The mood of South Africa at the time of the 1995 Rugby World Cup was unbelievable. Although I moved to Hong Kong from South Africa in 1987, I flew back to experience the magic from the quarter-finals.
As depicted in Invictus, the whole country got behind the Springboks. The mood on the streets was incredible. It truly was more than a rugby match, and the movie captured that.
[Nelson] Mandela was smart, astute and thoroughly strategic to allow the Afrikaaners to keep their game and keep their Springbok logo, despite the move to do otherwise in the lead-up to the Cup. Rugby is religion to Afrikaaners. Mandela understood this. He allowed pockets of the population to keep the things they value.
Getting the blacks behind it was a high-risk strategy, one that I believe he had plotted for a couple of years before the World Cup. As far back as 1993 he had targeted the Boks as unifying the country.
I have heard from many people who have met Mandela that his impact on you is immense. His charisma is testimony to an unbelievable individual. To spend 27 years in prison on Robben Island and bear no grudge shows you the magnitude of the man.
Mandela cleverly studied Afrikaans and knew what buttons to push. I have heard that not only does he own the room, he speaks to every single person in it. People feel blessed in his presence.