The Individual, Auto/biography and History in South Africa

new conditions of exile was the construction of a biographical presence of leaders and the
establishment of their moral authority. After the Rivonia sentence, the Oliver Tambo and
the ANC employed the tactic “to build up Mandela internationally as the charismatic
personification of the South African struggle”. Following on from his 1962 ‘last stand’ in
court, Mandela’s “stirring” Rivonia speech from the dock had “resonated throughout the
world”. 252 The ANC realised that their cause “would be best served by putting forward a
charismatic leader, someone who would capture the imagination and symbolise in his
own person the struggle against apartheid”. 253 No Easy Walk produced a set of images and
narrations of the imprisoned Nelson Mandela in which he was constructed in heroic
terms, as pre‐eminent symbol of sacrifice and toil in the face of apartheid repression, and
the natural‐born leader of the South African people.
Mandela’s unquestioned and unrivalled leadership was explained to an international
audience by the authority of Oliver Tambo, then the ANC’s Deputy President and the
chief organiser of the ANC in exile, in a discussion of Mandela’s personal attributes:
He has a natural air of authority. He cannot help magnetising a
crowd: he is commanding with a tall, handsome bearing; trusts
and is trusted by the youth, for their impatience reflects his own;
appealing to the women. He is dedicated and fearless. He is the
born mass leader. 254
But this leadership granted to Mandela as if by birth was also, for Tambo, one
characterised by moral authority, organic, and responsive to and rooted in the ‘people’:
He is the symbol of the self‐sacrificing leadership our struggle has
thrown up and our people need. He is unrelenting, yet capable of
flexibility and delicate judgement. He is an outstanding
individual, but he knows that he derives his strength from the
great masses of people, who make up the freedom struggle in our
country. 255
252 Luli Callinicos, ‘Reinventing the ANC: The Shift to Armed Struggle and Oliver Tambo’s Role in
Exile, 1961‐1964’ (manuscript in author’s possession), p 19.
253 Luli Callinicos, The World that Made Mandela, pp 262‐263.
254Oliver Tambo, ‘Introduction’ in Nelson Mandela, No Easy Walk To Freedom, p xi.
255Oliver Tambo, ‘Introduction’ in Nelson Mandela, No Easy Walk To Freedom, p xiii.
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