This Day in History: Mandela Is Named President, Closing the Era of Apartheid

Thursday, May 9th, 2013

On this day in 1994, South Africa’s first democratically-elected Parliament chose Nelson Mandela to be the country’s first president in the post-apartheid era. In his inaugural address, Mandela spoke of building a “society in which all South Africans, both black and white, will be able to walk tall, without any fear in their hearts, assured of their inalienable right to human dignity – a rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world.” We at GQR are proud to have been a part of that campaign.