:00:15. > :00:20.Full Set Nelson Mandela, South Africa's first black president, has
:00:21. > :00:27.died. He was 95. We will be reporting on
:00:28. > :00:29.his remarkable life, from freedom fighter to global statesman.
:00:30. > :00:35.President Zuma has just made this announcement. Our beloved Nelson
:00:36. > :00:44.Rolihlahla Mandela, the founding president of our democratic nation,
:00:45. > :00:48.has departed. He had becoming critically frail in recent years and
:00:49. > :00:53.died at home, surrounded by close family members. He had spent three
:00:54. > :01:01.decades in jail. An enemy of the apartheid regime and a determined
:01:02. > :01:04.fighter for democracy. Mr Nelson Mandela, a freeman, taking
:01:05. > :01:10.his first steps into a new South Africa. His Long Walk To Freedom was
:01:11. > :01:17.celebrated worldwide. He became one of the towering figures of the past
:01:18. > :01:23.century. His election as Darth Africa's first black president
:01:24. > :01:30.brought a spirit of reconciliation after the pain of apartheid. Never,
:01:31. > :01:37.and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again
:01:38. > :01:43.experience the oppression of one by another. Good evening. Nelson
:01:44. > :01:48.Mandela, the father of modern South Africa, has died at the age of 95.
:01:49. > :01:51.He was a freedom fighter who became president and global statesman,
:01:52. > :01:57.carrying the hopes and aspirations of his people. Nelson Mandela spent
:01:58. > :02:01.27 years in prison, a symbol of resistance at home and a figure of
:02:02. > :02:04.great authority abroad. The announcement of his death was made
:02:05. > :02:13.in the past few minutes by President Zuma. Fellow South Africans, our
:02:14. > :02:24.beloved Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, the founding president of our
:02:25. > :02:38.democratic nation, has departed. He passed on peacefully, in the company
:02:39. > :02:55.of his family, at around 20.50 on the 5th of December, 2013. He is now
:02:56. > :03:09.resting. He is now at peace. Our nation has lost its greatest son.
:03:10. > :03:18.Our people have lost a father. Although we knew that this day would
:03:19. > :03:33.come, nothing can diminish our sense of a profound and enduring loss. His
:03:34. > :03:44.tireless struggle for freedom earned him the respect of the world. His
:03:45. > :03:52.humility, his compassion and his humanity earned him their love. Our
:03:53. > :04:02.thoughts and prayers are with the Mandela family. To them, we owe a
:04:03. > :04:15.debt of gratitude. They have sacrificed much and endured much so
:04:16. > :04:18.that our people could be free. President Jacob Zuma, making the
:04:19. > :04:25.announcement of the death of former President Mandela refused in its
:04:26. > :04:29.ago. Let's go live to Johannesburg. Our correspondent is there. It was a
:04:30. > :04:32.long wait, because lots of people were concerned over the last few
:04:33. > :04:36.years by his health. He had been very frail in recent months, but the
:04:37. > :04:40.music that will have an enormous in fact in South Africa and around the
:04:41. > :04:48.world? That is right. This announcement by Jacob Zuma that you
:04:49. > :04:52.just saw in Pretoria was preceded by heightened activity around Nelson
:04:53. > :04:58.Mandela's home in his Johannesburg suburb. We saw family members
:04:59. > :05:03.arriving and government cars. An hour before the announcement was
:05:04. > :05:07.made, we saw police vans arriving, setting up a cordon around the house
:05:08. > :05:13.to keep away whatever Krauts might have gathered. And then, of course,
:05:14. > :05:19.that announcement. The keywords there from Jacob Zuma were" profound
:05:20. > :05:24.and enduring loss" . He said South Africa had lost its greatest son,
:05:25. > :05:28.and the people have lost a father. Even though, as you said, people had
:05:29. > :05:35.been preparing for this, especially over the last dicks months, when Mr
:05:36. > :05:41.Mandela went into hospital -- over the last six months, when Mr Mandela
:05:42. > :05:45.went into hospital and was released later, South Africa had been slowly
:05:46. > :05:49.preparing itself for this news. It knew it was coming, and yet there
:05:50. > :05:51.was always this sense that he might somehow pull through. Only on
:05:52. > :05:58.Tuesday, his eldest daughter was talking about how she could see her
:05:59. > :06:01.father struggling, as she put it, on his deathbed, but he was still a
:06:02. > :06:09.courageous fighter and continued to teach them, the family and the
:06:10. > :06:14.nation, lessons as he lay there. We heard Jacob Zuma saying that in
:06:15. > :06:20.him, we saw so much of ourselves. That is one of the key things here,
:06:21. > :06:24.that for South Africans, he represented their better nature,
:06:25. > :06:32.everything they hoped their nation could become. Jacob Zuma talked
:06:33. > :06:36.about Mandela was buying vision of building a united and nonracial
:06:37. > :06:39.South Africa. At the moment, amidst the morning, there will also be a
:06:40. > :06:46.recognition of the distance that South Africa still has to go to
:06:47. > :06:49.achieve that vision. In the days and weeks to come, South Africa and
:06:50. > :06:51.people around the world will want to pay tribute and talk about his
:06:52. > :06:58.achievements with great formality and the committee as they prepare
:06:59. > :07:01.for that state funeral. That is right. We heard Jacob Zuma
:07:02. > :07:05.announcing that from tomorrow, all flags in South Africa would be
:07:06. > :07:11.lowered to half-mast and that President Mandela would get a state
:07:12. > :07:15.funeral. We understand that there will be a ceremony of national
:07:16. > :07:20.mourning at a football stadium five days from now. There will then be a
:07:21. > :07:25.period of lying in state in Pretoria, followed by an ANC
:07:26. > :07:30.ceremony at a military airbase. Then he will be flown to his hometown,
:07:31. > :07:35.where the state funeral will take place, presumably in the company of
:07:36. > :07:43.both South Africans and world leaders.
