Mandela: An Illustrated Autobiography, a book with almost 200 photographs and text adapted from Nelson Mandela's memoir entitled Long Walk to Freedom, is a book about the life and times of Nelson Mandela, who served 27 years in prison from age 44 to age 71 as an integral part of his struggle to end apartheid in South Africa.
This rather lengthy post is really more of a chronological summary of events than a book review. It follows along with the book and provides a summary of the history of the struggle for human rights in South Africa and Mandela's key role in it.
The book begins by describing Mandela's childhood growing up in rural South Africa, but moves quickly into his teen years where he begins studying law at several different universities.
I found myself being drawn into the world of politics because I was not content with my old beliefs. (p. 32)
I cannot pinpoint a moment when I became politicized, when I knew that I would spend my life in the libertarian struggle. I had no epiphany, no singular revelation, no moment of truth, but a steady accumulation of a thousand slights, and a thousand indignities produced in me an anger, a desire to fight the system that imprisoned my people. (p. 35)
In college, Mandela meets an African lawyer named Anton Lembede.
Lembede said that Africa was a black man's continent, and it was up to Africans to reassert themselves and reclaim what was rightfully theirs. He hated the idea of the black inferiority complex and castigated what he called the worship and idolization of the West and its ideas. He believed blacks had to improve their own self-image before they could initiate successful mass action. (p. 35)
Like Lembede, I came to see the antidote as militant African nationalism. (p. 35)
Mandela becomes a member of the Youth League (officially established in early 1944), a subgroup of activists in the African National Congress (ANC).
African nationalism was our battle cry, and our creed was the creation of one nation out of many tribes, the overthrow of white supremacy, and the establishment of a truly democratic form of government. (p. 36)
The primary purpose of the Youth League was to give direction to the ANC in its quest for political freedom. (p. 36)
In 1946, two critical events helped shape Mandela's personal political development and the direction of the political struggle in general:
- A strike of 70,000 mineworkers in the African Mine Workers' Union (AMWU) which was ultimately suppressed by the government
- The passage of the Asiatic Land Tenure Act, which "curtailed the free movement of Indians, circumscribed the areas where Indians could reside and trade, and severely restricted their right to buy property". (p. 37)
In 1948, the National Party (Nationalists), led by Daniel Malan, won the general election. Malan was a former minister of the Dutch Reformed Church, and his platform was called Apartheid.
It literally means 'apartness', and it represented the codification in one oppressive system of all the laws and regulations that had kept Africans in an inferior position to whites for centuries. (p. 40)
In it's first several years in power, the National Party instituted an array of laws, all based on the idea of Apartheid:
- the Separate Representation of Voters Act
- the Prohibition of Mixed Marriages Act
- the Immorality Act
- the Population and Registration Act
- the Group Areas Act
- the Suppression of Communism Act
- the Bantu Authorities Act
In 1949, the ANC and the Youth League became impatient with the failure of legal and constitutional ways of fighting oppression, so they adopted a more active and radical policy in response to the National Party.
On June 26, 1950, a National Day of Protest was staged by the ANC.
In October of 1950, Mandela was elected the national president of the Youth League.
The ANC demanded the repeal of six of the "unjust" laws put in place by the Malan government.
Malan's reply asserted that whites had an inherent right to take measures to preserve their own identity as a separate community, and ended with the threat that if we pursued our actions the government would not hesitate to make full use of its machinery to quell any disturbances. (p. 46)
April 6, 1952 saw the first day of demonstrations and the launch of a "Campaign for the Defiance of Unjust Laws" (Defiance Campaign). Over the next several months about 8,500 people participated in the campaign and many were arrested and spent time in jail.
The government saw the campaign as a threat to its security and its policy of apartheid. They regarded civil disobedience as a crime, and were perturbed the the growing partnership between Africans and Indians. Apartheid was designed to divide racial groups, and we showed that different groups could work together. The prospect of a united front between Africans and Indians, between moderates and radicals, greatly worried them. The Nationalists insisted that the campaign was instigated by communist agitators and responded in 1953 with the Public Safety Act, which empowered the government to declare martial law and to detain people without trial, and the Criminal Laws Amendment Act, which authorized corporal punishment for defiers. (p. 48)
On July 30, 1952, Mandela (along with other campaign leaders) were arrested and charged with violating the Suppression of Communism Act. After a trial, in December of 1952 all were found guilty of "statutory communism" and sentenced to nine months in prison with hard labor (a sentence which was suspended for two years).
The ANC membership had grown to 100,000, with many members willing to endure arrest and prison time for the Defiance Campaign.
I felt a great sense of accomplishment and satisfaction. The campaign freed me from ay lingering sense of doubt or inferiority I might still have felt; it liberated me from the feeling of being overwhelmed by the power and seeming invincibility of the white man and his institutions. I had come of age as a freedom fighter. (p. 49)
Mandela, the ANC, and the South African Indian Congress (SAIC), were concerned the government would declare the ANC and the SAIC illegal so they devised a plan that would allow those organizations to function underground.
The strategy came to be known as the Mandela-Plan or, simply, M-Plan. It would allow an illegal organization to continue to function and enable leaders who were banned to continue to lead. (p. 51)
After completing his college law degree, Mandela opened his own law office, "Mandela and Tambo" with a man named Oliver Tambo.
At the age of 35, the government forced Mandela to resign from the ANC, confined his travels to just Johannesburg, and prohibited him from attending any meetings or gatherings for two years.
