Reconciliation means working together to correct the legacy of past injustice.

The line frames reconciliation not as a sentimental act of “moving on,” but as a practical, collective project: former adversaries must cooperate to repair harms that continue to shape the present. It implies that injustice leaves durable social and economic consequences (“legacy”), so reconciliation requires more than forgiveness or coexistence; it demands corrective action—legal, institutional, and material. Attributed to Mandela, the sentiment aligns with the post-apartheid emphasis on nation-building paired with confronting apartheid’s damage, but without a verifiable primary source it should be treated cautiously as a paraphrastic summary of his broader views rather than a securely documented quotation.