Then President Nelson Mandela with Betsie Verwoerd, the 94-year-old widow of late apartheid architect and prime minister Hendrick Verwoerd in Orania, a whites-only settlement, on August 15. Mandela said at the time that the purpose of his visit was "to unite South Africa where we cease to think in terms of colour."
Prof. Bheki Mngomezulu
Yesterday, on July 18, 2026, the country and the global community celebrated Nelson Mandela’s birthday. Had he lived to this day, he would have turned 108 years old.
Mandela set the reconciliation tone when he pardoned his captors and persecutors. He even had tea with their widows – something that was frowned upon by some of his comrades in the ANC and the Tripartite Alliance. But because Mandela’s mind was on the bigger issue of rebuilding South Africa, he opted not to take revenge but to chart a way forward where all races could live harmoniously.
But while Mandela’s reconciliation spirit undoubtedly saved this country from a potential bloodbath and remains relevant even after his passing, recent events have made a mockery of his spirit of reconciliation. If anything, they are an antithesis of reconciliation.