In 1953, the passage of the Bantu Education Act transferred control of African education to the Native Affairs Department which provided the government control over how Africans were educated. The response of the African people was a boycott of public schools and the creation of "home-grown" schools (which were eventually prohibited by the government).
On February 9, 1955, all the residents of Sophiatown were forced by the government to move to Meadowlands.
A freedom charter entitled the "Congress of the People" was drawn up. On June 25 and 26, 1955, the "Congress of the People" held a rally which was raided by the government.
By late 1955 the government had increased it's repression strategy and began nationwide raids of homes and offices, then proposed a move toward "Grand Apartheid" where 70 percent of the people would be apportioned only 13 percent of the land.
The government-created commission proposed a plan for the development of the so-called Bantu Areas or Bantustans. The result was in fact a blueprint for 'separate development' or Grand Apartheid. (p. 64)
In March, 1956, Mandela received his third ban, this time for five years, which restricted his travels to just Johannesburg and prohibited him from attending any meetings or gatherings.
On December 5, 1956, Mandela, along with 155 others (including most of the executive leadership of the ANC), were arrested for "high treason" and incarcerated at the Johannesburg Prison.
The government was charging us with high treason and a countrywide conspiracy to use violence to overthrow the present government and replace it with a communist state. The punishment was death. (p. 68)
The State cited the Freedom Charter as both proof of our communist intentions and evidence of our plot to overthrow the existing authorites. (p. 68)
A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones - and South Africa treated its imprisoned African citizens like animals. (p. 68)
After four days, all 156 were released on bail, with the preliminary hearings to begin in January.
Mandela's first wife Evelyn could not accept the fact that Mandel's political activism was his life's work, not being just a lawyer, so the marriage ended.
On January 9, 1957 the preliminary hearings resumed. The defense counsel argued that the trial was political and that the actions taken by the ANC were "morally justified".
The defence...will strenuously repudiate that the terms of the Freedom Charter are treasonable or criminal. On the contrary, the defence will contend that the ideas and beliefs which are expressed in this charter are shared by the overwhelming majority of mankind of all races and colours, and also by the overwhelming majority of the citizens of the country. (p. 68-69)
In September preliminary hearings were completed. Three months later, charges were dropped against 61 of the 156. In January of 1958, it was determined that there was "sufficient reason" to put the remaining 95 people on trial. The Treason Trial was to begin in August of 1958.
On June 14, 1058, Mandela marries his second wife Winnie.
In August, 1958, after opening arguments in the trial it was apparent that the defense had strong, valid arguments so the government withdrew its original charges and submitted new, "more carefully worded" charges, as well as saying only 30 of the accused would be initially tried (of which Mandela was one).
Under the new indictment, the prosecution was now required to prove the intention to act violently. (p. 75)
In April of 1959 the Pan-African Congress (PAC) came into being - more militant than the ANC, anti-communist, and supporting only Africans (as opposed to the ANC which supported all races and ethnicities).
The PAC presented a manifesto and a constitution along with Sobukwe's [Robert Sobukwe, the elected PAC president] opening address, in which he called for 'government of the Africans by the Africans and for the Africans'. The PAC declared that it intended to overthrow white supremacy and establish a government Africanist in origin, socialist in content and democratic in form. (p. 76)
The government passed the "Promotion of Bantu Self Government Act" which created eight different Bantustans (ethnic geographic areas).
This was the foundation of what the state called groot or grand apartheid. (p. 76)
The government introduced the "Extension of University Education Act" which "barred whites from racially 'open' universities".
On August 7, 1959, with the new charges the Treason Trial officially began.
"Anti-pass" demonstrations had been happening in various parts of South Africa which were fully-supported by the ANC.
In December of 1959, at a demonstration of about 30,000 people in Langa township outside of Capetown, two people were killed by authorities when the demonstration turned violent.
On March 10, 1960 the prosecution rested it's case.
The defense was preparing to plead it's case, when on March 21, 1960 the nature of the human rights struggle in South Africa was taken to an entirely new level. In Sharpeville township, about five miles south of Johannesburg, at a demonstration of several thousand people, police began shooting at the demonstrators.
No one heard warning shots or an order to shoot, but suddenly the police opened fire on the crowd and continued to shoot as the demonstrators turned and ran in fear. When the area had cleared, sixty-nine Africans lay dead, most of them shot in the back as they were fleeing. All told, more than seven hundred shots had been fired into the crowd, wounding more than four hundred people, including dozens of women and children. (p. 80)
The United Nations Security Council intervened, blaming the government and urging a move toward racial equality.
On March 28, 1960, several hundred thousand Africans throughout South Africa protested the killings in Sharpeville, riots broke out, a State of Emergency was declared.
On March 30, 1960, Mandela and 39 others were arrested and jailed.
We were placed in a tiny cell with a single drainage hole in the floor which could by flushed only from the outside. We were given no blankets, no food, no mats and no toilet paper. The hole regularly became clocked and the stench in the room was insufferable. (p. 80)
At 6 p.m. we received sleeping-mats and blankets. I do not think words can do justice to a description of the foulness and filthiness of this bedding. The blankets were encrusted with dried blood and vomit, ridden with lice, vermin and cockroaches, and reeked with a stench that actually competed with the stink of the drain. (p. 80)
The next day, over 2,000 other people were taken into custody and detained without trial as part of a countrywide raid.
Now under martial law, the army was mobilized and placed strategically throughout South Africa.
In April of 1960, the ANC and the PAC were declared illegal organizations under the Suppression of Communism Act. Now, being a member of either was a felony.
