A Tapestry of Nelson Mandela’s Life 100 years After His Birth

Unthreading Mandela was developed to celebrate the centenary of the birth of Nelson Mandela - one of the most spoken about, analysed and idealised figures in recent history. While his impact is extraordinary, his legacy is complex. The democracy he and so many others fought for is imperfect. It is an unfinished project. We invite you to join in, add your voice. Do not be afraid to challenge and question. Become part of the conversation. 

Madiba’s enduring respect for Anglo-Saxon cultures is rooted in his early encounters with mission schooling. The British notions of ‘fair play’ and doing things ‘properly’ remain with him throughout his life. 

Mandela makes his way to Johannesburg, where he initially feels very much an outside. But he is will soon become a charming ‘man about town’, a confident legal professional and a committed political activist. 

Mandela becomes a firebrand ANC leader and military commander. He goes underground, is arrested, and becomes Accused No 1. In the Rivonia Trial. His political activism comes at a huge personal cost.

Prison shapes Mandela, inside and out. Given the harshness of prison life, and the length of his incarceration, it is intriguing that he later looks back on his years in prison with some nostalgia. In a sense he remains a prisoner throughout his life: a prisoner of fame, and, towards the end of his life, a prisoner of infirmity.

Throughout the transition period the dominant narrative is reconciliation; the purpose is to entrench democracy for all South Africans. But it is a process that requires much negotiation and compromise. It required a liberation movement to become a governing party, and the leader of that movement to become a president and an international statesman. 

Becoming a global brand: Madiba is on the world stage, universally adored, finding domestic happiness again in his marriage to Graça Machel but always having to deal with family pressures and public demands.