|
At 4:14 pm, on the afternoon of February 11 1990, Nelson Mandela walked away from the Victor Verster detention centre, outside Cape Town, South Africa. The world’s best-known political prisoner was a free man at last, after 27 years in captivity.
Mandela had been jailed as a terrorist for his part in master-minding the armed struggle of the African National Congress as it fought to overthrow the apartheid system in South Africa and establish democratic majority rule. Though he left jail both an icon and international celebrity, Mandela knew that the hardest fight of his life was only just beginning. He had to lead South Africa’s black community to victory as the ruling white minority at last bowed to the inevitable change. But he also had to ensure that there was a peaceful transfer of power, and use all his political skills to stop the country plunging into civil war.
In doing so, he would demonstrate the qualities that he had developed during those long years in prison – the refusal to ever give in, matched by a quite extraordinary understanding and forgiveness for his opponents. Nelson Mandela was to emerge as a unique figure on the world stage, for he was seen not just as a politician who could be trusted, but as an international statesman with an unmatched moral authority.
The story continues...
|
