Nigeria 2013 in Search: Heroes, Moments and Tragedies

What newsmakers and trends captured the imagination of Nigeria in 2013?

Every day, around the world, we search. We want to find out more about our heroes, explore far-away destinations, or settle a dinner table dispute between friends. And sometimes we just search to find out if eating ‘suya’ is a good dieting decision.

Zeitgeist — German for “spirit of the times” — is Google’s yearly look at the billions of searches performed throughout the year. Google’s Year-End Zeitgeist uses data from multiple sources while filtering out spam and repeat queries, to build fascinating top-ten lists across pop culture, sports, music, politics, news, and more.

This year, we reflect on the people, places, moments and topics that sent Nigerians searching for answers.

Topping the list of top trending people in Nigeria is the late music diva Susan Oluwabimpe Filani Harvey popularly known as Goldie. The large amount of Goldie-related queries following her death on valentines day shows she was and will also continue to hold a golden place in the heart of Nigerians. Other notable individuals also on the list include 2013 Big Brother Africa contestant Beverly Osu, the Time 2013 Person of the year, Pope Francis, late musician Damilola Olaniyan, a.k.a. Damino Damoche, late ‘Fast & Furious’ star Paul Walker amongst others.

The top trending events list is one that possibly reflects Nigerians’ concern for the tertiary education system, with the #1 and #2 trending terms being ‘ASUU strike’ and ‘JAMB Exam’. Other high interest 2013 events in Nigeria are the high tensioned Anambra Elections, the death of former Ondo state governor Olusegun Agagu, the birth of the newest member of the british royal family, Prince George amongst others.

2013 can also be said to be the year of Afro hip-hop, with the top 10 most trending Nigerian musicians all coming from the Afro hip-hop genre. Occupying the #1 top trending Nigerian musician position is EME’s singer, songwriter and performer Wizkid. He beat the “Baddest Guy Ever Liveth”, Olamide and HKN records’s Davido to #2 and #3 to become Nigeria’s most popular musician of 2013. Also featuring in the list are MI Abaga, Flavour, P-square, Timaya, Tiwa Savage and Dbanj.

There weren’t much surprises in the top trending Nollywood celebs with Mercy Johnson Okojie, Tonto Dike and Ini Edo retaining the top 3 positions- only difference from last year is that Tonto Dike now holds the #2 position.

In the sport category, Chelsea, Arsenal and Barcelona remained the top 3 most searched football clubs, while Victor Moses, John Obi Mikel and Coach Stephen Keshi topped the list of most searched sports personalities of 2013. For the first time, the Nigeria Super Eagles featured on the top 10 most searched football teams list, coming #9 ahead of the EPL’s Everton.

Other Nigeria-specific lists include Top 10 most searched cars, Top 10 Most searched Mobile Gadgets and Phones, Top 10 “How tos…”, and Top 10 “What is…”.

Globally, the #1 trending search of 2013 was an international symbol of strength and peace: Nelson Mandela. Global search interest in the former President of South Africa was already high this year, and after his passing, people from around the world turned to Google to learn more about Madiba and his legacy.

Here’s a full look at all of our top 10 lists for Nigeria in 2013.

You can also explore more global trends this year—directly from our Zeitgeist homepage. Check out the top 100 trending searches of 2013, and simply click one to dig deeper on Google Trends. Or if you’d rather be nostalgic, you can take a look back at each year's Zeitgeist from 2001 on.

You can also see an interactive 3D global map showcasing the top search trends of 2013 by day in cities around the world. You can easily spin the globe, select a city and explore the topics that brought people to search on any day of the year—from local sports games to international news stories.

Enjoy the 2013 GLOBAL reel here.

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QUADRANT CELEBRATES MEDIA PARTNERS IN GRAND STYLE

Nigeria's foremost full service Public Relations consultant, The Quadrant Company (TQC) recently showed sincere heart of gratitude as it celebrates eminent media practitioners  at the 2013 media end of the year party. The grand ceremony took place at the corporate office, 32, Ladoke Akintola Street, GRA Ikeja.

