What does Mandela mean when he says he is ‘simply the sum of all those African patriots’ who had gone before him?

By saying that he is simply the sum of all those African patriots, Mandela paid his tributes to all those who sacrificed their lives for the sake of freedom. He said that he was grateful to those who had gone before him because those heroes of past paved the path of co-operation and unity for him. Therefore, he could try to come to power to bring equality for his people with their support and eradicate racial discrimination.

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