Mandela and the other 39 who were now in jail had to prepare their legal case while in jail, and ultimately decide to defend themselves.
On September 3, 1960, Mandela began testifying at the trial.
On September 30, 1960, the State of Emergency was lifted, and the accused were released from jail.
In March of 1961, at the end of the trial the defense made it's closing statement.
We admit that there is a question of non-cooperation and passive resistance...We shall say quite frankly that if non-cooperation and passive resistance constitute high treason, then we are guilty. But these are plainly not encompassed in the the law of treason. (p. 83)
Before a verdict was reached, Mandela's five-year ban expired and he went underground to continue the struggle against the government.
On March 25, 1961, Mandela spoke at an All-in Conference - the first time he'd spoken publicly in almost five years.
The All-in Conference called for a national convention of elected representatives of all adult men and women on an equal basis to determine a new non-racial democratic constitution for South Africa. (p. 84)
On March 29, 1961, Mandela and the other 39 accused were found not guilty of high treason.
After the trial, Mandela did not return home for fear of being arrested again. He continued his life underground, staying "holed up" during the day and moving about only at night. He used disguises and became know as the "Black Pimpernel".
Mandela brought up the concept of non-violence with his constituents.
I was raising the issue of violence so soon after the Treason Trial, where we had contended that for the ANC non-violence was an inviolate principle, not a tactic to be changed as conditions warranted. I myself believed precisely the opposite that non-violence was a tactic that should be abandoned when it no longer worked. (p. 88)
It was agreed that the ANC would remain non-violent, but a separate military-based organization would be formed called "Umkhonto we Sizwe" (The Spear of the Nation), or "MK" for short. A short time later an "MK" constitution was drafted while Mandela was living at Liliesleaf Farm.
I enlisted the efforts of white Communist Party members who had already executed acts of sabotage such as cutting government telephone and communication lines...Our mandate was to wage acts of violence against the state - precisely what form those acts would take was yet to be decided. (p. 89)
On December 16, 1961, the MK carried out it's first violent act. Bombs were detonated at electric power stations and government offices in Joheannesburg, Port Elizabeth, and Durban. More bombs were set off two weeks later on New Year's Eve.
That same month, the ANC was invited to attend the Pan-African Freedom Movement for East, Central, and Southern Africa (PAFMECSA) conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Mandela was selected to lead the ANC delegation.
My mission in Africa was broader than simply attending the conference; I was to arrange political and economic support for our new military force and, more important, military training for our men in as many places on the continent as possible. I was also determined to boost our reputation in the rest of Africa where we were still relatively unknown. (p. 92)
In Mandela's speech at the PAFMECSA conference, he talked about the history of the struggle for freedom in South Africa and the Sharpeville massacre.
There was a natural reluctance among many African states to support violent struggles elsewhere, but the speech persuaded people that freedom fighters in south Africa had no alternative but to take up arms. (p. 94)
From Addis Ababa, Mandela visited several more African nations, pleading his case to nation leaders and receiving financial support from some of them.
Mandela then went to London, England, where he met and had discussions with the head of the Observer newspaper and key politicians.
Upon leaving London, Mandela returned to Addis Ababa for eight weeks of military training. Other recruits began training as well.
When Mandela returned to South Africa, he was pulled over and arrested while driving in a car in a small town near Pietermaritzburg.
At pretrial hearings, Mandela announced he would defend himself.
By defending myself I would enhance the symbolism of my role. I would use my trial as a showcase for the ANC's moral opposition to racism. I listened silently to the charges: inciting African workers to strike and leaving the country without valid travel documents...Yet the charges were something of a relief: the state clearly did not have enough evidence to link me with Umkhonto we Sizwe or I would have been charged with the far more serious crimes of treason or sabotage. (p. 103)
Mandela was jailed in Pretoria.
On October 15, 1962 trial hearings began. Mandela was dressed in traditional African garb.
I had chosen traditional dress to emphasize the symbolism that I was a black African walking into a white man's court. That day, I felt myself to be the embodiment of African nationalism, the inheritor of Africa's difficult but noble past and her uncertain future. (p. 105)
When the prosecution ended it's case, Mandela said simply that he was calling no witnesses, and ended his defense.
I had misled the court from the beginning because I knew the charge was accurate, and I saw no point in attempting to call witnesses and defend myself. (p. 106)
Just before receiving his sentence, Mandela spoke.
I enumerated the many times that we had brought our grievances before the government and the equal number of times that we were ignored. I described our stay-away of 1961 as a last resort after the government showed no signs of taking any steps to either talk with us or meet our demands. It was the government that provoked violence by employing violence to meet our non-violent demands. I explained that because of the government's actions we had taken a more militant stance. Whatever sentence the state imposed, it would do nothing to change my devotion to the struggle. (p. 106)
Mandela received a sentence of three years for inciting people to strike, and two years for leaving the country without a passport, for a total of five years, with no possibility of parole.
I was made, by the law, a criminal, not because of what I had done, but because of what I stood for, because of what I thought, because of my conscience. Can it be any wonder to anybody that such conditions make a man an outlaw of society? (p. 106)
In May of 1963, Mandela was sent to the prison on Robben Island, only to return to the prison at Pretoria a short time later for fear he might be assaulted by jailed members of the PAC.
In July of 1963, Mandela along with a group of his constituents were all charged with sabotage (and a conviction could result in a death sentence). The charge was the result of a July 11 government raid on Liliesleaf Farm in Rivonia (the headquarters and "safe house" for the MK High Command) where hundreds of incriminating documents were confiscated (in particular, a six-page Plan of Action).
