“I went on a long holiday for 27 years.” Nelson Mandela
Where do you think he spent this holiday?
In prison.
On June 12, 1964, Mandela (then just a month short of his 46th birthday) was sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in organising acts of civil disobedience against the government of South Africa, which followed a policy of institutional apartheid and racism.
When this sentence was handed down, Mandela was already in prison. He had been sentenced to five years at Robben Island in 1962. In 1963, along with seven other members of the African National Congress (ANC), he was tried for sabotage, treason and conspiracy in the Rivonia Trials. Mandela defended his actions, saying, “I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons will live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to see realised. But if it needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”
Eight by seven
Mandela spent the first 18 years at Robben Island, in isolation. He lived in an eight by seven feet concrete room and had only a straw mat for a bed. Initially, he was put to work in breaking rocks and later in a lime quarry. The glare from the lime hurt his eyes and affected his sight permanently. He was not allowed to wear sunglasses. He could write and receive letters only once in six months and even that was censored. But Mandela did not allow this to break his spirit. He worked on his LLB degree from the University of London at night. He also organised the prisoners into a civil disobedience group to force the governing body to improve conditions at the prison.
In 1982, Mandela and other senior ANC leaders were transferred to Pollsmoor Prison in Cape Town.
In December 1988, he was moved to a house in Victor Verster prison after he was treated for tuberculosis. He was allowed to meet visitors. Around this time, the South African government began considering dismantling the apartheid system and releasing ANC leaders.
Changes
- After the Berlin Wall fell in November 1989, President de Klerk began talks with his cabinet to lift the ban on the ANC and free Mandela.
- This finally happened on February 11, 1990, when Mandela was 71 years old.
- Mandela then worked with de Klerk to end apartheid and establish a multi-racial government.
- In 1993, they were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
