The present study attempts to highlight the interconnection between discourse, ideology and politics. It presents a critical discourse analysis of three selected addresses of Nelson Mandela. The first speech is I am prepared to die, that is delivered in 1964 during his trial. It is often called Rivonia Trial. The second speech is The Cape Town Inaugural Address (Pretoria), which is delivered on 10 May 1994. The third speech is No Easy Walk to Freedom that is delivered in 1953.The unit of analysis in this study encompasses words, phrases, clauses, and sentences.
3.1. Mandela's I Am Prepared to Die
Mandela's speech is surrounded by many political circumstances that significantly shape and influence the period when the speech is delivered. The black South Africans were deprived of their rights and freedom under a very sever White rule that imposed racial classification in South Africa through which people were categorized because of their physical appearance. People were classified into native, colored, Indian, or White (Posel, 2001, p.68). This unfair racial classification adopted by the White government in South Africa led to segregations among South Africans; it determined the place where he/she lived, the school he could attend, the job he could hold, and many other activities whose practice depended entirely on racial discrimination criteria. Thus, black South Africans or natives led an unprecedented state of suffering.