On 9 October 1963, we were driven to the Palace of Justice in Pretoria for the opening of 'The State versus the National High Command and other', better know as the Rivonia Trial. (p. 109)
The prosecution fumbled it's case and the judge dismissed it, but before even leaving the courtroom Mandela and the accused were rearrested on the same charge, the prosecution reviewed and redrew it's case, and a new trial began in December, 1963.
The new charges were read: we were alleged to have recruited persons for sabotage and guerrilla warfare for the purpose of starting a violent revolution; we had allegedly conspired to aid foreign military units to invade the republic in order to support a communist revolution; and we had solicited and received funds from foreign countries for this purpose. (p. 110)
On February 29, 1964, the prosecution rested it's case.
On April 20, 1964, the defense began it's case with a four-hour speech delivered by Mandela.
The speech received wide publicity in both the local and foreign press, and was printed, virtually word for word, in the Rand Daily Mail. This despite the fact that all my words were banned. The speech both indicated our line of defence and disarmed the prosecution, which had prepared its entire case based on the expectation that I would be denying responsiblity for sabotage. It was now plain that we would not attempt to use legal niceties to avoid accepting responsibility for actions we had taken with pride and premeditation. (p. 113-114)
On June 11, 1964, all of the accused were found guilty on all counts, with sentencing to be announced the next day.
That night, after a discussion among ourselves, Walter [Walter Sisulu], Govan [Govan Mbeki] and I informed counsel that whatever sentences we received, even the death sentence, we would not appeal...Walter, Govan and I believed an appeal would undermine the moral stance we had taken. We had from the first maintained that what we had done, we had done proudly and for moral reasons. We were not going to suggest otherwise in an appeal. If a death sentence was passed, we did not want to hamper the mass campaign that would surely spring up. Our message was that no sacrifice was too great in the struggle for freedom. (p. 115-116)
On June 12, 1964, all of the accused were sentenced to life in prison. Although judge Quartus de Wet denied it, Mandela believes that all of the demonstrations in South Africa and the international pressure for leniency played a role in the the judges decision to not impose the death penalty.
Mandela and the other convicts were sent to the prison on Robben Island.
...Robben Island was without question the harshest, most iron-fisted outpost in the South African penal system. It was a hardship station not only for the prisoners but for the prison staff. The warders, white and overhwhelmingly Afrikaans-speaking, demanded a master-servant relationship. The racial divide on Robben Island was absolute: there were no black warders, and no white prisoners. (p. 120)
The challenge for every prisoner, particularly every political prisoner, is how to survive prison intact, how to emerge from prison undiminished, how to conserve one's beliefs. I do not know that I could have done it had I been alone. But the authorities' greatest mistake was to keep us together for together our determination was reinforced. We supported each other and gained strength from each other. Men react differently to stress. But the stronger ones raised up the weaker one, and both became stronger in the process. (p. 121)
The visitor policy was very harsh, and mail sent to convicts was severely censored by prison authorities. Often letters were delivered in "tatters", with paragraphs cut out with razor blades (affecting the flip side of letters as well).
As a group D prisoner, I was entitled to have only one visitor, and write and receive only one letter every six months. I found this one of the most inhumane restrictions of the prison system. Communication with one's family is a human right; it should not be restricted by the artificial gradations of a prison system. (p. 123)
For thirteen years Mandela and his fellow convicts were driven a short distance from the prison to work all day in a lime quarry where they extracted lime from the rock using picks and shovels.
On a positive note, prison authorities did allow prisoners to study, but prisoners had to apply for permission.
But the privilege of studying came with a host of conditions. Certain subjects, such as politics or military history, were prohibited. For years, we were not permitted to receive funds except from our families, so that poor prisoners rarely had money for books or tuition. Nor were we permitted to lend books to other prisonsers, which would have enabled our poorer colleagues to study. (p. 129)
In September, 1966, Dr. Hedrik Verwoerd, the minister of Bantu Education, was assassinated.
As often happened on the island, we had learned significant political news before our own guards. But by the following day it was obvious the warders knew, for they took out their anger on us. The tension that had taken months to abate was suddenly at full force. The authorities began a crackdown against political prisoners as thought we had held the knife that stabbed Verwoerd. (p. 132)
The punishment against us was never spelled out as an official policy, but it was a renewal of the harsh atmosphere that had prevailed upon our arrival on the island. A vicious martinet called van Rensburg was flown to the island at twenty-four hours' notice after the assassination...During his first day on the job we noticed he had a small swastika tattooed on his wrist. But he did not need this offensive symbol to prove his cruelty. His job was to make our lives as wretched as possible, and he pursed that goal with great enthusiasm. (p. 132-133)
Early in 1967, prisoners were instructed they could no longer talk while working at the lime quarry (although the order was later rescinded so that prisoners could talk quietly).
Mrs. Helen Suzman, (at the time, the lone member of the liberal Progressive Party in Parliament and the only person opposing the Nationalists) visited Robben Island to see for herself what conditions were like for the prisoners. Suzman spoke with Mandela.
I told her of our desire to have the food improved and equalized and to have better clothing, the need for facilities for studying, our lack of rights to information such as newspapers and many more things. I told her of the harshness of the warders, and mentioned van Rensbug in particular. (p. 134-135)
A few weeks later, van Rensburg was transferred of Robben Island.
