were going to march against the war.

0:49:33 > 0:49:34I joined them.

0:49:52 > 0:49:55He discovered that his jailers were human.

0:49:57 > 0:49:59I believe, personally,

0:49:59 > 0:50:01that you should not sit down with your enemies

0:50:01 > 0:50:05unless they have shown real signs of repentance

0:50:05 > 0:50:10and real signs of not being willing to redo what they were going to do.

0:50:10 > 0:50:15In other words, they should show with their actions

0:50:15 > 0:50:20that they are not going to repeat that experience.

0:50:20 > 0:50:23Let's say that they have got rid of the apartheid of their soul,

0:50:23 > 0:50:27the prejudice in their soul, the pettiness in their soul.

0:50:34 > 0:50:37It happened that I was sitting in my chambers as a judge,

0:50:37 > 0:50:39and the phone rings.

0:50:39 > 0:50:41The voice says "There's a man called Henry.

0:50:41 > 0:50:43"He says he has an appointment with you".

0:50:43 > 0:50:45I said "Send him through."

0:50:45 > 0:50:49And I went to the security gate with considerable excitement,

0:50:49 > 0:50:52because Henry had phoned me to say

0:50:52 > 0:50:54that he had organised the bomb in my car.

0:50:54 > 0:50:57He was now going to the Truth Commission.

0:50:57 > 0:50:59Was I willing to meet him?

0:50:59 > 0:51:04I open the door and there's Henry, younger than myself,

0:51:04 > 0:51:06also tallish, thin.

0:51:06 > 0:51:09He's looking at me, I'm looking at him,

0:51:09 > 0:51:12"So this is the man who tried to kill me", and I see in his eyes,

0:51:12 > 0:51:14"This is the man I tried to kill."

0:51:14 > 0:51:18We hadn't fought, we didn't even know each other.

0:51:18 > 0:51:21We talked, we talked, we talked. It's a strange relationship,

0:51:21 > 0:51:24meeting the person who tried to kill you.

0:51:24 > 0:51:25And I said at the end,

0:51:25 > 0:51:29"Henry, normally when I say goodbye to someone, I shake their hand.

0:51:29 > 0:51:32"I can't shake your hand, but you go to the Truth Commission

0:51:32 > 0:51:35"and tell them what you know, and maybe we'll meet one day."

0:51:35 > 0:51:38And I still recall that as he walked back,

0:51:38 > 0:51:40he was shuffling along like a defeated person.

0:51:40 > 0:51:43I closed the door and he was gone. And I forgot about him.

0:51:45 > 0:51:49About nine months later, I'm at an end-of-year party

0:51:49 > 0:51:52and the music is playing very loudly,

0:51:52 > 0:51:55and I hear a voice saying, "Albie, Albie".

0:51:56 > 0:51:58My God, it's Henry.

0:51:58 > 0:51:59He's beaming, and he comes up to me

0:51:59 > 0:52:04and says he went to the Truth Commission and told them everything.

0:52:05 > 0:52:08And I said, "Henry, I've only got to see your face

0:52:08 > 0:52:10"to tell me what you're saying is true."

0:52:10 > 0:52:13I held out my left hand and shook his hand.

0:52:13 > 0:52:17He went away smiling, and I almost fainted.

0:52:20 > 0:52:25I heard afterwards that he was bouncing around,

0:52:25 > 0:52:29and suddenly left the party, and he went home and cried for two weeks.

0:52:29 > 0:52:30And that moved me.

0:52:30 > 0:52:34That moved me. He was becoming a South African.

0:52:34 > 0:52:38He was discovering his own humanity and conscience.

0:52:56 > 0:52:59Tata Mandela, I understand why, as a leader,

0:52:59 > 0:53:04you opted for reconciliation, but where do you draw the line?

0:53:04 > 0:53:05One day I was with a friend of mine

0:53:05 > 0:53:08at one of my favourite restaurants in Cape Town.

0:53:08 > 0:53:12He pointed at a man sitting with two women.

0:53:12 > 0:53:16I immediately recognised him. He was talking and laughing.

0:53:18 > 0:53:23It was Wouter Basson, nicknamed Doctor Death.

0:53:23 > 0:53:24He is the former head

0:53:24 > 0:53:28of the secret chemical and biological warfare programme

0:53:28 > 0:53:29during the apartheid era.

0:53:32 > 0:53:33I walked away, very angry.