:07:44. > :07:49.We will have lots of reaction for you not just from South Africa, but
:07:50. > :07:54.from London and around the world. In the meantime, our correspondent
:07:55. > :07:57.considers the people and places that influenced Nelson Mandela and drove
:07:58. > :08:06.his struggle against the apartheid regime.
:08:07. > :08:09.His story is one of the most remarkable of any world leader. Few
:08:10. > :08:13.in history have endured oppression with such little rancour, or
:08:14. > :08:27.overcome the oppressor with such little bloodshed. I, Nelson
:08:28. > :08:33.Rolihlahla Mandela, do hereby swear to be faithful to the Republic of
:08:34. > :08:37.South Africa. In May 1994, Nelson Mandela, the man a white South
:08:38. > :08:41.Africa in prison for nearly 30 years, was sworn in as the
:08:42. > :08:44.country's first black president. Through his dignified and courageous
:08:45. > :08:48.leadership, the African National Congress had broken the stranglehold
:08:49. > :08:58.of apartheid and transformed South Africa into a multiracial democracy.
:08:59. > :09:04.Nelson Mandela was born in 1918 in South Africa's Eastern Cape, the son
:09:05. > :09:08.of a tribal chief. He qualified as a lawyer and by 1952, he had set up a
:09:09. > :09:12.legal partnership with the man who was to be a lifelong friend and
:09:13. > :09:17.ally, Oliver. Together, they campaigned against apartheid, the
:09:18. > :09:21.exercise in social engineering under which South Africa's white minority
:09:22. > :09:26.originally crushed the human rights and aspirations of the black
:09:27. > :09:31.majority. In 1956, and a lot was among 156 political activists to be
:09:32. > :09:36.charged with high treason. The trial lasted more than four years before
:09:37. > :09:41.charges were dropped. The Sharpeville massacre in 1964 the ANC
:09:42. > :09:47.to change strategy. 69 people died when police opened fire on black as
:09:48. > :09:51.traitors. The ANC was outlawed, Mandela went underground and
:09:52. > :09:55.peaceful resistance became a thing of the past. Many feel that it is
:09:56. > :09:58.useless and futile for us to continue talking peace and
:09:59. > :10:06.nonviolence against a government whose reply is only savage attacks
:10:07. > :10:11.on an unarmed and defenceless people. Mandela undertook a campaign
:10:12. > :10:15.of sabotage against the state. He was eventually arrested and charged
:10:16. > :10:18.with conspiracy to overthrow the government. At his trial, he made a
:10:19. > :10:24.three-hour speech from the dog. A tape of it was discovered later.
:10:25. > :10:28.This, his final plea for freedom and democracy for all South Africans,
:10:29. > :10:59.was to echo down 27 years he was to remain a political prisoner.
:11:00. > :11:05.Sentenced to life imprisonment, he was sent to Robben Island, a top
:11:06. > :11:08.security prison in Cape Town's table Bay. Photographs of Mandela were
:11:09. > :11:12.banned from publication. To quote him was an offence. But
:11:13. > :11:20.astonishingly, he was not embittered by his long imprisonment. I soon
:11:21. > :11:29.grasped the fact that we are not conducting a struggle against white
:11:30. > :11:35.domination. In the course of that struggle, we can form friendships
:11:36. > :11:40.with people from the other side. Outside, time was running out for
:11:41. > :11:43.apartheid. With the ANC leadership in jail, even the children of Soweto
:11:44. > :11:49.were now helping sustain the revolution. The hardline government
:11:50. > :11:52.of the W Botha tried to crush the uprising, but gradually, more
:11:53. > :12:00.liberal white people began to realise that Mandela was the
:12:01. > :12:03.solution, not the problem. An international campaign was begun for
:12:04. > :12:08.the release of Nelson Mandela as around the world, governments
:12:09. > :12:13.imposed sanctions on South Africa. In 1990, a courageous white leader,
:12:14. > :12:23.President FW de Klerk, announced that the ANC would be an banned. --
:12:24. > :12:28.un-band. Mr Mandela is taking his first steps into a new South Africa.
:12:29. > :12:34.That seven three, after 27 years of imprisonment, Nelson Mandela walked
:12:35. > :12:39.to freedom with his then wife at his side. Worldwide pressure had borne
:12:40. > :12:46.fruit, but hope soon turned to despair. Township riots left blacks
:12:47. > :12:55.fighting blacks. Mandela repeatedly appealed for peace. Take your guns,
:12:56. > :13:04.your knives and throw them into the sea. In 1994, Mandela cast his vote
:13:05. > :13:08.in South Africa's first multiracial elections. Millions enjoyed their
:13:09. > :13:13.first taste of democracy. The result was a landslide for the ANC. Nelson
:13:14. > :13:24.Mandela was president of a new South Africa. Never, never and never again
:13:25. > :13:35.shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression
:13:36. > :13:38.of one by another. Three years later Nelson Mandela gave up the
:13:39. > :13:43.presidency of the African National Congress in favour of the
:13:44. > :13:46.Vice-President, can I Mbeki, who succeeded him as head of state.