Meanwhile, both outside and inside the prison the movement for social change continued.
In the years after Rivonia, the ANC's External Mission, formerly responsible for fund-raising, diplomacy and establishing a military training programme, took up the reins of the organization as a while. The External Mission not only had to create an organization in exile, but had the even more formidable task of trying to revitalize the underground ANC inside South Africa. (p. 136)
The state had grown stronger. The police had become more powerful, their methods more ruthless, their techniques more sophisticated...The South African government had powerful allies in Great Britain and the United States who were content to maintain the status quo. (p. 136)
The ANC formed its own internal organization on Robben Island. Known as the High Command or, more officially, the High Organ, it consisted of the most senior ANC leaders on the island, the men who had been members of the National Executive: Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, Raymond Mhlaba and me. I served as the head of the High Organ. (p. 137)
Mandela learned of his mother's death, followed shortly thereafter by the news that his oldest son was killed in a motor accident.
A mother's death causes a man to look back on and evaluate his own life. her difficulties, her poverty, made me question once again whether I had taken the right path. That was always the conundrum: had I made the right choice in putting the people's welfare even before that of my own family? For a long time, my mother had not understood my commitment to the struggle. My family had not asked for or even wanted to be involved in the struggle, but my involvement penalized them. (p. 138)
Mandela learned that his wife, Winnie, was in prison.
There was nothing I found so agonizing in prison as the thought that Winnie was in prison too. I put a brave face on the situation, but inwardly I was deeply disturbed and worried. Nothing tested my inner equilibrium as much as the time that Winnie was in solitary confinement. Although I often urged others not to worry about what they could not control, I was unable to take my own advice. I had many sleepless nights. What were the authorities doing to my wife? How would she bear up? Who was looking after our daughters? Who would pay the bills? (p. 139)
With the exit of van Rensburg, conditions became more tolerable in prison for Mandela and his fellow prisoners. After years of working in the lime quarry, prisoners were now working in a new location on the shoreline, collecting seaweed. The work was strenuous, and in the winter the water was very cold, but overall it was a much more pleasant place to work.
In 1975, when Mandela turned 57, two of his fellow prisoners suggested he write his memoirs.
Walter [Walter Sisulu] said that such a story would serve to remind people of what we had fought and were still fighting for. He added that it could become a source of inspiration for young freedom fighters. The idea appealed to me, and I agreed to go ahead. (p. 144)
The plan was for Mac Maharaj, a prisoner who was scheduled to be released from prison in 1976, to smuggle the entire 500-page memoir manuscript out of prison, after the manuscript had been transcribed in "microscopic shorthand" by a prisoner with the ability to do that. Maharaj was released, the manuscript was successfully smuggled out of prison, but even though the manuscript was not published while Mandela was in prison it formed the basis of Mandela's book (Mandela: An Illustrated Autobiography).
In June, 1976, the prisoners began hearing of a great uprising in South Africa, with protests, violence, riots, and rebellious young people. Some of the incoming prisoners were a part of that uprising and many had been trained in the MK military camps.
These young men were a different breed of prisoner from those we had seen before. They were brave, hostile and aggressive' they would not take orders, and shouted 'Amandla!' [power] at every opportunity. Their instinct was to confront rather than cooperate. The authorities did not know how to handle them, and they turned the island upside down. (p. 148)
This "different breed" was referred to as the "Black Consciousness Movement".
Black Consciousness was less a movement than a philosophy and grew out to the idea that blacks must first liberate themselves form the sense of psychological inferiority bred by three centuries of white rule. Only then could the people rise in confidence and truly liberate themselves from repression. (p. 149)
In early 1977, prison authorities announced the end of manual labor for prisoners.
In 1978, after years of requests, prisoners were finally granted the privilege of receiving news, but prisoners were not allowed to receive newspapers or listen to the radio. Instead, prison authorities began a daily broadcast of highly censored news within the prison.
But even without our expurgated radio broadcasts, we had learned what the authorities did now want us to know. We learned of the successful liberation struggles in Mozambique and Angola in 1975 and their emergence as independent sates with revolutionary governments. The tide was turning our way. (p. 153)
One story I was certainly not able to read was in the Johannesburg Sunday Post in March 1980. The headline was 'FREE MANDELA!'. Inside was a petition that people could sign to ask for my release and that of my fellow political prisoners. While newspapers were still bared from printing my picture or any words I had ever said or written, the Post's campaign ignited a public discussion of our release. (p. 154)
In March, 1982, Mandela and four of his fellow prisoners were transferred off Robben Island and sent to Pollsmoor Prison a few miles south of Capetown. Compared to Robben Island, accommodations at Pollsmoor were plush and spacious, and the food was better as well. Mandela and the other four transferred prisoners wondered why they had been transferred.
But the reason seemed to be more strategic: we believed the authorities were attempting to cut off the head of the ANC on the island by removing its leadership. Robben Island itself was becoming a sustaining myth in the struggle, and they wanted to rob it of some of its symbolic import. (p. 157)
In May, 1984, Mandela was allowed his first "contact" visit with his wife Winnie.
Starting in 1981, violence committed by the government against the ANC and violence committed by the MK was on the rise, with government raids resulting in many deaths of ANC members, and strategically placed bombs (including a car bomb) by the MK.
