Question

At the beginning of his speech, Mandela mentions “an extraordinary human disaster”. What does he mean by this? What is the “glorious … human achievement” he speaks of at the end?

Answer 1

By "an extraordinary human disaster" Mandela means the inhuman practice of apartheid i.e. the racial discrimination suffered by the blacks at the hands of whites in South Africa.He considered it as "glorious human achievement" because of the establishment of South Africa's first democratic,non-racial government,where the President was a black man.