:13:47. > :13:56.Mandela was feted throughout the world as here in London. But there
:13:57. > :13:59.had been personal sadness. His long-time marriage to Winnie, once
:14:00. > :14:08.known as the mother of the nation, had ended. In 1998 at the age of 80
:14:09. > :14:11.he married Graca Machel, the widow of the late President of Mozambique.
:14:12. > :14:17.It was a marriage which brought him personal happiness and helped him to
:14:18. > :14:22.enjoy some of the family life which his long imprisonment had denied
:14:23. > :14:27.him. On the eve of the new millennium Nelson Mandela had
:14:28. > :14:34.revisited the cell on Robben Island where he had spent nearly 20 of the
:14:35. > :14:40.27 years he was imprisoned. He lit a candle to symbolise reconciliation.
:14:41. > :14:44.It was passed to an African child to represent that Continent's hope for
:14:45. > :14:48.the future, a hope inspired by the life and ideals of one of the truly
:14:49. > :15:02.great leaders of our time, Nelson Mandela.
:15:03. > :15:07.Let me show you what's happening in Johannesburg. This is the scene at
:15:08. > :15:11.the home of the Mandela family. The crowd was gathering earlier, because
:15:12. > :15:15.they were sensing that something was about to happen. The crowd you
:15:16. > :15:21.gathering in number and strength. Among them is our southern Africa
:15:22. > :15:26.correspondent, who is on the phone. I'm hoping Milton can hear me. Give
:15:27. > :15:33.me a sense of the news there and the impact of that news. I'm standing
:15:34. > :15:38.outside Nelson Mandela's house here in Houghton in the leafy suburb of
:15:39. > :15:43.Houghton in Johannesburg. There are lots of people here who are just
:15:44. > :15:48.coming in dribs and drabs, black and white. People are shocked, even
:15:49. > :15:52.though he had known that Mr Mandela was ill for a long time. The
:15:53. > :15:55.announcement by President Zuma tonight has gone a long way to shock
:15:56. > :16:01.them and to bring them the reality that, finally, a day that South
:16:02. > :16:07.Africans had feared had come had finally arrived. There is a huge
:16:08. > :16:11.media contingent here. Lots of cameras, local and international.
:16:12. > :16:15.The crowd is gathering. The police have in the last hour put up a
:16:16. > :16:20.cordon to try to control the crowds on the corner of 12th Avenue and 4th
:16:21. > :16:23.Street here in Houghton. We heard the President earlier saying the
:16:24. > :16:28.nation had lost its greatest son, our people have lost a father. He
:16:29. > :16:32.called him the great son and the father of modern South Africa. Just
:16:33. > :16:36.tell us a little bit about how the nation now will receive this news
:16:37. > :16:40.and how important it is in the days and weeks ahead to recognise his
:16:41. > :16:46.contribution properly and fully and with deep dignity. That's very
:16:47. > :16:49.important. I think President Jacob Zuma encapsulated the feelings of
:16:50. > :16:54.the nation when he said we've lost one of our greatest sons. I think
:16:55. > :17:00.that that is exactly how the nation will feel here in South Africa. .
:17:01. > :17:05.Remember Mr Mandela liberated millions of black South Africans
:17:06. > :17:09.from racial oppression. But he also liberated the oppressors themselves
:17:10. > :17:16.when he walked out of prison and said, let's bygone be bygones.
:17:17. > :17:22.That's how the nation will remember him as they prepare for his funeral.
:17:23. > :17:28.Milton, for now, thank you. We are expecting President Obama to
:17:29. > :17:32.make a statement in a short while. We'll bring that to you straight
:17:33. > :17:36.away. David Cameron is leading the tributes tonight, saying that a
:17:37. > :17:41.great light has gone out in the world. Nick Robinson our political
:17:42. > :17:45.editor is at Westminster. Nick, I just gave a brief summary there of
:17:46. > :17:50.what the Prime Minister's been saying. Tell us more. I can think of
:17:51. > :17:57.no other figure that's had greater influence on Britain. No other world
:17:58. > :18:03.figure has more stirred and moved and inspired the current number of
:18:04. > :18:12.leaders. He said Nelson Mandela was a hero of time. He went on to say he
:18:13. > :18:14.had asked the flag to be flown at half-mast at Number ten. Mr Cameron
:18:15. > :18:16.met Nelson Mandela when he was Leader of the Opposition. It was a
:18:17. > :18:20.poignant meeting because David Cameron had apologised for the way
:18:21. > :18:24.his own party, the Conservative Party, had handled apartheid. Mrs
:18:25. > :18:32.Thatcher had talked about using the carrot rather than the stick. In a
:18:33. > :18:37.very, very different time, the ANC were then suspected by many on the
:18:38. > :18:43.right of having associations with the Soviet Union, in some way of
:18:44. > :18:51.being the enemy of the West. But Mr Cameron embrace Mr Mandela and met
:18:52. > :18:55.him again, and has photographs of Nelson Mandela in his flat in
:18:56. > :18:59.Downing Street. Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, very close to many
:19:00. > :19:04.members of the African National Congress. Including some who stood
:19:05. > :19:08.trial with Nelson Mandela, which led to imprisonment for more than a
:19:09. > :19:15.quarter of a century. It wasn't until 2007 that Ed Miliband met
:19:16. > :19:19.Mandela. It was at the unveiling of a statue that stands in Parliament
:19:20. > :19:25.Square. He too I think will be very affected. Nick Clegg I'm told never
:19:26. > :19:33.got to meet Mr Mandela but like many of his age went to the Free Mandela
:19:34. > :19:37.Concert at Wembley, which was part of the great campaign that stirred
:19:38. > :19:41.so many in Britain to try to get Mandela released. There was
:19:42. > :19:47.controversy about how to handle apartheid while in prison, but after
:19:48. > :19:53.he was out Mandela was embraced by all and he was forgiving and was a
:19:54. > :19:55.frequent visitor to this country. There'll be many people I'm sure who
:19:56. > :20:00.are remembering where they were when he was released, when he became
:20:01. > :20:04.President, when he made one of those frequent visits. I was one of those
:20:05. > :20:08.lucky enough to meet him. All I've spoken to talk of the same thing:
:20:09. > :20:14.Quiet dignity and enormous strength of character.
