Rhetoric, Dialogue, and Performance in Nelson Mandela's "Televised Address on the Assassination of Chris Hani"

After the assassination of the popular black militant Chris Hani y Nelson Mandela sought in his "Televised Address on the Assassination of Chris Hani" to move beyond identity politics and to redefine the murder into a moment of political and dialogic change. He praised Hani as a model of proper political engagement, uncovered the dynamics of dialogue between South Africans, and performed an alternative stance for the post-apartheid era. Mandela's rhetoric reveals both the limitations and the possibilities of performative rhetoric during difficult transitions to democracy.