0:53:33 > 0:53:37How could you let men like him walk free and enjoy life?

0:53:43 > 0:53:48The West sanctified him, and he accepted it.

0:53:48 > 0:53:50And in return, he was generous

0:53:50 > 0:53:54to people who had done all sorts of horrible things to him,

0:53:54 > 0:53:57but more importantly, to the country as a whole.

0:53:58 > 0:54:02I saw a photograph of you and Henry Kissinger together.

0:54:02 > 0:54:04During my interview with Kissinger,

0:54:04 > 0:54:06I was shocked when he told me

0:54:06 > 0:54:10that he was not aware that anyone in the US administration

0:54:10 > 0:54:13ever regarded you as a terrorist.

0:54:13 > 0:54:16On actual day-to-day political things,

0:54:16 > 0:54:20he had a lot of views with which I strongly disagreed,

0:54:20 > 0:54:22but I understand them

0:54:22 > 0:54:27because the communists

0:54:27 > 0:54:30were the people who supported him

0:54:30 > 0:54:34in the struggle for independence.

0:54:36 > 0:54:38But the greatness of Mandela

0:54:38 > 0:54:43was not whether he was a friend of Gaddafi, or of Castro.

0:54:43 > 0:54:50The greatness of Mandela was that he had this spiritual vision

0:54:50 > 0:54:53to bring freedom to a country,

0:54:53 > 0:54:58and treat what had been viewed as the oppressors as equals,

0:54:58 > 0:55:01without vengeance.

0:55:14 > 0:55:18By chance, I came across a play called Death And The Maiden.

0:55:18 > 0:55:21It introduced me to the work of Ariel Dorfman and to Chile,

0:55:21 > 0:55:23a country I knew so little about.

0:55:24 > 0:55:27I began to read about the assassinations, tortures

0:55:27 > 0:55:30and disappearances of activists.

0:55:30 > 0:55:33I realised this could have been apartheid South Africa.

0:55:48 > 0:55:51I've had one very significant experience.

0:55:51 > 0:55:53Pinochet was dying in the hospital,

0:55:53 > 0:55:55and there was a woman who was crying.

0:55:55 > 0:55:56She was crying, it was ridiculous.

0:55:56 > 0:56:00She was crying for her saviour, for Pinochet was dying.

0:56:00 > 0:56:04And strangely enough, I felt this enormous wave of compassion for her.

0:56:04 > 0:56:05I went up to her and said,

0:56:07 > 0:56:11"I understand that you're mourning for your hero,

0:56:11 > 0:56:14"because I went through the same process

0:56:14 > 0:56:17"with Allende when he was killed, and I want to tell you

0:56:17 > 0:56:19"that I understand what you're going through.

0:56:21 > 0:56:25"What I'm asking is, can you understand what we went through?

0:56:26 > 0:56:29"I'm offering you this as a possibility.

0:56:29 > 0:56:32And she was speechless, she didn't know what to do.

0:56:37 > 0:56:41And that woman had celebrated when Allende died.

0:56:41 > 0:56:44That woman had celebrated when I was exiled from my country.

0:56:44 > 0:56:48That woman had celebrated when people were being shot

0:56:48 > 0:56:50and killed in the streets.

0:56:50 > 0:56:51That woman had celebrated

0:56:51 > 0:56:54when the judges said to women whose men had disappeared,

0:56:54 > 0:56:57"Oh, he probably went off with another woman, that's what happened.

0:56:57 > 0:56:59"That's why he's not around any more.

0:56:59 > 0:57:01"We don't have him", you know?

0:57:01 > 0:57:04That woman did all those things, I'm sure.

0:57:04 > 0:57:05Not that I'm forgiving her.

0:57:08 > 0:57:10There's a saying that in the country of the blind,

0:57:10 > 0:57:13the one-eyed man is king. That idea?

0:57:13 > 0:57:15Well, I don't think I have one eye in the country of the blind,

0:57:15 > 0:57:20but I think those of us who have our eyes slightly more open,

0:57:20 > 0:57:22slightly more open like this,

0:57:22 > 0:57:26a sliver, that we can watch reality and see it.

0:57:26 > 0:57:27I think those who have that

0:57:27 > 0:57:32have an obligation to be more compassionate than those who don't,

0:57:32 > 0:57:35because we know more. We've been through more.

