President Mandela was not a hands-on president at any time.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
The relationship between me and President Mandela right at the beginning was not a very well-established relationship. It was based on two meetings.
Unsurprisingly, Nelson Mandela had and still has many detractors.
Nelson Mandela sat in a South African prison for 27 years. He was nonviolent. He negotiated his way out of jail. His honor and suffering of 27 years in a South African prison is really ultimately what brought about the freedom of South Africa. That is nonviolence.
Mandela is just the eternal man. You want that man to be around forever. It's the closest thing we have to God, I think. He's the father of mankind, almost.
Mandela once phoned me out of the blue while he was still president, and at first he played with me a bit.
The Constitution has not greatly bothered any wartime President.
The popularity of leaders like Mandela was an invitation to counter-attack by the government. Mandela was banned from speaking, from attending gatherings, from leaving Johannesburg, from belonging to any organization.
Of course, Nelson Mandela, everybody knows Nelson Mandela. I mean, he's a great gift not only for Africa but for the whole world, actually. But do not expect everybody to be a Nelson Mandela.
Nelson Mandela just died, so that says so much because it's a tremendously powerful and great man who was very sensitive. Loved all people, forgave his enemies, and showed the world how to stand up and do it the right way.
Like you do about Nelson Mandela, you can't help feeling the guy's a good man.