Speech on the death of Nelson Mandela

It is my great privilege to be with you here today to pay tribute to one of the greatest leaders of the last century.

Nelson Mandela was an inspiration not just to millions in South Africa who mourn his passing, but to billions around the world.

His life began as a guerrilla leader and township lawyer. He was young, radical – stubborn, feckless and combative.

He favoured “armed struggle” because as he said: “when a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw’.

And yet, that is not what he is remembered for.

Rather, he will be revered for his dignity and forgiveness … for his extraordinary ability to rise above the wrongs of apartheid and the wrongs he endured personally.

“Men of peace”, he said, “must not think about retribution or recriminations. Courageous people do not fear forgiving, for the sake of peace”.

Nelson Mandela dreamed of a democratic and free society where people lived in harmony with equal opportunity.

It was a dream – as he said – he was prepared to die for.

It was a dream that sent him to prison for 27 years.

Yet in that crucible of prison, he came to understand his enemy.

To understand that reassurance and reconciliation was the way to end apartheid.

He killed apartheid with kindness.

Apartheid was abhorrent.

The black and coloured majority were subjugated. With no right to vote and fewer civil liberties.

They suffered segregation, poverty and human rights abuses.

Here in NZ, many chose to simply view apartheid through the rose-tinted lens of rugby, divorced from its context.

In the New Zealand Labour Party we stood against sporting contacts, cancelling the ’73 Springbok tour here, opposing the 1981 tour.

I acknowledge all those who marched in support of Nelson Mandela’s cause.

But it split our society.

It caused an enormous rift in my family and many other families.

In 1995 we lost the Rugby World Cup, but Mandela’s appearance at the final game brought reconciliation with the white minority.

The power of sport was significant.

And it seems incredible today, that through our own actions we countenanced the apartheid regime.

For me, Mandela’s essential message was:

“What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will define the significance of the life we lead.”

He reminds us: we have a duty to stand up for what is right. To do better, be bolder.

He exemplified humanity at its most generous, at its wisest, at its best.

We have had the privilege of living in Nelson Mandela’s time.

He will take his place in that rare group of historical giants alongside people such as Abraham Lincoln, Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King.

At the end he was reconciled to his own passing.

“Death – he said – is something inevitable. When a man has done what he considers to be his duty to his people and his country, he can rest in peace.

I believe I have made that effort and that is, therefore, why I will sleep for the eternity.”

Rest in peace Nelson Mandela. You have done your duty.

And our world is a much, much better place for it.

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