The Fall of Apartheid - A Brief Overview

Nelson and Winnie Mandela when Nelson was released from prison

Originally published in the Spring/Summer 2018 of Retrospect Journal, 'Justice and Persecution'. This version contains slight edits to expand on certain points.

By the late-1960s Apartheid seemed to be consolidated in South Africa. Following the Rivonia Trial from 1962 to 1964 leading anti-Apartheid activists, including Nelson Mandela and Ahmed Kathrada, had been sentenced to lifelong imprisonment; leading anti-Apartheid groups like the African National Congress (ANC), Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), and South African Communist Party (SACP) were made illegal; and the economy was seemingly booming. In 1970 the Apartheid regime felt so confident that they passed the Homelands Act granting ‘independence’ to larger tribes in order to allow the state to strip urban black Africans of their citizenship. Apartheid had become official state policy after the 1948 electoral victory of D.F. Malan’s National Party amplifying the segregationist and racist laws dating from the end of the nineteenth century. In 1994 formal Apartheid came to an end with Nelson Mandela’s electoral victory in South Africa’s first multiracial elections. After such a success in the 1960s and 1970s Apartheid came crashing down but the main question is why? Christopher Saunders has argued that economic decline, domestic grassroots opposition, and foreign hostility helped end Apartheid.

A SASO protest

     Writing in the 1970s an Afrikaner critic of Apartheid said ‘Opposing Apartheid is worse than murder to some Afrikaners…You endanger the nation by refusing to conform’ but this is when the seeds of Apartheid’s collapse began. Despite throttling the free press and banning anti-Apartheid organisations resistance to Apartheid remained. Banned groups continued underground and the ANC’s armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), continued its armed resistance. Meanwhile, new grassroots organisations rose to fill the vacuum left by the ANC and PAC, such as the South African Students’ Organisation (SASO), under charismatic figures like Steve Biko and Winnie Mandela. Even the extrajudicial killing of Biko in 1977 did not stem the growing resistance. Guerrilla activity also increased in South West Africa, (modern Namibia), under the South West African People’s Organisation (SWAPO) which wanted independence from South Africa. Terence Moll has also presented evidence showing that the economic growth of the 1960s was more mediocre than initially thought so the world recession of the 1970s dented the economy. Furthermore, technological change in factories started requiring semi-skilled permanent workers instead of menial labourers which threatened the segregated system set up by the Nationalists.

One of the few photos of Mandela on Robben Island

     Meanwhile, the international situation in the 1970s had started to turn against South Africa. The Apartheid regime was intensely anti-communist and used the 1950 Suppression of Communism Act to silence the PAC, ANC, and Freedom Charter – Mandela even reported that in prison he could not read Little Red Riding Hood due to ‘red’ being in the title. As a result South Africa had garnered much support from the US and UK. South Africa was also surrounded by the ‘White Dominoes’ – according to Martin Meredith – that were the Portuguese colonies and the white minority state of Rhodesia. All this started to change in the 1970s. As early as 1959 the Anti-Apartheid Movement had been active in the UK and after the Rivonia Trial the ANC under Oliver Tambo had been garnering support from both the West and East. From 1977 MK guerrillas began a sabotage campaign after exile in Botswana, Swaziland and Lesotho while the UN put an arms embargo on South Africa. At the same time white rule in southern Africa was starting to collapse. Since the 1960s Portugal had been waging war against leftist guerrillas wanting independence for Angola and Mozambique, and after the Carnation Revolution in Portugal in 1974 independence came the following year. While this was happening a guerrilla war against white rule in Rhodesia fired up in the 1970s led by black African nationalists including Robert Mugabe. Throughout this period South Africa had been sending military and economic aid, as well as soldiers, to white minority states, or anti-communist groups in post-colonial states, to ensure neighbours existed who would not aid anti-Apartheid activists.

