Leadership on trial: A study of Nelson Mandela's rhetorical strategies

For over four decades the Apartheid system in South Africa deprived many black South Africans their right to democracy. However, Nelson Mandela's leadership strategies would prove effective in helping the Anti-Apartheid movement achieve its common goal of universal suffrage for all South Africans. This thesis explores what made Mandela's rhetoric as a leader so effective during his courtroom testimonies from the Treason Trial in 1956 and the Rivonia Trial in 1964. A new model is developed to analyze leadership characteristics: charisma, prophecy, creativity, pragmatism and prophecy proved to be significant strategies in making his leadership rhetoric so effective. The purpose of the model is to demonstrate how leadership is fulfilled.