Mandelas last moments of freedom
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A short trip off the main N3 freeway will take you to this
historical site.
In 1961, he became the leader of the ANC's armed wing, Umkhonto we
Sizwe (translated as Spear of the Nation, also abbreviated MK),
which he co-founded. He co-ordinated a sabotage campaign against
military and government targets, and made plans for a possible
guerrilla war if sabotage failed to end apartheid. A few decades
later, MK did indeed wage a guerrilla war against the regime,
especially during the 1980s. Mandela also raised funds for MK
abroad, and arranged for paramilitary training, visiting various
African governments.
On 5 August 1962, he was arrested after living on the run for
seventeen months and was imprisoned in the Johannesburg Fort.
William Blum, a former U.S. State Department employee, says that
the CIA tipped off the police as to Mandela's whereabouts. Three
days later, the charges of leading workers to strike in 1961 and
leaving the country illegally were read to him during a court
appearance. On 25 October 1962, Mandela was sentenced to five years
in prison. Two years later on 11 June 1964, a verdict had been
reached concerning his previous engagement in the African National
Congress (ANC).
While Mandela was in prison, police arrested prominent ANC leaders
on 11 July 1963, at Liliesleaf Farm, Rivonia, north of
Johannesburg. Mandela was brought in, and at the Rivonia Trial,
Mandela, Ahmed Kathrada, Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, Andrew
Mlangeni, Raymond Mhlaba, Elias Motsoaledi, Walter Mkwayi (who
escaped during trial), Arthur Goldreich (who escaped from prison
before trial), Denis Goldberg and Lionel "Rusty" Bernstein were
charged by Percy Yutar with the capital crimes of sabotage and
crimes equivalent to treason, but which were easier for the
government to prove. In his statement from the dock at the opening
of the defence case in the trial on 20 April 1964 at Pretoria
Supreme Court, Mandela laid out the clarity of reasoning in the
ANC's choice to use violence as a tactic. His statement revealed
how the ANC had used peaceful means to resist apartheid for years
until the Sharpeville Massacre. That event coupled with the
referendum establishing the Republic of South Africa and the
declaration of a state of emergency along with the banning of the
ANC made it clear that their only choice was to resist through acts
of sabotage. Doing otherwise would have been tantamount to
unconditional surrender. Mandela went on to explain how they
developed the Manifesto of Umkhonto on 16 December 1961 intent on
exposing the failure of the National Party's policies after the
economy would be threatened by foreigners' unwillingness to risk
investing in the country. He closed his statement with these
words:
During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to the struggle of the
African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have
fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a
democratic and free society in which all persons live together in
harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope
to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for
which I am prepared to die.[1]
Nelson Mandela was imprisoned on Robben Island where he was
destined to remain for the next eighteen of his twenty-seven years
in prison. It was there he wrote the bulk of his autobiography,
Long Walk to Freedom. However, Mandela did not reveal anything
about the alleged complicity of Frederik de Klerk in the violence
of the eighties and nineties, or the role of his ex-wife Winnie
Mandela in that bloodshed. However, he later co-operated with his
friend the journalist Anthony Sampson who discussed those issues in
Mandela: The Authorised Biography. While in prison, Mandela was
able to maintain contact with the ANC, which published a statement
from him on 10 June 1980, reading in part: Unite! Mobilize! Fight
on! Between the anvil of united mass action and the hammer of the
armed struggle we shall crush apartheid![1] Refusing an offer of
conditional release in return for renouncing armed struggle in
February 1985, Mandela remained in prison until sustained ANC and
international campaigning with the resounding slogan Free Nelson
Mandela! culminated in his release in February 1990.
State President Frederik de Klerk simultaneously ordered Mandela's
release, and the ending of the ban on the ANC. On the day of his
release, 11 February 1990, Mandela made a speech to the nation.
While declaring his commitment to peace and reconciliation with the
country's white minority, he made it clear that the ANC's armed
struggle was not yet over: "Our resort to the armed struggle in
1960 with the formation of the military wing of the ANC (Umkhonto
we Sizwe) was a purely defensive action against the violence of
apartheid. The factors which necessitated the armed struggle still
exist today. We have no option but to continue. We express the hope
that a climate conducive to a negotiated settlement would be
created soon, so that there may no longer be the need for the armed
struggle." But he also said his main focus was to bring peace to
the black majority and give them the right to vote in both national
and local elections. From Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia
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