Nelson Mandela: Inaugural Address

Audience

Mandela's May 10 inaugural speech was directed at both a South African and an international audience. In what was in a sense a state-of-the-nation address, Mandela wanted both audiences to recognize the importance of the turning point that his address represented in the country's history. He wanted the international community to see the new South Africa as a model state, which could teach others how to reconcile and overcome conflicts of the past. He hoped that South Africans would accept his message of the need to move away from the past and look to the future as a newly united people, who should work together to overcome the legacies of the past.

Never before had so many heads of state and other dignitaries assembled on South African soil as gathered for Mandela's inauguration—nor have so many ever gathered in South Africa since. Vice President Al Gore and Hillary Clinton, wife of President Bill Clinton, came from the United States; from the United Kingdom came Prince Philip; from Cuba, Fidel Castro; Yasser Arafat of the Palestinian National Authority also came. There was an atmosphere of great excitement as the crowd that had gathered at the impressive Union Buildings, the seat of government overlooking Pretoria, awaited the arrival of Mandela. The most emotional moment came when helicopters of the South African air force flew overhead displaying the new multicolored South African flag. For many people, not only within South Africa but also in the neighboring countries, those helicopters had previously represented the repression of apartheid and the threat of attack. Now, however, they stood for the victory of liberty and the commitment of the armed forces to the new democracy.