:20:15. > :20:19.Nick, you you rightly mentioned the impact here in the UK. Many people
:20:20. > :20:22.will be mourning his death. It's the impossible to think of any other
:20:23. > :20:27.world statesman whose death would have this kind of, would deliver
:20:28. > :20:31.this kind of blow, if you like, to millions of people around the world.
:20:32. > :20:36.That's right, because he became a symbol of something. For so many he
:20:37. > :20:40.became a symbol of one man's strength, the power to endure
:20:41. > :20:44.against imprisonment, against terrible injustice, and also the
:20:45. > :20:49.strej of character -- strength of character once out of prison not
:20:50. > :20:54.then to be embittered, not then to turn on those who had imprisoned
:20:55. > :20:59.him, not then to search out for those he might regard as having been
:21:00. > :21:06.previously his or the ANC's enemies. . He seemed capable not just only of
:21:07. > :21:11.embracing people in his country but people throughout the world,
:21:12. > :21:15.whatever their view had been. As such he became for politicians as
:21:16. > :21:19.well as ordinary people a symbol of that strength of personality and the
:21:20. > :21:24.ability to overcome bitterness and terrible injustice. Nick, for now,
:21:25. > :21:29.thank you. Let's go live to Washington to our
:21:30. > :21:35.North American editor. We are expecting a statement from President
:21:36. > :21:39.Obama quite soon? He'll be making a statement very shortly indeed. I
:21:40. > :21:42.think it will be a pretty emotional moment. Nelson Mandela is the
:21:43. > :21:48.closest the world has to a secular saint. He has a particular meaning
:21:49. > :21:52.in this country, which has had its own struggle against legally imposed
:21:53. > :21:59.racism. And already the tributes have started coming from across the
:22:00. > :22:03.political spectrum. George W Bush said he and his wife join the people
:22:04. > :22:07.of South Africa in paying tribute. President Mandela bore his buried
:22:08. > :22:10.beens with dignity and grace and the world is better off because of his
:22:11. > :22:18.example, he says. The great man will be missed but his contributions will
:22:19. > :22:22.live forever. George Bush's father, George HW Bush, says he mourns the
:22:23. > :22:26.passing of one of the greatest believers in freedom we've had the
:22:27. > :22:30.privilege to know. He talks of his moral courage, which changed the
:22:31. > :22:36.course of history. I think we'll see a lot more tributes like that. Let's
:22:37. > :22:39.talk about the reaction, likely reaction across the United States.
:22:40. > :22:45.Nick Robinson earlier touched on the fact this is a man whose reputation
:22:46. > :22:50.has changed over the past 40 or 50 years. What take would you have on
:22:51. > :22:56.that in America? I think that's right. This country knows all about
:22:57. > :23:00.racism, knows all about history, so I think he is especially celebrated
:23:01. > :23:04.here because of that. As Nick said, it is an important point that it is
:23:05. > :23:09.not just what he stood for, what he fought for. It is when he got out of
:23:10. > :23:15.prison. The sense that he could forgive, the sense that he could
:23:16. > :23:18.come to an accommodation with the people who had been his poem's
:23:19. > :23:22.oppressors. That is very important in this country. It is something
:23:23. > :23:27.that President Obama has already referred to in June of this year. He
:23:28. > :23:32.was in South Africa. He visited the cell on Robben Island where Nelson
:23:33. > :23:37.Mandela was held prisoner. He wrote in the book there that he was
:23:38. > :23:43.humbled to stand where men of such courage had faced down injustice. He
:23:44. > :23:48.went on to write, no shackles or cells can match the strength of the
:23:49. > :23:54.human spirit. Only last month at the White House, President Obama hosted
:23:55. > :23:58.a reception to show the film The Walk To Freedom about Nelson
:23:59. > :24:02.Mandela. He said then that truth and justice will win out. Something that
:24:03. > :24:07.President Obama is always very keen to stress, and stress in the terms
:24:08. > :24:14.of this country's own civil rights movement. That he often uses the
:24:15. > :24:18.quote about the moral ark of the universe bends slowly but bends
:24:19. > :24:22.towards freedom. I think he will put Nelson Mandela in that context when
:24:23. > :24:26.he makes his own comments, which we are expecting very soon indeed. . He
:24:27. > :24:31.should have been up at the White House five minutes ago but we are
:24:32. > :24:38.expecting him shortly. Mark, we'll be right back when that happens.
