Nelson Mandela (1918-2013): Some Recollections and Reflections

In death Nelson Mandela is undergoing a droll kind of transformation. A revolutionary fighter who led an armed struggle against the apartheid regime became towards the end of his life a universally beloved, almost cuddly, icon of peace and reconciliation. It is true that Mandela mellowed towards the end of his life, evident in what one saw of him in photographs. But the fire never died, except to the extent that the body itself was losing its vigour. Mandela himself took pains to deny that he was a "saint".