L-R: Mr. Biodun Shobanjo, Chairman, Troyka Holdings and Mr. Bolaji Okusaga, Managing Director, The Quadrant Company(TQC) at the 2013 media end of the year party organised by TQC on 18th of December, 2013 in Ikeja GRA, Lagos

The fun-filled ceremony was well attended by eminent media personnel in Nigeria both in the print and electronic media, teeming clients of TQC, the Directors of Troyka Holdings, members of staff of TQC as well as the chief host, Mr Bolaji Okusaga, the Managing Director of TQC. It was a graceful moment amidst music, comedy, drinks, and corporate gifts from one of its numerous clients, Mouka Limited.

L-R: Mrs Tosin Adefeko, Senior Accounts Director, Mr. Bolaji Okusaga, Managing Director and Mr. Femi Olaleye, Financial Controller  all of The Quadrant Company at the 2013 media end of the year party organised by TQC on 18th of December, 2013 in Ikeja GRA, Lagos

Speaking at the grand ceremony, Mr. Bolaji Okusaga, the Managing Director of TQC, “we are so delighted to have all our media friends at this get together. It is our little way of saying thank you for all you have done for us. You have been part of our success story in 2013 and we rate you in high esteem”

A cross section of some media practitioners at the 2013 media end of the year party organised by TQC on 18th of December, 2013 in Ikeja GRA, Lagos

“We are looking forward into the future and we believe that working with you will continue to get better and better. We are here, because of you and we hope to continue to do everything to sustain this relationship” he added

There is no doubt that TQC has not renege in its core value of creating and maintaining a flow of interest in its subject, while communicating tangible facts, creating insightful investment propositions and helping to nurture a constructive engagement with target investment constituencies locally and internationally, just as TQC is planning to offer its clients improved and better service in 2014 through its esteemed, thorough and cerebral team.

A cross section of  media practitioners at the 2013 media end of the year party organised by TQC on 18th of December, 2013 in Ikeja GRA, Lagos

A cross section of  media practitioners with Mr. Eyitayo Olatoye, Associate Consultant, The Quadrant Company, at the 2013 media end of the year party organised by TQC on 18th of December, 2013 in Ikeja GRA, Lagos

A circle of  Troyka Holdings Directors and staff, smiling around the table , Mr. Olakanmi Amoo-Onidundu, Group Director, Human Capital Development, Troyka Holdings (brown shirt), Doctor Bisi Olawuyi , Head Research and Development  Consultant, (navy blue polo shirt),  at the 2013 media end of the year party organised by TQC on 18th of December, 2013 in Ikeja GRA, Lagos

A cross section of  media practitioners at the 2013 media end of the year party organised by TQC on 18th of December, 2013 in Ikeja GRA, Lagos

R-L Mrs  Tosin Adefeko handing over Mouka Limited corporate gift  to Tosin  Ajibade, Olorisupergal, a blogger , winner, of the question and answer competition at the event  while Ken Adejumo, a blogger waits to receive his gift at the 2013 media end of the year party organised by TQC on 18th of December, 2013 in Ikeja GRA, Lagos

Mr. Jimi Awosika, Director, Troyka Holdings  popularly known as Baale having fun at the 2013 media end of the year party organised by TQC on 18th of December, 2013 in Ikeja GRA, Lagos

Femi Awopetu, Analyst, The Quadrant Company delivering Mouka speech at the event

Staff (big girls)of The Quadrant Company

Dancing galore at the event (Azzonto dancing step)

Mrs Anurika Azubike, Senior Analyst, handing over Mouka Floral Mattress corporate gifts to winner of the question and answer competition.

Mrs Tosin Adefeko handing over Mouka Floral Mattress corporate gifts to winner of the question and answer competition.

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Blue Band National Growth Challenge Closing Ceremony

Blue Band- Unilever has finally come to the grand closing of its weeks long National Growth Challenge Programme. 

L-R: Tea and Spreads Category Manager, Unilever Nigeria, Ms. Vivian Ihaza   and Enugu State Nutrition Officer, Mrs. Henrietta Ugwu   with the winners of Art work competition (from left) David Imafidon -1st position, Ajike Adejire and Oyinkansola Bada, 2nd position at the grand closing ceremony of Blue Band Margarine Sponsored National Growth Challenge held in Lagos today.