:24:39. > :24:43.Thank you. When Mr Mandela was jailed in 1962
:24:44. > :24:46.the authorities hoped to undermine his authority and to destroy his
:24:47. > :24:51.ambition to end the apartheid system. And bring about a democratic
:24:52. > :24:58.transformation. He once said the prison years had helped to shape
:24:59. > :25:05.him. As George Alagiah experience, the prison experience turned him
:25:06. > :25:10.into a strong and unyield opponent. It has been a lepar colony and
:25:11. > :25:17.military base but most famously the place where Nelson Mandela was
:25:18. > :25:21.jailed for 25 years. . The prisoner who became a President went back to
:25:22. > :25:25.the bleak island and to the cell where his only view of the world was
:25:26. > :25:28.through steel bars. One of the things that was difficult to
:25:29. > :25:33.comprehend was that we spent such a long time here. He was back at the
:25:34. > :25:37.lime quarry where all political prisoners were forced into hard
:25:38. > :25:42.labour, a back-breaking task designed to crush their spirits. But
:25:43. > :25:45.far from it. Robben Island became a kind of finishing school for
:25:46. > :25:52.activists, with Nelson Mandela himself sometimes giving the
:25:53. > :25:54.lessons. The a visibly frail Nelson Mandela returned to the island in
:25:55. > :26:00.retirement and remembered how he once turned the tablesen a warder
:26:01. > :26:05.who threatened him. I said, you dare touch me I will take you to the
:26:06. > :26:10.highest court in the land, and by the time I finished with you, you
:26:11. > :26:15.will be as poor as a church mouse. He then stopped. The courtyard, the
:26:16. > :26:21.cells, the quarry, the backdrop against which the prisoners fought
:26:22. > :26:26.to preserve their humanity. Ahmed was there with Nelson Mandela. Our
:26:27. > :26:33.general approach was that we are not going to do anything that impinges
:26:34. > :26:39.on our dignity. Dozens of freedom fighters were banished to Robben
:26:40. > :26:44.Island but Nelson Mandela's authority was there to see. You
:26:45. > :26:49.could tell that Nelson Mandela was the leader of the group. When he
:26:50. > :26:52.spoke to his colleagues, they would stand still or work or whatever. In
:26:53. > :26:57.other words he would lead by example.
:26:58. > :27:02.In the divided nation outside, a new generation was taking to the
:27:03. > :27:06.streets. The leader of the Soweto uprising in 1976 were angry and
:27:07. > :27:16.impatient with the old guard. But even they would eventually bow to Mr
:27:17. > :27:22.Mandela's moral authority. Cyril ram pose za says if anything
:27:23. > :27:26.imprisonment had raised his profile. But imprisoning him they gave him a
:27:27. > :27:37.life that was much larger than life itself. They actually made him the
:27:38. > :27:44.hero of our struggle. They created a martyr. Created an icon. Around whom
:27:45. > :27:48.everybody rallied. The man who emergeded from prison did not
:27:49. > :27:56.disappoint. And as he once said to me, prison had taught him to think
:27:57. > :28:03.through his brain, not his blonde. The one-time firebrand was ready to
:28:04. > :28:07.reconcile old enemies. Let's carry on with our tributes and
:28:08. > :28:11.underline what we are reporting tonight. If you are just joining us
:28:12. > :28:15.here on BBC News we are reporting from South Africa the death of
:28:16. > :28:19.former President Mandela, who was 95.He had of course been ill for
:28:20. > :28:22.quite a long time. In the past three months increasingly frail,
:28:23. > :28:26.discharged from hospital in September, his third visit to
:28:27. > :28:30.hospital this year. The news announced by President Zuma just a
:28:31. > :28:35.few minutes ago that former President Mandela has passed away.
:28:36. > :28:39.With me two people with very interesting stories to share with us
:28:40. > :28:45.about their experiences in South Africa. James Robbins, who was there
:28:46. > :28:51.for the BBC back in the early 1990s when Mr Mandela was released, and
:28:52. > :29:01.our South African correspondent. What are your memories of that day,
:29:02. > :29:05.you must have been very young. I was ten years old of when Nelson Mandela
:29:06. > :29:11.walked out of the prison when he was holding hands with his former wife,
:29:12. > :29:15.Winnie Madikezela Mandela. I grew up in a family where it has always been
:29:16. > :29:19.instilled in us the importance of why people like Nelson Mandela
:29:20. > :29:25.fought and liberated South Africa. I had been be, it was a Sunday and I
:29:26. > :29:29.had been sent to the shops on that day. When I came back I found my
:29:30. > :29:36.mother staring at the TV screen and she was crying. I said to her, but
:29:37. > :29:42.why are you crying? ? What's wrong? For a good 15 or 20 seconds she did
:29:43. > :29:47.not answer me. She held me and shook me and said to me, this is the day
:29:48. > :29:53.you will never forget for the rest of your life. You are now free. That
:29:54. > :29:59.to me... I'm constantly reminded of that, each time I see the beauty of
:30:00. > :30:03.South Africa, and all its flaws, Nelson Mandela to a lot of South
:30:04. > :30:08.Africans stands for peace. He stands for reconciliation when a lot of
:30:09. > :30:12.black people were calling for revenge when he was released. He was
:30:13. > :30:18.the one who preached peace. He said in one of his speeches, I studied
:30:19. > :30:23.the Afrikaner for all the 27 years that I was in prison. I am going to
:30:24. > :30:27.beat them at their own game. I am preaching forgiveness. And that is
:30:28. > :30:34.how you defeat the enemy. That is what he kept on saying.
