Article by Julia Lutsky
“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.” Statement from the dock at the opening of the defense case in the Rivonia Trial, Pretoria Supreme Court, 20 April 1964
Born in 1918 in South Africa’s Transkei, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, son of the principal counselor of a local chief, was to spend 28 years in prison and emerge to become the first democratically elected president of South Africa. Groomed for high office, Rolihlahla instead chose to become a lawyer and to participate in the struggle for the rights of his nation and people.
Expelled from college with his friend Oliver Tambo for participating in a protest boycott in 1940, Mandela completed his education by correspondence. When he turned 24 in 1942, he joined the African National Congress (ANC) formed 30 years earlier. Because the “old guard” leadership seemed too dependent on petitioning the white government and too steeped in traditions that served the white power structure, Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Tambo and others formed a vanguard the aim of which was to transform the Congress into a mass movement. They proposed radical African nationalism based on national self-determination. In 1944, shortly before the end of World War II, they founded the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL); Mandela became its secretary three years later.
In response to the National Party’s (NP) victory in the 1948 all-White elections on a platform of strict apartheid the ANCYL program of boycotts, strikes, civil disobedience and non-cooperation became the official policy of the ANC; the Congress set as its aim full citizenship for all South Africans, direct parliamentary representation, the redistribution of land, trade union rights and free and compulsory education.
During the subsequent Campaign for the Defiance of Unjust Laws initiated in 1952, Mandela traveled throughout the land organizing resistance to NP racist legislation. For this he was given a suspended sentence and confined to Johannesburg. He was also forbidden to attend public meetings for a period of six months. He used the time to take the required examinations to be admitted to the bar. With Oliver Tambo he opened the first black legal practice in South Africa, and handled cases for the poor and for landless peasants. Though they had risen to professional status, Tambo noted, their clients reminded them full well of “the humiliation and suffering burning into our people.”
Mandela was subsequently involved in many struggles including that against the creation of Bantustans and the introduction of Bantu education. This last measure brought about the Sharpeville protest and subsequent massacre in 1960. This, in turn, led to the outlawing of the ANC. Mandela was detained until 1961.
Rather than disband, the Congress turned to underground work. In 1962 Mandela challenged the apartheid regime to convene a national convention and create a new constitution based on democratic principles. If such a convention was not called the ANC threatened a massive general strike. Mandela then went underground to lead the campaign; the administration called a mass military mobilization. While he and others were constantly moving from place to place and disguise to disguise, the ANC formed a special military wing he would head called Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK - Spear of the Nation). This special unit initiated a campaign of sabotage against government and economic installations.
In 1962 he went abroad to speak on South Africa and to seek support for the ANC. At the same time he took guerrilla training in Algeria and arranged for the training of MK fighters. Upon his return he was arrested for having left the country illegally and for inciting strikes. He conducted his own defense but was convicted in November 1962 and sentenced to five years. While imprisoned he and others were charged with sabotage carried out by the MK. He conducted the defense at the subsequent Rivonia trial; the defendants received life sentences.
Mandela was shipped to the infamous Robben Island Prison off the southwestern coast of South Africa where he organized political education classes. During his imprisonment he was first offered release if he would recognize the independence of the Transkei, and resettle there. He consistently refused. Toward the end of the 1980’s he was again offered release contingent on his renunciation of violence. Again he refused saying that only free individuals can negotiate, prisoners cannot enter into contracts.
In February of 1990 as a result of intense pressure from outside South Africa, the unrelenting struggle of the South African people and the solid support from the entire African continent, the South African government, under the leadership of President P.W. Botha, released eight political prisoners, six of whom had been co-defendants in the Rivonia Trial with Mandela. He and the ANC agreed to a suspension of violence and the ban on the ANC was lifted. Mandela was elected its president at the first ANC meeting held inside South Africa since its banning. In 1993 Mandela won the Nobel Peace Prize which he accepted on behalf of the South African people. He became president of South Africa in May of 1994; he stepped down five years later. Although he has officially retired from public life and lives in the Transkei he remains active on the world scene.
Statement of Nelson Mandela, President of the ANC, at his inauguration as president of the Democratic Republic of South Africa, May 5, 1994, Pretoria.
“…We have triumphed in the effort to implant hope in the breasts of the millions of our people. We enter into a covenant that we shall build the society in which all South Africans, both black and white, will be able to walk tall, without any fear in their hearts, assured of their inalienable right to human dignity-a rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world.
“As a token of its commitment to the renewal of our country, the new Interim Government of National Unity will, as a matter of urgency, address the issue of amnesty for various categories of our people who are currently serving terms of imprisonment.
“We dedicate this day to all the heroes and heroines in this country and the rest of the world who sacrificed in many ways and surrendered their lives so that we could be free.
“…Let there be justice for all. Let there be peace for all. Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all. Let each know that for each the body, the mind and the soul have been freed to fulfill themselves. Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another and suffer the indignity of being the skunk of the world. The sun shall never set on so glorious a human achievement. Let freedom reign. God Bless Africa.”