Powerful grassroots political movements were being formed inside the country that had firm links to the ANC, the principal one being the United Democratic Front, of which I was named a patron. The UDF had been created to coordinate protest against the new apartheid constitution in 1983...The UDF soon blossomed into a powerful organization that united over six-hundred anti-apartheid organizations... (p. 160)
The ANC was experiencing a new birth of popularity. Opinion polls showed that the Congress [ANC] was far and away the most popular political organization among Africans even though it had been banned for a quarter of a century. The anti-apartheid struggle as a whole had captured the attention of the world; in 1984 Bishop Desmond Tutu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The South African government was under growing international pressure, as nations all across the globe began to impose economic sanctions on Pretoria. (p.160)
On January 31, 1985, South African President P.W. Botha offered Mandela and all political prisoners conditional freedom, but the condition was that all had to unconditionally reject violence as a political instrument. Mandela and the other prisoners rejected the offer. On February 10, 1985, Mandela's response to the governments offer was read aloud by his daughter Zindzi at a UDF rally. Watch a video of the reading here.
Mandela was moved within Pollsmoor prison, isolated from his colleagues, and he used that solitude to start formulation of a plan to begin a dialog with the government. In May of 1986, Mandela had his first real opportunity to discuss the possibility of talks with the government at a meeting with the Eminent Persons Group, a fact-finding group which had come to the prison with questions about violence, negotiations, and international sanctions.
Various members of the group had concerns about my political ideology, and what a South Africa under ANC leadership might look like. I told them I was a South African nationalist, not a communist, that nationalists came in every hue and colour, and that I was firmly committed to a non-racial society. I told them I believed in the Freedom Charter, which embodied principles of democracy and human rights, and that it was not a blueprint for socialism. I spoke of my concern that the white minority should feel a sense of security in any new South Africa. I told them I thought many of our problems were a result of lack of communication between the government and the ANC, and that some of these could be resolved through actual talks. They questioned me extensively on the issue of violence, and while I was not yet willing to renounce violence, I affirmed in the strongest possible terms that violence could never be the ultimate solution to the situation in South Africa. (p.164-165)
A second meeting between Mandela and the Eminent Persons Group was scheduled, but on the day of the meeting the government conducted raids on three different ANC bases. The raids poisoned the talks, the meeting did not take place, and the group left South Africa, leaving Mandela feeling that his efforts to continue negotiations had stalled.
In June, 1986, right after a State of Emergency had been declared in South Africa to try and keep escalating protests under control, Mandela was able to arrange a meeting with Kobie Coetsee, the minister of justice. After a long period of silence from the government, in 1987 Mandela had more meetings with Coetsee and a committee of senior government officials was appointed for private talks with Mandela. The first meeting took place in May, 1988, followed by many more meetings over several months.
During our early meetings, I discovered that my new colleagues, with the exception of Dr Barnard [head of the National Intelligence Service] knew little about the ANC. They were all sophisticated Afrikaners, and far more open-minded than nearly all of their brethren. But they were the victims of so much propaganda that it was necessary to straighten them out about certain facts. Even Dr Barnard, who had made a study of the ANC, had received most of his information from police and intelligence files, which were in the main inaccurate and sullied by the prejudices of the men who had gathered them. (p.169)
I spent some time explaining our positions on the primary issues that divided the organization from the government. After these preliminaries, we focused on the critical issues: the armed struggle, the ANC's alliance with the Communist Party, the goal of majority rule and the idea of racial reconciliation. (p.170)
Mandela became ill, and was taken to Tygerburg Hospital. For six weeks he was treated for tuberculosis, most likely caused by dampness in his prison cell. Then, Mandela was transferred to a Constantiaberge Clinic, where he resumed meetings with Kobie Coetsee.
In December, 1988, Mandela was taken to Victor Verser prison where he lived in a cottage.
The reason behind this move, he [Kobie Coestee] said, was that I should have a place where I could hold discussions in privacy and comfort. (p.171)
The cottage did in fact give me the illusion of freedom. I could go to sleep and wake up as I pleased, swim whenever I wanted, eat when I was hungry - all were delicious sensations. Simply to be able to go outside during the day and take a walk when I desired was a moment of private glory. There were no bars on the windows, no jangling keys, no doors to lock or unlock. It was altogether pleasant, but I never forgot that it was a gilded cage. (p.171)
Later, Mandela was allowed to have visits from some of his ANC comrades, members of the UDF, and members of the newly formed Mass Democratic Movement (MDM).
In July, 1989, Mandela finally had the opportunity to meet directly with P.W. Botha, the president of South Africa. The meeting didn't accomplish much in terms of concrete issues, but it did "break the ice" and get things moving in a direction.
In August, 1989, Botha resigned and was replaced by Frederik Willem de Klerk.
On October 10, 1989, de Klerk announced that eight of Mandela's comrades would be released from prison, something Mandela had been requesting.
The men were released five days later from Johannesburg Prison. De Klerk had lived up to his promise, and the men were released under no bans; they could speak in the name of the ANC. It was clear that the ban on the organization had effectively expired, a vindication of our long struggle and our resolute adherence to principle. (p.174)
In December, 1989, Mandela wrote and sent a letter to de Klerk.
The subject was talks between the government and the ANC. I told the president that the current conflict was draining South Africa's lifeblood and that talks were the only solution. I said the ANC would accept no preconditions to talks, especially not the precondition that the government wanted: the suspension of the armed struggle. The government asked for an 'honest commitment to peace' and I pointed out that our readiness to negotiate was exactly that. (p.175)
I reiterated my proposal that talks take place in two stages. I told him I fully supported the guidelines the ANC had adopted in the Harare Declaration of 1989, which put the onus on the government to eliminate the obstacles to negotiations that the state itself had created. Those demands included the release of all political prisoners, the lifting of all bans on restricted organizations and persons, the ending of the State of Emergency and the removal of all troops from the townships. I stressed that a mutually agreed-upon cease-fire to end hostilities ought to be the first order of business, for without that, no business could be conducted. (p.175)
On December 13, 1989, Mandela met with de Klerk.