:30:35. > :30:37.Given that deep respect and that deep admiration, what were your
:30:38. > :30:42.feelings when you heard the news tonight? For a long time South
:30:43. > :30:46.Africans have always known, and the world, we've always known that
:30:47. > :30:53.Mandela was very ill. He was 95 years old. We've always been told by
:30:54. > :30:57.family, by members of the presidency and Government that he was stable,
:30:58. > :31:02.but critical. But all we knew a was that he was frail. A lot of people
:31:03. > :31:08.have been expecting this news for as long as Nelson Mandela had been
:31:09. > :31:12.released from prison. But this day now that it has happened, it is
:31:13. > :31:16.happening in South Africa, it has gone after midnight right now. A lot
:31:17. > :31:21.of people will not have heard what's happened when they wake up tomorrow
:31:22. > :31:26.morning, but we are likely to see people gather in every bit of open
:31:27. > :31:33.space in South Africa where they will be mourning their hero. Their
:31:34. > :31:37.father. Mandela is dad. That is what we call him in South Africa. It
:31:38. > :31:41.means father. He has been a father to the nation. He is not a saint but
:31:42. > :31:55.he has been good for the reconciliation process of South
:31:56. > :32:03.Africa. Let me bring viewers the response of President Obama. At his
:32:04. > :32:12.trial in 1964, Nelson Mandela closed his statement from the dog, saying"
:32:13. > :32:17.I have fought against white domination. I have fought against
:32:18. > :32:22.black domination. I cherished the ideal of a democratic and free
:32:23. > :32:26.society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal
:32:27. > :32:34.opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve.
:32:35. > :32:41.But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die. Nelson
:32:42. > :32:48.Mandela lived for that ideal, and he made it real. He achieved more than
:32:49. > :32:54.could be expected of any man. And today, he has gone home. We have
:32:55. > :32:59.lost one of our most influential, courageous and profoundly good human
:33:00. > :33:05.beings that any of us will share time with on this earth. He no
:33:06. > :33:10.longer belongs to us. He belongs to the ages. Through his fist knitting
:33:11. > :33:18.and unbending will to sacrifice his own freedom above others -- his
:33:19. > :33:25.fierce dignity, Madiba moved all of us. His journey from a prisoner to a
:33:26. > :33:30.president embodied the promise that human beings and countries can
:33:31. > :33:37.change for the better. His commitment to transfer power and
:33:38. > :33:40.reconcile with those who jailed him set an example that all humanity
:33:41. > :33:44.should aspire to, whether in the lives of nations or our own personal
:33:45. > :33:51.lives. And the fact that he did it all with grace and good humour and
:33:52. > :33:54.an ability to acknowledge his own imperfections only makes the man
:33:55. > :34:01.that much more remarkable. As he once said, "I am not a St, unless
:34:02. > :34:08.you think of a St as a sinner who keeps trying". President Obama,
:34:09. > :34:12.speaking at the White House a few minutes ago, with his moving
:34:13. > :34:22.tribute, having heard the news that Nelson Mandela has died. With me now
:34:23. > :34:26.are James Robbins, who spent much time reporting from South Africa.
:34:27. > :34:31.What are your memories of that time? My strongest memory is the privilege
:34:32. > :34:38.of being in Cape Town on that Sunday in February, 1990, when Nelson
:34:39. > :34:42.Mandela walked out of business. It was the most important moment in my
:34:43. > :34:51.journalistic career. You have to remember, this was a man whose image
:34:52. > :34:55.was banned in South Africa. It was not lawful to have an image of
:34:56. > :34:59.Nelson Mandela. People were sent to prison for having his photograph on
:35:00. > :35:03.a coffee mug. He had been suppressed utterly and become something of a
:35:04. > :35:08.myth, but he came out the man. He made that walk to Freedom. The very
:35:09. > :35:12.next day, I remember sitting in Archbishop Desmond Tutu's Darden at
:35:13. > :35:17.the first conference the newly released Nelson Mandela gave Mo and
:35:18. > :35:21.I asked him, what surprised you most as you made that walk towards the
:35:22. > :35:27.prison gates? He said it was the number of white people who had come
:35:28. > :35:31.among the huge black crowd. That was a deliberately reconciling statement
:35:32. > :35:40.already, at that very first instant. He was being elliptical and -- being
:35:41. > :35:44.political and holding out a hand to the minority who he knew he had to
:35:45. > :35:48.embrace. That was an extraordinary thing to hear from a man who had
:35:49. > :35:52.lost 27 years of his life. He had been in prison when his first son
:35:53. > :35:54.had died and suffered so much deprivation, and yet he was
:35:55. > :36:01.radiating forgiveness from the moment he came out of prison. That
:36:02. > :36:08.is my abiding memory. He was, in the proper sense of this word, a unique
:36:09. > :36:14.figure. He was. He was surely the only truly global hero of our age.
:36:15. > :36:21.It was his utter consistency and his committee and his forgiveness that
:36:22. > :36:30.marks him out -- his committee. He inspired a whole nation. He
:36:31. > :36:39.transcended the white regime that had pressed him for so long. They
:36:40. > :36:44.wanted to negotiate with him, and he said "I cannot negotiate unless I am
:36:45. > :36:47.a free man" . They kept putting pressure on him to renounce violence
:36:48. > :36:53.while he was still in his prison cell. What did he say? "I cannot
:36:54. > :36:58.negotiate as long as I remain in prison and I will not abandon the
:36:59. > :37:03.principle of one man, one vote". They were terrified of what might
:37:04. > :37:08.happen. They had no cause to be terrified, because he presided over
:37:09. > :37:31.an extraordinary multiracial democracy. Whatever the problems of
:37:32. > :37:33.South Africa now, let's not centuries in which they had been
:37:34. > :37:41.inferior citizens in their own land. James watched them queue in
:37:42. > :37:44.their millions to take heart in the democratic process. He has been back
:37:45. > :37:51.to find out how that day changed people's lives.
