Nelson Mandela Long Walk to Freedom Class 10: Summary and Q&A

This guide to Nelson Mandela Long Walk to Freedom Class 10 takes you through the chapter in order, from the inauguration ceremony to Mandela's thoughts on what freedom really means. You will get a clear summary, the key ideas behind each part, the themes, and eight board-style question answers.

Summary: The Inauguration Day

On 10 May 1994, South Africa moved from decades of white minority rule to its first democratic, non-racial government. The ceremony took place in the sandstone amphitheatre of the Union Buildings in Pretoria. For decades this place had been the seat of white supremacy. Now it held a rainbow gathering of people from over 140 countries.

Mandela describes the day as bright and clear. F. W. de Klerk took the oath as second deputy president, Thabo Mbeki as first deputy president, and Mandela as president. His daughter Zenani was with him. He pledged to serve the country and its people. Note that the order in which the offices were sworn in is not the same as their order of importance.

Mandela saw the day as a victory for justice, peace and human dignity. South Africans, once treated as outlaws, were now hosting the world on their own soil.

Summary: Jets, Anthems and a New Flag

South African jets and helicopters flew in perfect formation over the Union Buildings. This was more than a show of skill. It showed the military's loyalty to the new, freely elected government. Mandela notes that the same generals who now saluted him would have arrested him only a few years earlier.

Two national anthems were played: Nkosi Sikelel –iAfrika, the new anthem, and Die Stem, the old one. Each group did not yet know the words of the other's anthem, but Mandela believed they would soon know them by heart. This stands for reconciliation. Impala jets ended the display with a smoke trail in the colours of the new flag: black, red, green, blue and gold.

Summary: Apartheid, Courage and Twin Obligations

Apartheid was a political system that separated people by race. After the Anglo-Boer war, white-skinned peoples built a system of racial domination against dark-skinned peoples, one of the harshest, most inhumane societies ever known.

That system left a deep and lasting wound. But Mandela says it also produced people of extraordinary courage, wisdom and generosity, such as Oliver Tambo, Walter Sisulu and Chief Luthuli. Depths of oppression, he says, created heights of character. This praises those who resisted; it does not make the oppression acceptable. He adds that a country's greatest wealth is its people, finer and truer than the purest diamonds.

From his comrades, Mandela learned that courage is not the absence of fear but the triumph over it. He believes love comes more naturally to the human heart than hate. If people can learn to hate, they can be taught to love. Even in prison, a glimmer of humanity in a guard kept him going. Man's goodness is a flame that can be hidden but never put out.

Every man, Mandela says, has twin obligations: to his family (parents, wife and children) and to his people, community and country. In a civil and humane society, a person can meet both. In apartheid South Africa, a man of colour who served his people was ripped from his family and pushed into a twilight existence of secrecy and rebellion.

Summary: How His Idea of Freedom Grew

• As a boy, Mandela felt born free: running in fields, swimming in streams, roasting mealies. He later saw this boyhood freedom as an illusion.
• As a student, he wanted transitory freedoms, such as staying out at night or reading what he liked.
• As a young man in Johannesburg, he wanted basic and honourable freedoms: reaching his potential, earning a living, having a family.
• Finally, he saw that everyone who looked like him was also unfree. He joined the African National Congress, and the hunger for his own freedom became a greater hunger for the freedom of his people.

His last reflection is that freedom is indivisible. The oppressor must be liberated just as surely as the oppressed. A person who takes away another's freedom is a prisoner of hatred, locked behind the bars of prejudice and narrow-mindedness. Both are robbed of their humanity.

Themes and Message

• Freedom for all: True freedom cannot belong to one group only.
• Courage: Bravery means conquering fear, not feeling none.
• Hope in human goodness: Love can be taught, and goodness is never fully put out.
• Reconciliation: Two anthems and a loyal army point to a shared future.
• Sacrifice: Serving his people cost Mandela a normal family life.

Important Question Answers

1. Where did the inauguration take place, and why did it matter? In the sandstone amphitheatre of the Union Buildings in Pretoria. It marked the installation of South Africa's first democratic, non-racial government in a place once seen as the seat of white supremacy.

2. Why does Mandela call the ceremony a rainbow gathering? People of many races and nations came together at a ceremony for a new non-racial democracy. The phrase shows diversity and shared hope.

3. How had the attitude of the military generals changed? They once served the apartheid regime and would have arrested Mandela. Now they saluted him and pledged loyalty to the president of a democratic nation.

4. What does Mandela mean by depths of oppression create heights of character? He admires the courage and generosity of those who resisted severe injustice, such as Oliver Tambo and Walter Sisulu. He sees great character in their response, but this does not justify the oppression.

5. What, according to Mandela, is the difference between a brave man and one who is not? A brave man is not one who never feels afraid, but one who conquers that fear. Courage is the triumph over fear, not its absence.

6. What are the twin obligations? The first is to one's family (parents, wife and children). The second is to one's people, community and country.

7. How did the hunger for freedom change Mandela's life? It turned a frightened young man into a bold one, a law-abiding attorney into a criminal in the eyes of the law, and a family-loving husband into a man who had to live like a monk.

8. Why does Mandela say the oppressor is not free either? The oppressor is a prisoner of hatred, locked behind bars of prejudice and narrow-mindedness. By taking away another's freedom, he loses his own humanity too.

Words and Common Mistakes

Useful idioms: pushed to our limits means reaching the point where one cannot bear more suffering; earning my keep means earning enough to live on. The phrase the Oliver Tambos uses the with a name to mean many people of that type.

Common mistakes to avoid:

• Do not say de Klerk became first deputy president. He was second deputy president; Thabo Mbeki was first.
• Do not write that Mandela thought oppression was good because it built character. He admired those who resisted it.
• Do not treat the oppressor and the oppressed as suffering in the same way. The oppressed lose their rights; the oppressor is trapped by hatred and prejudice.

When you are ready to test yourself on this chapter, study this chapter with Joy.