0:57:36 > 0:57:39So, Mandela, who's been through much more,

0:57:39 > 0:57:43who's been through everything in some sense,

0:57:43 > 0:57:48has gone through all the stages of revolution and of pain,

0:57:48 > 0:57:52he's a man who has his eyes really open.

0:58:02 > 0:58:07MANDELA: We face an enormous challenge.

0:58:09 > 0:58:12We believe

0:58:12 > 0:58:17that no South African should ever forget the crimes committed

0:58:19 > 0:58:21in his name.

0:58:23 > 0:58:24We, however, know

0:58:24 > 0:58:27that we must forgive.

0:58:58 > 0:59:00Tata Mandela, what do you do

0:59:00 > 0:59:03with the people who committed atrocities,

0:59:03 > 0:59:05some of whom do not show remorse?

0:59:05 > 0:59:09What do we do with the foot soldiers that claim they too were victims

0:59:09 > 0:59:11and were just following orders?

0:59:11 > 0:59:15How about the leaders who claim that there was no evidence

0:59:15 > 0:59:17that they ever gave such orders,

0:59:17 > 0:59:21and that they were unaware that atrocities were being carried out?

0:59:21 > 0:59:23What about family members,

0:59:23 > 0:59:27friends, neighbours and lovers who betrayed one another?

0:59:27 > 0:59:30What about men who violated women and raped them,

0:59:30 > 0:59:31sometimes their own comrades?

0:59:33 > 0:59:37Apartheid is an Afrikaans word,

0:59:37 > 0:59:42and can be easily replaced

0:59:42 > 0:59:45by a proper, positive term.

0:59:45 > 0:59:47Neighbourly...

0:59:47 > 0:59:50good neighbourliness.

0:59:50 > 0:59:52Good neighbourliness.

0:59:52 > 0:59:54LAUGHTER

0:59:54 > 0:59:56Who's laughing?

0:59:56 > 0:59:58Who's laughing?

0:59:58 > 1:00:00REPORTER: You make no apology

1:00:00 > 1:00:02for some of the things that happened when you were president?

1:00:02 > 1:00:04I'm not here to apologise.

1:00:14 > 1:00:16The whites never said sorry.

1:00:16 > 1:00:20it was the blacks who said "Please, I beg you to say sorry."

1:00:20 > 1:00:24You remember Bishop Tutu crying on TV, saying "I beg you to say sorry."

1:00:24 > 1:00:26Fuck that! Fuck that!

1:00:26 > 1:00:30They don't feel sorry? Give them what they know best.

1:00:30 > 1:00:33You know? They don't feel sorry, give them what they know best.

1:00:33 > 1:00:35And I'm saying, how is it

1:00:35 > 1:00:37that the victim would be the one begging

1:00:37 > 1:00:39for the perpetrator to say sorry?

1:00:44 > 1:00:48Tata Mandela, I grew up in a Christian family.

1:00:48 > 1:00:53I was constantly reminded that Christ forgave our sins

1:00:53 > 1:00:58and that I in turn should forgive, but I struggled with forgiveness.

1:01:05 > 1:01:11The ultimate force to change others' minds is affection,

1:01:11 > 1:01:16love, forgiveness, not anger, not aggressiveness.

1:01:23 > 1:01:26Forgiveness doesn't have to exempt one from justice.

1:01:26 > 1:01:30You can have justice and forgiveness, all right?

1:01:33 > 1:01:38If someone steals my watch and says he's sorry,

1:01:38 > 1:01:42but he's still wearing the watch, what does that mean?

1:01:42 > 1:01:43Or he doesn't even say, "I'm sorry",

1:01:43 > 1:01:45like the majority of white South Africans.

1:01:45 > 1:01:49He's wearing my watch that he stole, and doesn't say, "I'm sorry",

1:01:49 > 1:01:51and I say, "I forgive you".

1:01:53 > 1:01:55What kind of society are we building?

1:01:55 > 1:01:58A sense of impunity, that you can get away with anything,

1:01:58 > 1:02:01as long as you hold some kind of trump card.

1:02:01 > 1:02:05I have a problem with that, quite honestly.

1:02:05 > 1:02:07Forgive does not mean forget.

1:02:11 > 1:02:15If you really forget, there's no basis for forgiveness.

1:02:17 > 1:02:20Tata Mandela, when I went to Robben Island for the first time

1:02:20 > 1:02:23I wondered, what happened to you there?

