No Easy Walk to Freedom

Nelson Mandela (1918—2013) was a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, politician, and philanthropist, who served as the first democratically-elected President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. Mandela established the Nelson Mandela Foundation as his post-presidential office in 1999. It is a not-for-profit organization which has, since 2004, been transformed into an archive and trusted voice on his life and times. It carries out its mandate to promote Mandela’s vision and work by convening dialogues and creating platforms for engagement around critical issues to promote social justice.

William Gumede is an associate professor in the School of Governance at the University of the Witwatersrand. He is executive chairperson of the Democracy Works Foundation and former deputy editor of the Sowetan. During the anti-apartheid struggle, he held several leadership positions in South African student, civic and trade union movements. He was a political violence mediator and area coordinator for the National Peace Committee during the multiparty negotiations for a democratic South Africa and was seconded to South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. He is the author of the bestselling Thabo Mbeki and the Battle for the Soul of the ANC; Restless Nation: Making Sense of Troubled Times; and South Africa in BRICS: Salvation or Ruination.