What impressed most was when he came to accept the principle of armed struggle; his strategy was not to seize power by force but rather to make the government negotiate; and when, in turn, the government eventually yielded, Mandela showed neither bitterness nor vindictiveness, but with an astonishing capacity for forgiveness & conciliation.
In 1994 he secured a conciliatory and mostly peaceful end to apartheid and at the multi-racial elections held in 1994, freed Nelson Mandela led the African National Congress (ANC) to victory and became South Africa’s first black president.
During his tenure in the Government of National Unity he invited other political parties to join cabinet and promulgated a new constitution. He also created the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate past human rights abuses. While continuing former government’s liberal economic policy, administration also introduced measures to encourage land reform, combat poverty, and expand healthcare services.
Nelson Mandela demonstrated once again to the world that Democracy is a system of government through elected representative by and for the whole population. If Sri Lanka had practiced it well, country would have had the chance to live in peace. Then the people would have been spared of the bloody cruel civil-war that lasted decades brought lots of suffering and miseries. Guess there are many lessons to be learnt for those in control of power in our land, that was a paradise prior to the civil-war!
Northern Breeze 