1:02:23 > 1:02:26Did you have an epiphany? I have asked myself,

1:02:26 > 1:02:29what is it about your story that's so remarkable?

1:02:29 > 1:02:30But I can only guess.

1:02:30 > 1:02:34How is it possible to come out of this grey and depressing place

1:02:34 > 1:02:37and not show any sign of bitterness?

1:02:37 > 1:02:38How is that possible?

1:02:42 > 1:02:44Your prison cell is a shrine.

1:02:44 > 1:02:47I have witnessed people break down and cry.

1:02:47 > 1:02:51A few times I'd been there, I realised something disturbing.

1:02:51 > 1:02:54The people who come to take a tour of this prison

1:02:54 > 1:02:57do not seem interested in asking the names of your companions.

1:02:57 > 1:03:00Their names and pain do not seem to matter.

1:03:00 > 1:03:04Only your pain, only your story, only your experience.

1:03:17 > 1:03:19I think he did take it too far,

1:03:19 > 1:03:22but by that time I think, having won,

1:03:22 > 1:03:27and having become what he was in the global village,

1:03:27 > 1:03:31and being, you know, treated as a god,

1:03:31 > 1:03:34he decided to behave like one.

1:03:34 > 1:03:36What do you mean?

1:03:36 > 1:03:40I mean that! That God can forgive, so if you believe you're a god,

1:03:40 > 1:03:41then, you know, you forgive.

1:03:49 > 1:03:52If everybody became President of the Republic,

1:03:52 > 1:03:54it would be rather easy to forgive the people who hurt you,

1:03:54 > 1:03:57because you'd become the president of the Republic, right?

1:03:57 > 1:04:01What happens to the woman who is still in her hut,

1:04:01 > 1:04:03and her son doesn't come home?

1:04:03 > 1:04:05And she hears the murmurs of footsteps,

1:04:05 > 1:04:08and she thinks "Maybe he's coming home,

1:04:08 > 1:04:10"maybe the ghost is coming home."

1:04:10 > 1:04:13That person cannot be consoled,

1:04:13 > 1:04:16and we should not be made to believe we can console that person.

1:04:16 > 1:04:17We can't console that person.

1:04:19 > 1:04:23One of the testimonies at the Truth and Reconciliation Committee

1:04:23 > 1:04:27that continues to haunt me is that of Charity Khondile.

1:04:27 > 1:04:30At a time when often, black women were referred to

1:04:30 > 1:04:32as being strong and forgiving,

1:04:32 > 1:04:35she refused to forgive the man who killed her son, Sizwe.

1:04:43 > 1:04:44PHONE RINGS AT OTHER END

1:04:48 > 1:04:50Hello, how are you?

1:04:52 > 1:04:55Can I speak to Mrs Charity Khondile?

1:04:56 > 1:04:59It's Khalo Matabane.

1:04:59 > 1:05:04I left a message on your voicemail the other day.

1:05:22 > 1:05:23Hello?

1:05:35 > 1:05:37When I started making this documentary

1:05:37 > 1:05:40I wanted to find out if she still felt the same way,

1:05:40 > 1:05:44especially since her son's killer recently died of cancer.

1:05:45 > 1:05:47I was curious to know what happens

1:05:47 > 1:05:51when the victim refuses to forgive the perpetrator, and then he dies.

1:05:53 > 1:05:55What does the victim do with the anger?

1:05:55 > 1:05:58What happens to a fury without a target?

1:05:58 > 1:06:02Does the anger turn on the person who carries it?

1:06:02 > 1:06:03Will you stand, please?

1:06:07 > 1:06:09Are you willing to take the oath?

1:06:09 > 1:06:11- Yes.- Do you solemnly swear

1:06:11 > 1:06:14that the evidence you will give before this commission

1:06:14 > 1:06:19will be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God?

1:06:19 > 1:06:20I swear.

1:06:20 > 1:06:22Thank you very much indeed.

1:06:53 > 1:06:54He left the country

1:06:54 > 1:06:58because he was frequently being harassed by the police

1:06:58 > 1:07:01while he was still at Fort Hare University.

1:07:06 > 1:07:10But somehow, we learnt that he was missing from Lesotho.

1:07:13 > 1:07:16His father investigated,

1:07:16 > 1:07:20and we discovered that he had been arrested, kidnapped, actually,

1:07:20 > 1:07:24whilst he was phoning his girlfriend in Port Elizabeth.

