Nelson Mandela Ethical Issues

The transition from apartheid to democracy in South Africa leading into the general election of 1994 was turbulent, to say the least. The election itself was marred by car bombings, among other incidents, but the outcome was widely expected. The 77 year old Mandela’s inauguration was televised to a billion viewers worldwide and attended by world leaders of various backgrounds, signifying to the world at large how important an event the election had been. The task at hand, the reconciliation of South Africa as a whole, was as important as anything that had been done before, and Mandela would take a number of steps in the right direction.
1994 was a big start for Mandela, as he would release his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, in the same year as his inauguration. The book, much of which had been secretly written during Mandela’s prison term, details the majority of Mandela’s life up to just before the publication (Biography.com Editors, 2016). The events of 1994 would only be the start of Mandela’s plans for his presidential term.
In 1995, Mandela would oversee the establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission tasked with the investigation of human rights and political violations that had been …show more content…
From the very start, Mandela had a specific goal in mind, and every step he took towards reaching that goal was done in a way that left no room to question his motives. To draw an example from Mandela’s presidential term, Mandela’s goal was to have a unified “Rainbow Nation” that saw all citizens of South Africa as equals. To that end, he championed a rugby team that had previously been boycotted as a symbol of apartheid oppression, and used a sporting event (which are inherently economically motivated) to show his country that they could all be together, in this and all other things. No cloak and dagger routine was needed to do to this, just open discussion and ethical