:37:52. > :37:53.South African families, out enjoying themselves. You might not think
:37:54. > :38:00.there is anything unusual about that, but to me, who reported from
:38:01. > :38:02.South Africa at the height of apartheid in the 1980s, this is
:38:03. > :38:13.extraordinary. This was then a white only suburb. I was reporting on the
:38:14. > :38:17.struggle against apartheid and the regime's extraordinarily brutal
:38:18. > :38:24.response to any opposition. In the years since then and since Nelson
:38:25. > :38:27.Mandela's release, I have been back several times, talking to ordinary
:38:28. > :38:31.South Africans, black and white, about the immense difference Nelson
:38:32. > :38:37.Mandela made their lives. These are some of their stories. Antoinette
:38:38. > :38:43.Pietersen is still coming to terms with her terrible loss as a
:38:44. > :38:47.schoolgirl in the 1970s. Look at her screaming grief. It is June 1976,
:38:48. > :38:52.and her 13-year-old brother Hector has just in shock and killed the
:38:53. > :38:59.police, first victim of the Soweto uprising. This museum of up
:39:00. > :39:03.apartheid in Soweto has been named in Hector Peterson's honour.
:39:04. > :39:09.Schoolchildren learn their divided history here. For several years,
:39:10. > :39:14.Hector's sister Antoinette chose to be one of the guides, to confront
:39:15. > :39:21.her own past every day and her grief. After years, trying to bury
:39:22. > :39:25.it, failing to face it, she says Nelson Mandela inspired her to
:39:26. > :39:31.change. I never thought I would talk about what happened. Every time I
:39:32. > :39:37.spoke about it, I became traumatised and confused. But Mandela went to
:39:38. > :39:43.prison for 27 years and kept going. Why can't I do the same? Next, the
:39:44. > :39:49.story of Herman Daly. I met him in 2004. In the Cape wine lands, the
:39:50. > :39:55.mayor of Wellington is showing some of the riches of South Africa to the
:39:56. > :39:59.Japanese ambassador, drumming up business for the nonracial rainbow
:40:00. > :40:02.nation which Nelson Mandela did so much to create. Under apartheid,
:40:03. > :40:07.Herman, then classified as Cape coloured, could never have been
:40:08. > :40:16.mayor of a wealthy town ruled by the white minority. It is the values of
:40:17. > :40:19.the man, Nelson Mandela. To have been incarcerated all those years
:40:20. > :40:23.and come out and in his very first speech said to let bygones be
:40:24. > :40:28.bygones, no South African who was at the time very influenced by the then
:40:29. > :40:33.government could have leapt these were the words of somebody was
:40:34. > :40:39.incarcerated for so long. Now meet Chris, another prisoner of
:40:40. > :40:43.apartheid. This is the Valley of grace, further east in the Cape. In
:40:44. > :40:49.1738, it was the first Christian missions nation in South Africa.
:40:50. > :40:54.More recently, this is a community which resisted apartheid, causing
:40:55. > :40:58.Nelson Mandela to name his Cape Town home after the village. Chris was
:40:59. > :41:04.pastor of the church here. He was imprisoned in the 1970s for daring
:41:05. > :41:08.to oppose white supremacy. 69 days in solitary confinement almost
:41:09. > :41:16.killed him. Nelson Mandela's example kept him going. I got the feeling I
:41:17. > :41:21.would never come out alive. Sitting there with my thoughts, I thought, I
:41:22. > :41:27.wonder what Nelson Mandela was doing at that time, having been there for
:41:28. > :41:35.so many years, separated from his family. How could he endure such
:41:36. > :41:42.torture for so many years 's here I sat for only a few month, and yet it
:41:43. > :41:47.was so hard. It was practically unbearable. And that gave me
:41:48. > :41:56.strength. Hedwig is our last witness to Nelson Mandela's greatness.
:41:57. > :42:02.Hedwig is a schoolteacher who used to believe Nelson Mandela was a
:42:03. > :42:08.terrorist to be feared, not admired. Her pupils were exclusively white
:42:09. > :42:12.until the mid-1990s. Now she rejoices in the change to
:42:13. > :42:16.multiracial education. But back then, she was scared when Nelson
:42:17. > :42:25.Mandela was freed from prison. Was it going to be safe for white South
:42:26. > :42:28.African? Will we be able to move round the way we used to? Are we
:42:29. > :42:38.going to be thrown into jail because we are white? He started talking and
:42:39. > :42:42.reassured people that there will never be a thing like apartheid in
:42:43. > :42:46.South Africa. It set our minds at rest. The stories of just a handful
:42:47. > :42:51.of South Africans who lived through the worst of times. There are
:42:52. > :42:57.thousands of South Africans with similar stories to tell. It helps
:42:58. > :43:02.explain why, for them, Nelson Mandela was not only a hero, but a
:43:03. > :43:06.giant of his age. To see his legacy, whatever the problems that still
:43:07. > :43:13.confront South Africa, to see the new, free South Africa, you just
:43:14. > :43:19.have to look around. We will have more reaction in a
:43:20. > :43:23.short while and talk more about President Obama. Bill Gates has paid
:43:24. > :43:30.tribute, and the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon.
:43:31. > :43:36.James, your impressions when you went back, clearly, people want to
:43:37. > :43:42.talk and pay tribute and recognise what happened to them on that day
:43:43. > :43:45.which changed millions of lives? That is absolutely right. Every
:43:46. > :43:50.South African, regardless of their political view, was touched by that
:43:51. > :43:55.moment. Of course, there were some on the far right in South Africa who
:43:56. > :43:59.were appalled and felt betrayed by their leaders that the hard line
:44:00. > :44:04.that had been taken since 1948 had been abandoned. They were
:44:05. > :44:08.frightened. The schoolteacher their echo that. She was not from the far
:44:09. > :44:12.right, but she was nervous because white South Africa had utterly
:44:13. > :44:15.demonised Nelson Mandela and the entire ANC, all those who stood
:44:16. > :44:20.behind him. It was a dangerous moment. All the years immediately
:44:21. > :44:25.after his release were dangerous moments. These were tough
:44:26. > :44:29.negotiations which Nelson Mandela had to lead to persuade all South
:44:30. > :44:34.Africans that actually, they could feel safe in the hands of an ANC
:44:35. > :44:42.government which was eventually elected. It is impossible to
:44:43. > :44:48.exaggerate the extent to which he had to have moral political stature.