From the first I noticed that Mr de Klerk listened to what I had to say. This was a novel experience. National Party leaders generally heard what they wanted to hear in discussions with black leaders, but Mr de Klerk seemed to be making a real attempt to listen and understand. (p.176)
On February 2, 1990, de Klerk gave a speech before his government officials, a speech which began the dismantling of apartheid and layed a groundwork for a democratic South Africa. De Klerk con ceded to all of the demands I had stated in my letter, including a lifting of the ban on the ANC, with the exception of a complete lifting of the State of Emergency and the removal of troops from townships.
On February 9, 1989, Mandela met again with de Klerk, where he was told he would be released from prison the next day.
On February 10, 1989, Mandela was released from prison.
The next day Mandela held a press conference.
I told reporters that there was no contradiction between my continuing support for the armed struggle and my advocating negotiations. It was the reality and the threat of the armed struggle that had brought the government to the verge of negotiations. I added that when the state stopped inflicting violence on the ANC, the ANC would reciprocate with peace. Asked about sanctions, I said the ANC could not yet call for the relaxation of sanctions, because the situation that caused sanctions in the first place - the absence of political rights for blacks - was still the status quo. I might be out of jail, I said, but I was not yet free. (p.180)
I was asked as well about the fears of whites...I wanted to impress upon the reporters the critical role of whites in any new dispensation. We did not want to destroy the country before we freed it, and to drive the whites away would devastate the nation. I said that there was a middle ground between white fears and black hopes, and we in the ANC would find it. (p.181)
Later that day, Mandela addressed a huge crowd at First National Bank stadium in Johannesburg.
On February 27, Mandela met with the leadership of the ANC where he was reunited with comrades he had not seen in decades.
In March, a meeting was scheduled between Mandela, the ANC, de Klerk, and the government, but on March 26 government forces opened fire on ANC demonstrators, killing twelve and injuring hundreds. Mandela warned de Klerk that he could not "talk about negotiations on the one hand and murder our people on the other". Mandela met privately with de Klerk and a new meeting date was scheduled for May.
In May, a three-day meeting was held at Groote Schuur, a mansion that was the residence of South Africa's first colonial governors.
When it came to constitutional issues, we told the government we were demanding an elected constituent assembly to draw up a new constitution. But before the election of an assembly, it was necessary to have an interim government that could oversee the transition until a new government was elected. The government could not be both player and referee, as it was now. (p.184)
In early June, 1989, Mandela began a six-week tour of Europe and North America. Mandela visited New York City and gave a speech at Yankee Stadium. He also went to Washington D.C. where he addressed a joint session of Congress where he stressed the importance of keeping sanctions in place. Mandela also met privately with President Bush.
When Mandela returned to South Africa in July, violence in the country was getting worse. Mandela and his comrades decided to take the initiative and agree to suspend the armed struggle. On August 6, the ANC and the South African government signed the "Pretoria Minute" where the ANC pledged to suspend the armed struggle.
Violence continued in South Africa, and Mandela believed it was largely due to renegade members of government security forces who were trying to hinder negotiations. To make matters worse, the government issued a regulation allowing certain tribesmen to carry "traditional weapons" with which an anti-ANC group known as the Inkatha were using to kill ANC members. It made Mandela wonder if de Klerk's intentions for peace were in fact sincere.
In July, 1991, Mandela was elected president of the ANC.
On December 20, 1991, formal negotiations finally began at a "Convention for a Democratic South Africa" (CODESA).
The talks took place at the World Trade Centre in Johannesburg. CODESA comprised eighteen delegations covering the gamut of South African politics, plus observers from the United Nations, the Commonwealth, the European Community and the Organization of African Unity. It was the widest cross-section of political groups ever gathered in one place in South Africa. (p.188)
But he [de Klerk] then began to attack the ANC for not adhering to the agreements that we had made with the government. (p.188)
I reiterated that it was the ANC, not the government, that started the initiative of peace discussions, and it was the government, not the ANC, who time and again failed to live up to its agreements...We told him that we would turn in our weapons only when we were a part of the government collecting those weapons, and not until then. (p.190)
...both Mr de Klerk and I took pains to show that no irreparable harm had been done. He and I publicly shook hands and said we would work together. But much trust had been lost, and the negotiations were now in a state of disarray. (p.190)
On March 17, 1992, de Klerk called a nationwide referendum to find out how voters felt about the government's negotiations with the ANC. 69% of white voters supported negotiations.
On April 13, 1992, Mandela announced he and his wife, Winnie, would be separating.
On May 15, 1992, CODESA 2 talks began (the continuation of the CODESA talks). Due to two government scandals and a reluctance of the National Party to fully embrace the will of the majority, talks stalemated.
On June 17, 1992, in the township of Boipatong, forty-six people, mostly women and children, were killed by the Inkatha Freedom Party (a separate group made up of African-Americans, but who disagreed with the ANC on the armed struggle and who campaigned against international sanctions) - the fourth mass killing of ANC people in a week.
