It was 20 years ago today that Nelson Mandela was freed from the Victor Verster Prison in South Africa. The anti-apartheid activist, who had spent 27 years in jail, would go on to become president of the country.
Mandela, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993, helped the country avoid a bloodbath as the apartheid regime fell. The father of the new South Africa is now 91. While the country has not flourished in the way Mandela hoped, and is plagued with poverty and lots of violent crime, he is still immensely popular there.
On a recent trip to South Africa I spoke with a professor at the University of Cape Town, Richard Calland, and popular cartoonist Zapiro about what Mandela has meant for the country. Clips from the interviews are in the video here.