     In 1978 P.W. Botha became prime minister; he was an ardent white supremacist but he was pragmatic. He said ‘We are moving in a changing world. We must adapt otherwise we shall die’. Botha planned to grant limited reform to undermine opposition; use the police to break opposition; and increase intervention in Angola, Mozambique and Rhodesia. Botha viewed the 1979 OPEC oil embargo, the ANC, and the black guerrilla movements as being organised by the USSR in order to achieve global dominance. He was adamant to preserve white rule by any means necessary. His limited reforms and emphasis on the homelands were seen by anti-Apartheid activists as a clear attempt to preserve white rule; in 1983 his ‘trimeral constitution’ granting Indian and ‘coloured’ (mixed race) citizens their own chambers in parliament was boycotted. Opponents of Apartheid saw through the policy, it was fairly clear that by granting some form of emancipation to Indians and mixed-race communities it would stop them from trying to help tackle Apartheid. Meanwhile, the right-wing of the Nationalists was angered by Botha’s limited reforms and broke off in 1982 to form the Conservative Party.

Police using dogs on protesters who opposed an Apartheid politician being given 'freedom of the city' to Soweto, primarily a black African city, in 1980 

     South Africa’s economic situation began to collapse, affecting poor urban black Africans the most. Embargos on South African gold, diamonds, wine and other goods dented exports as imports of oil and arms dried up. Even when leaders supported South Africa, like Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, the populace did not and took it on themselves to avoid buying any South African goods not affected by sanctions. Tambo had turned Mandela into a figure to focus foreign anti-Apartheid activism on: The Specials releasing ‘Free Nelson Mandela’ being a particularly notable example of this. Rigorous policing and military spending decimated money reserves. Botha recruited vigilantes called kitskonstabel to harass activists or even attack squatter camps like in Cape Town in the May and June of 1986. Nigel Worden has even argued that Botha supported the Inkatha Freedom Party – a right-wing Zulu nationalist group – due to their opposition to the ANC and support for the homelands. Meanwhile, millions had been spent propping up Rhodesia and funding more compliant African nationalists in Angola and Mozambique. By 1985 20 percent of the budget was spent on military expenditure. In 1988 the military faced a crushing defeat at the hands of an expeditionary force made of Cuban volunteers and a Marxist Angolan group at Cuito Cuanavale which helped bring an end to the Angolan Civil War.

     Domestically opposition to Apartheid rapidly grew at a grassroots level. The ANC saw a resurgence with the party’s flag being draped over the coffins of activists and Mandela – as well as other imprisoned activists – gaining an almost mythic status. With a new generation a new wave of activism grew to prominence including the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and the United Democratic Front (UDF) being two notable examples. Inspired by the Freedom Charter they wanted: an end to Apartheid; a multiracial democracy; and black advancement. A new wave of boycotts and protests against the Apartheid state attracting millions of supporters started seriously damaging the state economically and politically. While this was happening MK continued their armed campaign. Desperate, Botha in 1985 asked Mandela to renounce armed conflict in return for freedom – he refused in a speech read out by his daughter at a UDF rally. However, negotiations between Botha, Mandela, and other activists began in secret which brings us to the final chapter in Apartheid’s fall.

The AWB high command

     Following a stroke Botha resigned in 1989 and, to his surprise, his chosen successor, Barend du Plessis, lost to the far less hard-line F.W. de Klerk. De Klerk was eager to bring stability to South Africa so in February 1990 he lifted the ban on the ANC, PAC, and SACP to be followed a few weeks later by the release of political prisoners – including Mandela. Such was Mandela’s popularity that in his autobiography he stated that in the car from prison crowds of both white and black Africans crowded eagerly to see him. Mandela had a natural charisma to him and could, as argued by William Beinart, appear as a ‘communal patriarch, working-class hero, and liberal democrat’. He even started to put less emphasis on socialism and more on human rights to avoid frightening the white middle-class. However, Mandela’s release did not end Apartheid. For four years bitter struggles between de Klerk, Mandela and others began about the future. The 1989 election had allowed the Conservative Party to replace the moderate Democratic Party as the opposition and racist white opposition started to grow. The overtly fascist Afrikaner Weerstandbeweging (AWB) – a party which even adopted Nazi imagery – began attacks on government buildings and activists. Meanwhile, in Pietermaritsburg clashes between the ANC and Inkatha (with possible government support) killed 14,000 from 1991-1994. After the assassination of MK leader and SACP activist Chris Hani by two white supremacists – one a Polish anti-communist, the other an English-speaking Conservative MP – the country became horrified. With South Africa tired of violence the end was nigh.