L-R President, Nutrition Society of Nigeria, Professor Ngozi Nnam, represented by Lagos State Nutrition Officer, Dr. Abimbola Ajayi; Tea and Spreads Category Manager, Unilever Nigeria, Ms. Vivian Ihaza   and Enugu State Nutrition Officer, Mrs. Henrietta Ugwu  at  the grand closing ceremony  of Blue Band Margarine Sponsored  National Growth Challenge held in Lagos today.

L-R: Tea and Spreads Category Manager, Unilever Nigeria, Ms. Vivian Ihaza   and Enugu State Nutrition Officer, Mrs. Henrietta Ugwu   with a cross section of 100,000 children reached during the National Growth Challenge programme at the grand closing ceremony of Blue Band Margarine Sponsored National Growth Challenge held in Lagos today.

L-R: Tea and Spreads Category Manager, Unilever Nigeria, Ms. Vivian Ihaza   and Enugu State Nutrition Officer, Mrs. Henrietta Ugwu   with a cross section of 100,000 children reached during the National Growth Challenge programme at the grand closing ceremony of Blue Band Margarine Sponsored National Growth Challenge held in Lagos today.

L-R, : Tea and Spreads  Assistant Category Manager, Unilever Nigeria, Ms. Ogechukwu.Anozie, Master of Ceremony,  Ajibola Adebayo-Holy Mallam and Tea and Spreads Category Manager, Unilever Nigeria, Ms. Vivian Ihaza   at the grand closing ceremony of Blue Band Margarine Sponsored National Growth Challenge held in Lagos today.

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CNN INTERNATIONAL STRENGTHENS AFRICA COMMITMENT

 ‘African Start-Up’ To Shine Spotlight On African Sme Entrepreneurs

 CNN International today announced that it is further cementing its long-standing commitment to the African continent with the launch of a new programming strand.

‘African Start-Up’ joins ‘African Voices’, ‘CNN Marketplace Africa’ and ‘Inside Africa’ as the latest addition to the leading international news network’s programming output looking at the events that are shaping the African continent and the people defining the African story.

Deborah Rayner VP and Managing Editor Europe, Middle East & Africa, CNN International, said:  “As the leading brand on the continent we are proud to continue finding new ways to tell the African story, in all its many dimensions, to our international audiences. We look forward to this new strand resonating both with African viewers and with viewers around the world. Africa is an important region for us as a global network, and ‘African Start-Up’ joins a strong stable of great programming.”

The new series, airing as a weekly segment and then bi-monthly as a half hour special,  follows several SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) entrepreneurs in various African countries to see how they’re working to make their dreams become reality.  It explores how they generate their ideas, formulate business plans, raise capital and distribute their products. The entrepreneurs take viewers through their daily challenges, charting both the setbacks and the opportunities that exist for those with the vision and creativity to try something new.

About CNN in Africa:

CNN is the leading international news brand in Africa according to EMS Africa (July 2012) and operates four bureaux across the continent delivering a diverse range of news content to its international audiences around the world.

Its programming remit for Africa dates back to 1999 when it launched ‘Inside Africa’ and has since then expanded with the launches of ‘African Voices’ and ‘CNN Marketplace Africa’ and now ‘African Start-Up’.

CNN has invested for 18 years in the CNN MultiChoice African Journalist Awards, the most prestigious and respected award for journalists across the African continent. Its objective is to reinforce the importance of the role of journalists in Africa's development and to reward, recognise and encourage journalistic talent across all media disciplines.

About ‘African Start-Up’

‘African Start-Up’ airs each Wednesday in ‘Global Exchange’ at 1600 GMT / 1700 WAT / 1800 SAST / 1900 EAT on CNN International.

Every two months, viewers will be able to catch up with all the segments in a 30 minute special.

A dedicated CNN website www.cnn.com/africanstartup encourages user participation, and serves as a forum for ideas.

The weekly segments debut from this month, with the first half hour special set to air in January 2014.

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British Airways’ Christmas 2013 Getaways Revealed

Friday December 20, 2013 will see a peak of more than 115,000 customers getting away for the Christmas break across British Airways’ network.

The busiest day for people returning home is Friday, January 3 when nearly 102,000 people will be flying with the airline.

On Christmas day British Airways cabin crew will be hosting 30,000 festive travellers across its network and serving them thousands of turkey dinners and Christmas puddings.

