VIDEO of Timeless Madiba World Cup Rugby Message

It’s hard not to get chills as you listen to former President Nelson Mandela’s voice in the video below: “It is my dream – win or lose – that every South African will once again walk on the moon…”

As the Springboks faces Wales this afternoon in the 2015 Rugby World Cup (RWC) quarter-finals in London, and South Africans all over the world raise their hopes and their dreams that South Africa will win, Madiba’s message is poignant.

Dominique Leclezio “had the pleasure of sitting with Mr Mandela” in his study in Houghton, in 1999, to record the audio with art director Dino Tzouroutis for a black and white TV advert. The footage is a “smattering of clips found online”.

At the time of this audio recording “Madiba was being sued by SARFU in the Supreme court,” says Dominique, “BUT after seeing the script, and putting differences aside, he agreed to deliver the message.

“It was bigger than Mandela or [the 1999] RWC; it was for him, about nation building. Just him and I sat on a couch and he asked me how he should deliver it.

“I asked him to deliver it how President Mandela would deliver it. He did.”

Dominique now lives in the USA but, like many South Africans abroad, is still “an avid fan. Go Bokke! Bring It Home!”