Mandela voting in South Africa's first true democratic election

     Starting on 26 April 1994 South Africa’s first election based on universal suffrage took place; in some areas people queued for four days they were so eager to finally vote. Mandela swept the board with 62 percent of the vote becoming South Africa’s president. Legally, equality had come, but in reality equality was still far over the horizon, and in 2019 still seems to be. Mandela hoped to bring economic equality for black Africans, and to reconcile the formerly separated communities. He only succeeded in reconciliation. The Truth and Reconciliation Committee under Desmond Tutu began addressing the abuses committed by both state and anti-state activists, and Mandela publicly embraced the South African rugby team to bring black and white South Africans together. The Apartheid government had created a veneer of wealth tricking the ANC into believing that they had a large treasury to implement their social reforms. Instead they faced an empty treasury so an irate Mandela could not fully implement his reforms. His successors made this worse through corruption or outright ineptitude - while Mandela was slow to tackle AIDS thanks to a lack of money, his successor Thabo Mbeki chose to ignore it. The Reconciliation Committee faced intense controversy. White South Africans saw it as an attack, while anti-Apartheid activists found it insulting that their abuses were being treated the same as that of the state. If you voluntarily came before the committee you were exempt from prosecution, so several key figures in the Apartheid state avoided prosecution due to this. Steve Biko's murderers managed to avoid jailtime to domestic outrage thanks to this. These issues continue to persist to this day - black South Africans remain subject to police brutality, poverty and segregation. The forty years of Apartheid are certainly felt to this day.

The sources I have used are as follows:

-William Beinart, Twentieth-Century South Africa, Second Edition, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001)

-Saul Dubow, Apartheid: 1948-1994, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014)

-Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom, (London: Abacus, 1994)

-Martin Meredith, The State of Africa: A History of the Continent since Independence, (London: Simon & Schuster Ltd, 2005)

-Terence Moll, ‘Did the Apartheid Economy “Fail”?’, Journal of South African Studies, 17, (1991), 271-291

-Christopher Saunders, ‘Perspective on the Transition from Apartheid to Democracy in South Africa’, South African Historical Journal, 51:1, (2004), 159-166

-Nigel Worden, The Making of Modern South Africa: Conquest, Segregation and Apartheid, (Oxford: Blackwell, 1994)  

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Who was Nelson Mandela?

As of writing a few days ago we saw the centenary of the birth of anti-Apartheid, and former South African president, Nelson Mandela. Mandela had a great impact on South African and global politics before, during and after his imprisonment, and has continued to serve as a source of inspiration for people across the globe. I would personally consider Mandela as being one of my idols. I would also recommend reading my other article on Mandela's wife and fellow anti-Apartheid activist Winnie Madikizela-Mandela for any extra information which I may have left out of this article.

Early Life

Mandela was a Xhosa born 18 July 1918 in the little village of Mvezo along the banks of the Mbashe River in Cape Province in the south of South Africa. He was given the name Rolihlahla meaning 'pulling the branch of a tree', or more colloquially 'troublemaker' which friends and relatives would joke was foreshadowing to his future fate. When Mandela was born the South African government had began stripping the rights from black Africans and Indians thirty years before the official start of Apartheid. The African National Congress (ANC), formed 1912, had sent a delegation to the Versailles peace conference in order to voice the grievances of black South Africans. Although Mandela was born into a very rural village as he was born into the royal family he was eligible to serve as a councillor as his father had done before him. At a young age his religious mother sent him to a Methodist school where his teacher, Miss Mdingane, gave him the name Nelson which Mandela believed to possibly be a reference to Lord Nelson. When not at school he helped raise cattle with his mother and sisters becoming deeply engaged in Thembu culture until the death of his father when he was aged nine. After that his mother took him to Thembuland's provincial capital, Mqhekezweni, to live with Chief Jongintaba Dalindyebo who was the acting regent of the Thembu. Despite Jongintaba's awe inspiring appearance he took in the young Nelson raising him with his own children, the son and heir Justice and his sister Nomafu. Nelson soon attached himself to the elder Justice as they learnt English, Xhosa, history (especially African) and geography. While at Mqhekezweni he became more religious thanks to the local Methodist Revenrand Matyolo. Furthermore, Mandela's early education would slowly start to influence his later views. Watching the discussions between Jongintaba and local chiefs helped install a devotion to democracy and hearing local chief's stories planted the seeds of an African nationalist. At this stage though he still viewed white presence as being a necessary evil and his devotion to the royalty persisted for years. In Xhosa culture it was believed that one could only become a man if he was circumcised so at age 16 the regent had Mandela go through the ceremony at Tyhalarha on the banks of the Mbashe.