People across the country were horrified by the violence and charged the government with complicity. The police did nothing to stop the criminals and no arrests were made. Mr de Klerk said nothing. I found this to be the last straw. The government was blocking the negotiations and at the same time waging a covert war against our people. When then were we continuing to talk with them? (p.192)
Four days after the murders, I addressed a crowd of twenty thousand angry ANC supporters and told them I had instructed the ANC secretary-general Cyril Ramaphosa to suspend direct dealings with the government. It was as if we had returned to the dark days of Sharpeville. I publicly warned de Klerk that if he sought to impose new measures to restrict demonstrations or free expression, the ANC would launch a nationwide defiance campaign with myself as the first volunteer. (p.192)
On August 3 and 4, 1992, over four million workers stayed at home as part of a "mass action" campaign by the ANC, the largest political strike in the history of South Africa.
In the face of this mass action, Mr de Klerk said that if the ANC made the country ungovernable, the government might be forced to consider some unpleasant options. I warned Mr de Klerk that any anti-democratic actions would have serious repercussions. It was because of such threats, I said, that it was absolutely critical to set up a transitional government. (p.193)
On September 7, 1992, a group of 70,000 within the ANC held a protest in Bisho. Government troops opened fire on the protesters, killing twenty-nine people and wounding over 200.
Like the old proverb that says the darkest hour is before the dawn, the tragedy of Bisho led to a new opening in the negotiations. I met de Klerk in order to find common ground and avoid another tragedy like Bisho. Both sides were making an effort in good faith to get the negotiations back on track, and on 26 September de Klerk and I met for an official summit. On that day he and I signed the Record of Understanding, an agreement which set the mould for all the negotiations that followed. (p.193)
In February, 1993, the ANC and the government agreed in principle on a five-year government of national unity, a multi-party cabinet, and the creation of an transitional executive council, with elections to be held by the end of the year.
Former chief of staff of the MK, Chris Hani, was shot and killed in an attempt to derail negotiations, but Mandela urged the people of South Africa to remain calm and not resort to violence.
On June 3, 1993, a date was set for South Africa's first national, non-racial, one-person-one-vote election. The election day was set for April 27, 1994. The election would elect 400 representatives who would write a new constitution and serve as parliament.
In November, 1993, an interim constitution was approved, and soon thereafter, Mandela and the ANC began campaigning for the upcoming April election, travelling around South Africa and holding meetings called People's Forums.
...we travelled the country delivering our message to the people. We wanted people to vote for the ANC not simply because we had fought apartheid for eighty years, but because we were best qualified to bring about the kind of South Africa they hoped to live in. (p.196)
The ANC drafted a "Reconstruction and Development Programme" which outlined the ANC's plan to create jobs, build new houses, provide better health care, provide free education, redistribute land, and enact tax reform. The plan became known as "A Better Life for All", which became the ANC's campaign slogan.
Mandela was careful to let people know that real change would take time. He also let white people know that they were still a part of the country, and they were encouraged to stay.
ON March 28, 1994, members of the Inkatha party (who had been blocking ANC efforts to campaign) marched in a rally through Johannesburg, while an armed group of the Inkatha tried to enter ANC headquarters. Fifty people died, but despite this attempt by the Inkatha to postpone the upcoming election, it was held on April 27, 1994.
The images of South Africans going to the polls that day are burned in my memory. Great lines of patient people snaking through the dirt roads and streets of towns and cities; old women who had waited half a century to cast their first vote saying that they felt like human beings for the first time in their lives; white men and women saying they were proud to live in a free country at last. (p.199)
The results of the election showed 62.6 percent for the ANC - short of the two-thirds required for the ANC to finalize a constitution without the support of other parties.
Some in the ANC were disappointed that we did not cross the two-thrids threshold, but I was not one of them. In fact I was relieved; had we won two-thirds of the vote and been able to write a constitution unfettered by input from others, people would argue that we had created an ANC constitution, not a South African constitution. I wanted a true government of national unity. (p.200)
On the evening of 2 May de Klerk made a gracious concession speech. After more than three centuries of rule, the white minority was conceding defeat and turning over power to the black majority. (p.200)
From the moment the results were in and it was apparent that the ANC was to form the government, I saw my mission as one or preaching reconciliation. I knew that many people, particularly the minorities, whites, Coloureds and Indians, would be feeling anxious about the future, and I wanted them to feel secure. At every opportunity, I said all South Africans must now unite and join hands and say we are one country, one nation, one people, marching together into the future. (p.200)
On May 10, 1994, Nelson Mandela was sworn in is president of South Africa, with Mr de Klerk as second deputy president, and Thabo Mbeki as first deputy president.
It was only when I began to learn that my boyhood freedom was an illusion, when I discovered as a young man that my freedom had already been taken from me, that I began to hunger for it. (p.202)
But then I slowly saw that it was not just my freedom that was curtailed, but the freedom of everyone who looked like I did. That is when I joined the African National Congress, and that is when the hunger for freedom became the greater hunger for the freedom of my people. (p.202)
It was during those long and lonely years that my hunger for the freedom of my own people became a hunger for the freedom of all people, white and black. I knew that the oppressor must be liberated just as surely as the oppressed. (p.202)
The truth is that we are not yet free; we have merely achieved the freedom to be free, the right not to be oppressed. We have not taken the final step of the journey, but the first step on a longer and even more difficult road. For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others. The true test of our devotion to freedom is just the beginning. (p.202)
Source:
Mandela, Nelson. (1996). "Mandela: An Illustrated Autobiography". Little, Brown and Compnay. ISBN 0-316-55038-8.
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