175 British Airways planes will be taking off on December 25 and 955 pilots and 3,546 cabin crew will be working.

Just under two million people will fly between today (Monday December 16) and Sunday January 5, 2014 to and from the airline’s 166 destinations worldwide.

Most popular destinations include New York, Scotland and the Caribbean.

Customers may also come across British Airways staff with Christmas themed surnames including two Christmases, one Claus, four Rudolphs, two Snowballs, five Yules and five Angels!

And looking to the new year, the airline is hailing Albuquerque (USA), Austin (USA), Johannesburg (South Africa), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Leeds (UK), Chengdu (China), Santorini (Greece), Glasgow (UK), Oporto (Portugal), Hong Kong (Greater China), Moscow (Russia), Mykonos (Greek Islands) and Malta as the places to be seen in 2014.

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“Fire of Zamani”: Ice Prince Zamani Thrills fans at Etisalat Sponsored Album Launch

Fans, friends and associates of Chocolate City Records rapper, Ice Prince Zamani, were last weekend thrilled at a concert held at the expo hall of the Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos to launch his new album, titled Fire of Zamani (FOZ) with sponsorship considerations from Etisalat Nigeria.

According to Chief Commercial Officer at Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Matthew Willsher the company is proud to support platforms that promote the works of young talents in Nigeria.

"At Etisalat, we believe that youth empowerment is a key to nation-building, therefore we seek to empower Nigerian youths to be more creative and innovative so that they can be useful to their communities. As you may know from other activities we are involved in, supporting great talents in music, arts, photography and small businesses in Nigeria is part of the ways we encourage youth development. Good music is generally loved by Nigerians and we reckon that promoting a talent such as Ice Prince would go a long way to positively affect the Nigerian music industry,” he said.

To lighten up the mood of the event was the presence of the Chief of Staff to the Edo State Governor, Honourable Patrick Obahiagbon, who with his usual jaw-breaking words described Ice Prince Zamani as “one of Nigeria’s musical hula palooza”, stating that he felt highly honoured to be a part of the album launch as he ushered Ice Prince in to light up the stage.

Performing on stage for more than four hours, Ice Prince performed some of the popular songs in his album including Wassup Wassup, See Myself, Juju and Gimmie dat. Other acts such as Olamide, Phyno, Young L, Sunny Neji, Chip Monk, Don Jazzy and Dr Sid were among stars that performed at a night filled with fire and excitement.

The event which ended at the early hours of the morning saw participants queuing up to buy copies of the FOZ album at the venue.

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Nokia Extends Developers Rewards Program to Nigeria and Ghana

Global phone manufacturer, Nokia, has announced that it is extending its rewards program for developers, DVLUP, to Nigeria and Ghana. DVLUP is a rewards program for Windows Phone developers across the globe which enables them create, book and manage their own app promotions and also build better apps via exclusive App Challenges.

DVLUP program, launched in Nigeria and Ghana on Tuesday, December 12^th, 2013 is a first from Nokia that allows developers control promotion of their app by introducing technologies unique to Nokia devices, and marketing opportunities afforded only by Nokia rather than depending on most app stores that rely on algorithms and storeowners to control promotional efforts.

The program, which Windows Phone developers can join for free, centers on winning badges, earning experience points, and leveling up by completing quizzes and challenges related to app development. By creating high-quality apps, developers can also earn additional points and “unlock even greater opportunities” such as promoting their work through the Windows Phone Store, App Social, in-app advertising, as well as by using print, digital, social and out-of-home media.

Head, Ecosystem Developer Experience, Nokia West Africa, Emmanuel Oluwatosin, said that the program is line with Nokia’s plan to support developers across the globe and also get more developers for its Windows OS based devices. “We are happy that this program is finally coming to Nigeria and Ghana, and we believe that this is a huge and exciting opportunity for developers in both countries to tap into. This is an opportunity for them to make the most of their talents, build more locally relevant apps and promote the apps themselves”.

He explained that DVLUP uses gamification techniques to help developers earn badges and experience points (known as “XP”) that can then be used for promotion support for their app. In addition, by building high-quality apps, developers can earn additional points and unlock even greater opportunity for exposure. This gives developers access to promotion in the Windows Phone Store and App Social, in-app advertising, print, digital, social and out-of-home media opportunities.