A young Mandela

After the ceremony the regent said to Mandela: 'It is not for you to spend your life mining the white man's gold, never knowing how to write your name'. Wanting him to truly become a councillor for Justice later in life he sent Mandela to higher education, the first being Clarkebury Boarding Institute. It was there that Mandela first met a white person. He had occasionally seen white people at Mqhekezweni but it was only at Clarkebury that he properly met one; the school governor, Reverend Harris, was a 'white Thembu' as he apparently 'loved and understood the Thembu people' despite running a tight ship. At Clarkebury he was shocked thinking that his relation to royalty would earn him respect but in reality he was mocked for his country accent. At the age of 19 he then went to Healdtown, a Methodist college at Fort Beaufort, which once acted as a British military outpost. Imperialism and nationalism blended at Healdtown, the governor Reverend Arthur Wellington (who claimed that he was a descendent of Lord Wellington), where Mandela became enraptured by British history and geography while also engaging in Xhosa culture winning an prize in 1938 for an essay written in Xhosa. There he made friends with future ANC activists and his first non-Xhosa friends including the Sotho-speaking Zachariah Molete. It was only when he went to do his BA at Fort Hare, a small university which was unique for allowing blacks to attend. Fort Hare became a centre for the intellectual black South African elite and many members of the ANC, Communist party and African liberation movements (including Robert Mugabe and Julius Nyerere) would pass through its doors at some time or another. Mandela loved Fort Hare developing his lifelong love for running and boxing as some of his friends became involved with anti-racism protests, ANC activism, and at times even pro-communist events. At this stage Mandela was supportive of Britain but unlike other aristocrats he was kind and considerate to the non-aristocrats at the university. 

When returning to Mqhekezweni in 1940 he and Justice found out the regent had arranged marriages for them so they ran away to Johannesburg. While in the city Mandela got a job as a night watchmen in the Crown Mines and there he saw some of the worst of South African racism and capitalism. Mining companies kept contact with local chiefs in order to continue a wave of cheap labour, tribal hierarchies were reproduced (Justice was always treated as royalty), different groups were segregated, and working conditions were poor. Mandela was soon fired after the headman found out that he was a runaway. He soon came into contact with ANC member Walter Sisulu who would become a lifetime friend of Mandela. As he had studied law Sisulu got Mandela a job at the law firm ran by a white liberal Jew called Lazar Sidelsky - like in the US many South African Jews saw racism and antisemitism as being linked together. At the law firm he properly became interested in politics thanks to a Xhosa communist, Gaur Radebe, and a Jewish communist who became his first white friend, Nat Bregman. Ironically years later Radebe would become anti-communist while Mandela started defending communists in the ANC. He started becoming more interested in wider African nationalism over simply Xhosa as he lived in the city of Alexandra as he studied for a BA from the University of South Africa at night. With little money he often had to walk home and study by candlelight but had the benefit of a communal feeling learning about Zulu, Sotho and Swazi culture (he even briefly dated a Swazi girl). He also started visiting communist meetings being impressed at how blacks, whites, Indians, and 'coloureds' (Mixed race) were together although he disagreed with how they reduced social issues to class and their atheism. In 1941 he was visited by the regent who forgave him for running away before passing away greatly affecting Mandela. 