:44:49. > :44:52.Everybody around him in the ANC acknowledged that he was head and
:44:53. > :44:57.shoulders above them. There were rivalries within the ANC, but not
:44:58. > :45:02.about him. You were saying also about your memories of the day when
:45:03. > :45:07.he was released. I am wondering about the significance of that
:45:08. > :45:14.election, when he became the first president of South Africa. What was
:45:15. > :45:19.the impact of that day? When all of this was happening I was too young,
:45:20. > :45:24.too young to even vote in 1994 when millions of South Africans were
:45:25. > :45:28.bussed in at a school that was opposite our house where my mother
:45:29. > :45:36.and I lived. A lot of people were wearing ANC colours, shouting, "Viva
:45:37. > :45:48.Mandela." And talking about not just Nelson Mandela but the likes of ol
:45:49. > :45:53.have Tambo, Sisull - -- Sisulu. There was a lot of nervousness. As
:45:54. > :45:58.much as people were shouting and happy, there was a lot of police
:45:59. > :46:04.presence there. People were worried about what was going to happen. What
:46:05. > :46:08.are we expecting for the next day? And as you rightly say, it is not
:46:09. > :46:12.everyone in South Africa who was happy about the release of Nelson
:46:13. > :46:18.Mandela from prison, but things over the years seem to have changed,
:46:19. > :46:22.because of this reconciliation and forgiveness that Nelson Mandela kept
:46:23. > :46:28.preaching. Each time that Nelson Mandela is sick and is hospitalised
:46:29. > :46:31.or was sick and hospitalised, a lot of South Africans by the millions
:46:32. > :46:37.would be virtually in that waiting room along with the family. But it
:46:38. > :46:42.was now white people saying, please don't let him die, because we don't
:46:43. > :46:47.know what future is out there for us white South Africans. Because there
:46:48. > :46:52.is still a belief by some white South Africans that when Mandela
:46:53. > :46:57.goes, which is what we've seen here, that his long walk to freedom has
:46:58. > :47:01.ended. What is to happen to them? That is the question that a lot of
:47:02. > :47:08.people are still asking. Thank you very much. I mentioned that the UN
:47:09. > :47:14.Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has been paying tribute. He called
:47:15. > :47:20.Nelson Mandela a giant of jus is. Bill Gates said they were inspired
:47:21. > :47:23.when they met President Mandela a number of times, saying he was a
:47:24. > :47:27.tireless fighter in pursuit of equality and justice for all people.
:47:28. > :47:31.Another tribute this evening in London at the film premiere of
:47:32. > :47:37.Mandela. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were there. This is what
:47:38. > :47:41.they had to say. Extremely sad and tragic news, the we are reminded
:47:42. > :47:46.what an extraordinary and inspiring man Nelson Mandela was. My thoughts
:47:47. > :47:54.and prayers are with his family right now. A tribute from the Duke
:47:55. > :47:59.of Cambridge earlier tonight. We saw President Obama earlier talking
:48:00. > :48:05.about President Mandela's contribution. Mark Mardell is in
:48:06. > :48:11.Washington for us with his thoughts on what the President said, what did
:48:12. > :48:14.you make of it? It thought it was interesting on a number of levels.
:48:15. > :48:19.President Obama spoke about his own first political involvement being in
:48:20. > :48:23.the antiapartheid movement. This is a theme we'll see over the coming
:48:24. > :48:27.days, just as doubtless people in South Africa took inspiration from
:48:28. > :48:31.the civil rights movement in the United States, so people in the
:48:32. > :48:35.civil rights movement looked towards South Africa and felt a pride in
:48:36. > :48:40.seeing a black President in place. It is America's first black
:48:41. > :48:45.President who paid tribute tonight to the fierce dignity, as he called
:48:46. > :48:49.it, of Nelson Mandela. He took a great lesson from that. He said that
:48:50. > :48:55.Nelson Mandela no longer belongs to us but to the ages. He said there
:48:56. > :49:00.was a lesson not just for politics but for people in their own personal
:49:01. > :49:06.lives. That decisions should be guided not by hate but by love. He
:49:07. > :49:12.went on to echo a quote from Martin Luther King which in itself echoes a
:49:13. > :49:17.quote from a white antislavery campaigner. He said he took history
:49:18. > :49:27.in his hands and bent the moral arc of the universe towards justice.
:49:28. > :49:33.We've been reporting the death of former President Mandela in South
:49:34. > :49:38.Africa at the age of 95. He had been increasingly frail in recent months.
:49:39. > :49:44.Lots of concern about his health oh the past two or 3 years. But the
:49:45. > :49:46.news was announced by President Zuma about 45 minutes ago that the former
:49:47. > :49:51.President has passed away. At this point some of our viewers in the UK
:49:52. > :49:54.are leaving us briefly for the news and weather where you are. Our
:49:55. > :49:57.coverage of the news of the death of Nelson Mandela continues on BBC News
:49:58. > :49:58.Channel and BBC World