DVLUP was first launched in US and Canada in November 2012 as a pilot but is now available in more than 20 countries which includes; Australia, Canada, China, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Kenya, Poland, the UK, the US, and Vietnam, with more countries being added regularly.

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Sir Victor Uwaifo, Emma Nyra Dazzle Abuja at Etisalat Cloud 9 Concert

It was an unforgettable night of glitz, glamour, good music, reminiscences and vibrant celebration of old and new generations of Nigerian music when Etisalat brought together one of the country’s legend’s, Sir Victor Uwaifo and rising pop star, Emma Nyra at the Etisalat Cloud 9 concert, held at Blu Cabana Restaurant and Café, Abuja last weekend.

The setting of the event was splendid. Guests could not resist the allure of watching a fusion of different generations of music during the collaboration between Sir Victor Uwaifo and Emma Nyra as they performed together Joromi and Guitar Boy.

Their performances drew spontaneous burst of applause and gave the audience the special privilege of requesting for more of his favorite songs which he promptly rendered to their delight.

See pictures from the event!!!

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Guinness Employees Hold Day of Goodness at Heritage Park

Employees of Guinness Nigeria Plc has extended their love for community to secondary schools in the Ikeja and Agege axis of Lagos State with a day of goodness at the Heritage Park, Oshodi, Lagos on December 6, 2013.

The employees of Guinness under the auspices of Friends of the Community initiative put together their own fund and set aside one day every quarter of the year for corporate social responsibility projects that impact on host communities. On this occasion, they chose to empower students of Murtala Mohammed Secondary School Ikeja and Lagooz College Agege with the aim of equipping them with soft and vocational skills that will go a long way in delivering maximum impact and ultimately cause a paradigm shift in the lives of the students from white collar job seekers to entrepreneurs. This was achieved through lectures and practical sessions of vocational skills. 

Seni Adetu, Chief Executive Officer, Guinness Nigeria Plc, represented on the occasion by Wale Adeniran, Human Resources Director, Guinness Nigeria Plc, charged the students at the event to aspire to being the next African leader as the rationale behind the initiative is “to cause a new generation of African leaders. You are challenged to come to the realisation that the next generation of Africa leaders are among you. The employees of Guinness have put together a day of goodness for you today because they want you to create many days of goodness in future,” he said.

Sesan Sobowale, Corporate Relations Director, Guinness Nigeria Plc in a welcome address at the event noted that “All good things start small. What we are doing is what could lead to a renaissance because through honest interactions with young people, employees of Guinness hope to inspire you to take on your passions and make successful careers out of them. In this case, we are devoting time and resources to teaching craft to students; skills they can apply as they desire.”

Obinna Ekpe of Murtala Mohammed Secondary School left the session with a renewed belief in the fact that he could realise his dreams of becoming a developer of video games fuelling his love for imagination whilst becoming a doctor.

Several employees of the company took turns at the event to enlighten the students on career choices in a warm and engaging atmosphere that saw the students ask probing questions on the topic. Discussions centred on ‘how to chose a career,’ and ‘etiquette’ while vocational skill training included bead making, slippers designing and tie and dye.

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Idris Elba on playing Mandela: I wanted to do an ‘interpretation’ not an ‘impression’

By Mick Krever, CNN

When Idris Elba was cast as Nelson Mandela, he decided he was not going to try to do an impersonation of the revered South African president.

“It’s a big ask for the audience to watch myself play Mandela,” Elba told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Tuesday. “I don’t look anything like Mandela; I’m considerably younger than the older Mandela.”

“So it was important that I didn’t do an impersonation of any actor, or Mandela himself, but sort of an interpretation.”

He purposefully did not watch previous portrayals of Mandela, like Morgan Freeman’s performance in 2009’s “Invictus,” lest he be influenced by them.

Elba, most famous for his roles in the TV series “The Wire” and “Luther,” stars in “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom,” a biopic based on the autobiography.

It has set box office records in South Africa; it had its premiere in London last week on the very night Mandela died.

Indeed, Elba and the a producer on the film, Anant Singh, were forced to announce Mandela’s passing to the audience just after the credits had rolled.

“It was an awful feeling,” Elba said. “There was an audible gasp in the room; it was an incredible moment.”

