Alberta’s Redford remembers Mandela’s patience, courage in time of violence

EDMONTON – Alberta Premier Alison Redford says she remembers Nelson Mandela as a man of courage and patience amidst the violence of South Africa.

Redford worked with Mandela in the early 1990s as they strove to rebuild South Africa’s legal system and lay the groundwork for the first all-race elections that led to Mandela becoming president.

She says as they were working they would receive reports of factions on both sides violently attacking one another, trying to undo the process before it began.

Mandela, she says, never lost his focus and while he was anguished over the violence, he would not let it overwhelm him.

She says he kept his eye on reform, knowing he was working on a system for future generations.

Redford says she is still inspired by Mandela, and he lives on in her heart.