Rhetoric, Dialogue, and Performance in Nelson Mandela's "Televised Address on the Assassination of Chris Hani"

After the assassination of the popular black militant Chris Hani, Nelson Mandela sought in his "Televised Address on the Assassination of Chris Hani" to move beyond identity politics and to redefine the murder into a moment of political and dialogic change. He praised Hani as a model of proper political engagement, uncovered the dynamics of dialogue between South Africans, and performed an alternative stance for the post-apartheid era. Mandela's rhetoric reveals both the limitations and the possibilities of performative rhetoric during difficult transitions to democracy.