Mandela disowns false quote used in Unisa ad

By Sam Mkokeli Deputy Political Editor

FORMER president Nelson Mandela has disowned a quote attributed to him by the University of South Africa in a major new advertising campaign to reposition the institution.

In a full page print advert, the university has used a picture of Mandela and a quote: “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure!”

Mandela’s spokesman Zelda la Grange said Mandela was dismayed when he saw the Unisa ad. She said: “It does not belong to him (Mandela). He has never used the quote.”

The university’s agency Brand Leadership & Two Tone Design got permission from the Nelson Mandela Foundation to use the former president’s name and face in the campaign but didn’t mention it was using the quote.

Mandela holds an LLB degree from Unisa and the university conferred an honorary law doctorate on him in 1999.

The campaign was mounted after the merger between Unisa with Technikon SA and Vudec, Vista University’s distance education wing and the launch of the university’s new coat of arms.

Herald reader Bruce Macmillan of Port Elizabeth discovered that the quote belonged to American author and motivational speaker Marianne Williamson.

It was first published in her book A Return to Love.