Nelson Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom — RBSE Class 10 English (First Flight)
On 10 May 1994, a man who had spent 27 years in prison stood up to be sworn in as the President of the very country that had jailed him. This extract from Nelson Mandela's autobiography is his account of that day — and a meditation on what freedom really means, for the oppressed and the oppressor.
1. The day of the inauguration
The lesson describes the inauguration ceremony held on 10 May 1994 at the Union Buildings amphitheatre in Pretoria, attended by dignitaries and world leaders from over 140 countries — "the largest gathering ever of international leaders on South African soil." It marked the installation of South Africa's first democratic, non-racial government, with Mandela as President.
In his speech Mandela pledged to liberate all people from the bondage of poverty, deprivation, suffering and discrimination, and declared, "Never, never and never again" shall this beautiful land experience the oppression of one by another. A spectacular air show by jets and helicopters of the South African military demonstrated the armed forces' loyalty to the new democracy — the same forces that had once persecuted him.
2. Honouring the heroes — and a redefinition of courage
Mandela reflects on the price of freedom. He pays tribute to the countless African patriots — many no longer living — who sacrificed everything so that millions could be free. He says South Africa's greatest wealth is not its minerals but its people, "finer and truer than the purest diamonds."
From their courage he draws a definition: "the brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear." True bravery is not the absence of fear but the mastery of it.
3. The twin obligations — and a hard-won wisdom
Mandela says that in life every person has twin obligations: to his family (parents, wife, children) and to his people, community and country. In an apartheid society, a Black man who tried to fulfil his duty to his people was inevitably torn from his family and home — so he could not fulfil both. It was this realisation, he says, that turned a law-abiding young man into a "criminal", a family man into a man without a home.
He explains how his hunger for freedom grew and changed: as a boy he wanted only small, transitory freedoms (to stay out at night, to read what he pleased). As a young man he wanted the basic and honourable freedoms of earning a living and having a family. Then he realised it was not just his freedom that was curtailed but the freedom of all his people — and this transformed him into a freedom fighter.
4. The deepest insight — freeing the oppressor too
Mandela's most profound reflection comes at the end:
"No one is born hating another person because of the colour of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love…"
And his definition of freedom is double-edged: the oppressor is no more free than the oppressed. A man who takes away another's freedom is a prisoner of hatred, locked behind the bars of prejudice and narrow-mindedness. Therefore, he concludes, "the oppressed and the oppressor alike are robbed of their humanity" — and his long walk is not over, because to be truly free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.
5. Why it matters
This is not just a memoir of a famous day; it is a piece of moral reasoning. Mandela refuses to see freedom as revenge or as something only for his own people. By insisting that hatred is learned (and so can be unlearned), and that the oppressor too must be liberated, he turns a personal triumph into a universal lesson about reconciliation.
For the RBSE board, remember the facts of the inauguration (10 May 1994, Pretoria, first Black President), Mandela's definitions (courage = conquering fear; freedom that frees both sides), the twin obligations, and the growth of his idea of freedom — these are the chapter's standard short- and long-answer questions.