The film is ten years in the making, and began with letters written to Mandela by Singh, who also spoke with Amanpour.

It’s a “huge responsibility as a South African,” Singh said.

In order to do the autobiography justice, he said, they decided that they had to tell “the full story,” from young boy to old man.

“He’s got such a big life, and such an epic life, that to try and cut that canvas into a two hour, 20-minute film was a huge challenge.”

The solution they came to was use as a thread Mandela’s often fraught relationship with his second wife, Winnie.

The filmmakers also decided that telling the “full” story meant not painting a perfect portrait, but including the man’s flaws, like his initial endorsement of violent uprising, and later familial struggles.

In order to understand “the man that’s sanctified, that we all love – the silver hair, the fist-pumping Mandela,” Elba said, one must understand what he sacrificed, and that includes his family.

“He is a human being, and I think you have more respect for him if you understand the journey he’s taken to the great man that we know and love.”

Singh said that that is what Mandela would have wanted.

“I’ve spent a lot of time with him, as you know, over the years. He had said to me, ‘I had have weaknesses and I have strengths. I am like an everyman. Show me for my strengths and weaknesses.’”

Elba said that he hoped that apart from the broad strokes of Mandela’s “legacy and ideals,” he hoped audience members would take away personal lessons from the film.

“My daughter is 11,” Elba said. “I’d love for her to see this film and understand that every individual can make an effort and can force change. Even the smallest amount of inspiration can force some sort of change.”

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Mouka MD, Peju Adebajo Bags Harvard Award

The Harvard Business School Association of Nigeria (HBSAN)  has honoured the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Mouka Limited, Mrs. Peju Adebajo with the HBSAN Leadership Award for General Management in recognition of her exemplary and transformational leadership qualities in General Management. Mrs Adebajo is an alumnus of the Harvard Business School MBA program.

L-R: : Recipient of HBSAN Leadership Award for General Management and Managing Director, Mouka Limited, Mrs Peju Adebajo receiving her award from Managing Director, Visafone, Mr Marten Pieters during the 2013 Black Tie Dinner and Ball Award Ceremony in Victoria Island, Lagos.

The HBSAN Leadership Awards honour and recognize Nigerian Harvard Business School’s alumni who have either demonstrated exceptional qualities in their areas of professional expertise.

Speaking on the Awards at the HBSAN Black Tie Dinner and Ball which held recently in Lagos, the President of the association, Mrs. Fola Laoye stated that the nominees for the Award are Nigerian Harvard Business School’s alumni, who have shown exemplary business management skills in their chosen careers and noteworthy contributions to the corporate development of Nigeria over the years. “The award recipients meet the criteria for nomination and were selected by the HBSAN Board of Directors and End of Year Black Tie and Dinner Ball Event Committee” she said.

Under Adebajo’s leadership, Mouka Limited has become a household name in the Foam and Mattress manufacturing industry in Nigeria and Sub Sahara Africa. The company has moved from being a family business to an institutionalized company with strong focus on people, quality products , stakeholder value and environmental sustainability.

In her acceptance speech, Mrs. Peju Adebajo thanked the leadership of the association for the honour and emphasized her willingness to continue to serve as both a good ambassador for Harvard as well as a mentor to younger alumni and non alumni members of the association.

 She added that repositioning Mouka from a family business to a leading brand in the Foam and mattresses sector could not have been possible without the support of the team at Mouka and thanked her colleagues as well as the board of directors of Mouka Limited

HBSAN was formed in 1983 by Nigerian Harvard Business School alumni to advocate the ideals of professionalism and high ethical standards in Business Management in Nigeria.

Other notable Awardees at the HBSAN Black Tie Dinner and Ball is the Chairman, Visafone Communications, Mr Jim Ovia, who received the HBSAN Award for Entrepreneurship and the founder, LEAP Africa, Mrs Ndidi Nwuneli, who received the HBSAN Leadership Award for Social Enterprise.

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Mandela Saved South Africa From Bloodbath, Says Fellow Former Prisoner

By Mick Krever, CNN

South Africa could have been “reduced to ashes” and suffered “a bloodbath” had it not been for Nelson Mandela’s negotiations with the apartheid government, Mac Maharaj, who was imprisoned with Mandela on Robben Island, told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.