1:07:27 > 1:07:29So we didn't know what had happened.

1:07:29 > 1:07:32I think it was in 1981. For nine years, he was missing.

1:07:37 > 1:07:42After that, Dirk Coetzee confessed what had happened to him.

1:07:42 > 1:07:47So we learnt that he was imprisoned, tortured, shot,

1:07:47 > 1:07:50and that was it.

1:07:59 > 1:08:04They had burnt the body for about nine hours.

1:08:04 > 1:08:07They said they'd wanted to make sure there was not a bone left.

1:08:14 > 1:08:15It was terrible.

1:08:19 > 1:08:24They acted like cannibals, even saying his flesh smelt good.

1:08:25 > 1:08:30They said they were drinking, and his flesh was smelling good.

1:08:30 > 1:08:33That means they were almost eating him,

1:08:33 > 1:08:37sort of making the cremation a ritual to their gods,

1:08:37 > 1:08:41celebrating that they had killed a terrorist, one of their enemies.

1:08:55 > 1:08:59It wasn't fair that these people should be forgiven

1:08:59 > 1:09:04for this atrocity, because others are sent to jail for murder.

1:09:04 > 1:09:08In this case, I didn't understand the amnesty thing,

1:09:08 > 1:09:10why they had to be pardoned.

1:09:10 > 1:09:15Well, they're saying they are political prisoners,

1:09:15 > 1:09:18not murderers, that is what they were saying.

1:09:18 > 1:09:21But I feel that they should be imprisoned also

1:09:21 > 1:09:24and go to court and answer for this, just like anybody else.

1:09:24 > 1:09:27Who kills must go to jail. I don't understand.

1:09:27 > 1:09:29I'm just an ordinary mother.

1:09:29 > 1:09:32I'm not in parliament, I'm in flesh.

1:09:43 > 1:09:47After nine years, when my son was still missing,

1:09:47 > 1:09:51they wanted us to say on the spot at the Truth Commission

1:09:51 > 1:09:53that we'd forgiven those people.

1:09:53 > 1:09:59I told them it wasn't easy to forgive, it took time,

1:09:59 > 1:10:02but that didn't mean you weren't going to forgive.

1:10:02 > 1:10:06At first you feel angry, then you forgive, but you do not forget.

1:10:34 > 1:10:38Tata Mandela, I'm not sure after two years of making this documentary

1:10:38 > 1:10:42that I understand you or the choices you made.

1:10:42 > 1:10:44It is said that we are all shaped by our childhood.

1:10:44 > 1:10:48So I travelled to your ancestral land in the Eastern Cape

1:10:48 > 1:10:50in search of your traces and your footprints.

1:10:52 > 1:10:55I must admit that apart from the beautiful landscape,

1:10:55 > 1:10:58there was nothing remarkable about the area.

1:10:58 > 1:11:00It was like my village.

1:11:00 > 1:11:04It has occurred to me that perhaps we'll never understand you,

1:11:04 > 1:11:06that you're our imagination

1:11:06 > 1:11:10and that the truth about you lies in your contradictions.

1:11:22 > 1:11:26Tata Mandela, I returned to my village

1:11:26 > 1:11:29looking for clues about you in my past.

1:11:29 > 1:11:32I realised that perhaps the journey has been about struggling

1:11:32 > 1:11:35to reconcile my stories about you.

1:11:35 > 1:11:36My childhood hero.

1:12:02 > 1:12:07Tata Mandela, I am part of the generation that came of age

1:12:07 > 1:12:09when apartheid was on its way out

1:12:09 > 1:12:13and a new South Africa was starting to be born.

1:12:13 > 1:12:16History weighs heavy on my shoulders.

1:12:16 > 1:12:18I have bad memories, which I struggle with.

1:14:13 > 1:14:18Tata Mandela, we are one of the most unequal societies in the world.

1:14:18 > 1:14:21People are impatient. They can't wait any longer.

1:14:21 > 1:14:24Our people feel that change is too slow

1:14:24 > 1:14:27and the system favours the powerful and the wealthy.

1:14:27 > 1:14:32There are protests everywhere, people demand change everywhere,

1:14:32 > 1:14:36people demand freedom, real freedom everywhere.

1:14:36 > 1:14:40What is the future? I don't know.

1:14:40 > 1:14:43What I can sense is that we are sitting on a time bomb.