He was responding to the criticism by some that Mandela gave up too much in the talks that brought down hundreds of years of minority white rule.

“Rwanda would have been child’s play if we had a race war here,” Maharaj said. “And there were times that we were on the brink of that.”

Maharaj would serve in Mandela’s cabinet, and is now spokesman for President Jacob Zuma. When he was released from prison in 1976, Maharaj smuggled out a draft of the manuscript that would become Mandela’s autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom.

“We had dreamt of an insurrection, and an insurrection movement was possible,” he said. “But it was the leadership of Mandela and the ANC, which said, ‘No,’ keep your eyes trained on the negotiation.”

Maharaj said that despite all the hardship of political imprisonment – including backbreaking work breaking stones – he was grateful for the life he had been given.

“Whenever I go back and I reflect on Robben Island I only think of the good times,” he said. “If we have been defeated I think we’d only see the pain.”

“To me, I had free food, free board and lodge, free exercise, plenty of sunshine, and I’m still alive. … I look back at my life and say, ‘What a privilege.’”

Part of the world’s fascination with Mandela stems from his ability to have come out of 27 years of imprisonment with so little bitterness.

Maharaj said that he believed only 5% of his fellow political prisoners came out bitter.

In prison, he told Amanpour, Mandela taught him how to take on the apartheid enemy.

“Mandela honed himself by understanding the enemy. He taught me in prison, and forced me to study Afrikaans, and read Afrikaans poetry.”

Maharaj said Mandela told him you must understand the enemy in order to defeat it.

“What we learned by looking at the history of the whites, which Mandela epitomized, was that the result of the war between the Afrikaner and the British had left a legacy of hatred. And we wanted to avoid that.”

Twenty years later, and as South Africa grapples with a reality without Mandela, many say that the promises of the Rainbow Nation have not been delivered.

Maharaj, who works for the current government, said much more time will be needed.

“We were conditioned for more than three centuries – every ethnic group – to think only of their own and see the other with hatred and fear,” he said. “We cannot remove that in 19 years.”

“What we achieved so far is more than what any other country in its first 19 years of independence has achieved.”

“And I think that we have got a lot of mistakes, a lot of acts of omission and as of commission. But that’s in the nature of work in progress.”

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American Ambassador In South Africa Describes His Teenage Fight Against Apartheid

By Mick Krever, CNN

The anti-apartheid movement was not just a South African struggle.

For the U.S. ambassador in South Africa, Patrick Gaspard, the anti-apartheid struggle he was involved in as a teenager felt like “Sisyphus pushing that rock up the hill,” he told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Monday.

“It wasn’t clear whether our actions would really make a difference,” he told Amanpour in Johannesburg.

Americans joined activists the world over in pushing their countries to levy sanctions on the apartheid government in South Africa.

U.S. President Ronald Reagan was against those sanctions, even using his veto at one point to block them.

“We you’re a kid, when you’re a teenager, and the president of the United States is saying this is the way we ought to go, it’s hard to be clear that you could be successful,” Gaspard said.

Gaspard said that he himself cut school in order to attend a demonstration – teasing that he hoped his mother wasn’t watching the broadcast lest she find out.

“It taught many of us that collective mattered, and being an engaged part of our democracy really was impactful as well.”

And that impact, he said, was large indeed.

“Nelson Mandela himself not only said that the sanctions were critical, but even once he was released he asked the United States and other governments to continue to maintain the sanctions because he thought they gave him real leverage in the negotiations.”

The apartheid regime, he said, “understood that they were in a ditch” if they didn’t change their ways.

Thirty years after he attended his first anti-apartheid protest Gaspard is an American ambassador. And the country he now lives in is trying to find its way forward, after nearly two decades of rule by the African National Congress.

“Clearly while the ANC is the dominant party in this country, there are other voices that are asking lots of questions and making alternate proposals about the future of this country.”

“It’s a debate that I’m looking forward to continue to engage in,” he said diplomatically.

On Tuesday, world leaders are set to gather in South Africa to celebrate Nelson Mandela.

“People are out there not in a somber mood but in a celebratory mood,” he said.

“They are out there saying this man did incredible things and together we’re going to continue to carry forth that legacy. You’re going to see hundreds of thousands of people in that spirited exuberance.”

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