ANC Activism

Mandela and Oliver Tambo

In 1943 Mandela joined the University of Witwatersrand to study law and as he was the only black student he faced intense racism. They weren't openly racist but Mandela put it the best way possible: 'No one uttered the word "kaffir"; their hostility was more muted, but I felt it just the same'. It was at Witwatersrand that Mandela met many ANC, Indian and communist activists including the later leaders of the South African Communist Party (SACP) Joe Slovo and Ruth First. In 1943 Mandela joined in with the bus boycotts resulting in a reversal of the fare increases and at Sisulu's request joined the ANC. Mandela would meet ANC member Anton Lembede who represented the Africanist branch of the ANC who believed that blacks should not work with non-blacks. Despite having non-black friends Mandela was influenced by this believing that blacks should be independent and that Indians and communists were too interested in their own communities or class. He and Lembede would form the ANC Youth League (ANCYL) a year later. Following the end of the Second World War institutional racism strengthened, especially to Indians, and anti-communism skyrocketed. Indian protests by figures like Dr. Yusuf Dadoo and Ahmed Kathrada did partially convince Mandela that an alliance with Indians could work. Mandela started becoming more and more involved with the ANC becoming ANCYL secretary when Lembede suddenly died and was replaced by the more moderate but articulate Peter Mda. In 1948 the political situation worsened. Daniel Malan's National Party came to power; the Nationalists were deeply racialist and were determined to separate different races. Their policy was called 'Apartheid'. Mandela had to devote himself so much to politics that he ended up failing his final exam three times before Witwatersrand refused him to resit in 1949.

Mandela and Evelyn at their wedding

While this was happening Mandela became a family man. While visiting Walter Sisulu Mandela met his cousin, Evelyn Mase. Evelyn was a Xhosa from rural Transkei and who was orphaned at the age of 12 when he mother passed, the father (a mineworker) died when she was an infant. She started training to be a nurse which is how she met Nelson. The two quickly fell in love and were married in 1944. The new couple had little money having to move in with her brother but they were happy. She said that 'Everyone we knew said that we made a very good couple'. Oliver Tambo's wife Adelaide also said that 'Many wives envied Evelyn for her man who was dedicated to the family and brought food in town to take home'. A year after they were married Evelyn had their first child, a son called Thembekile ('Thembi'). Nelson's mother and sister soon moved in with them. Unfortunately their first daughter, Makaziwe, was born ill and passed at just nine months. To honour her their second daughter was named Makaziwe in traditional Xhosa fashion. In 1950 they had their second son, Makgatho. 

1950 saw Mandela made president of the ANCYL and was brought onto the ANC's national executive. A strike was organised for black workers on May Day which Mandela actually opposed; as it was multi-racial and not ANC-led he opposed it but seeing its success his opposition to it started to ebb as a result. However, following the strike the Suppression of Communism Act was passed which defined communism as anything that wanted to change society through direct action or encouraging 'feelings of hostility between the European and the non-European races'. This affected most civil rights groups across South African society and the government used it very readily to silence opposition. As a result this brought many together, although it took a while for Mandela to be convinced. His friend and communist general secretary, Moses Kotane, convinced him to read Marx, Lenin and Mao and seeing the USSR's assistance to anti-imperialism he started to be won over by Marxism and cooperation with non-blacks and non-ANC groups. In 1952 the ANC joined the Defiance Campaign in order to challenge Apartheid. Inspired by Gandhi the Defiance Campaign aimed to use nonviolent protests and speeches to tackle Apartheid and although Mandela saw this as being more pragmatic he became heavily involved giving speeches including one at Durban to a crowd of 10,000. Thousands joined the ANC as a result and Mandela soon gained an image for his fiery rabble rousing speeches. The Campaign greatly angered the Apartheid state and used the Suppression of Communism Act to crack down on the activists. Over two years 8,000 were arrested including Mandela, Dadoo and Sisulu in 1952. He was banned from attending meetings so the ANC placed the 'Mandela Plan' or 'M-Plan' in case the ANC was banned. Mandela's 'No Easy Walk to Freedom' speech was read out to the ANC rally in Transvaal detailing his views and plans to turn the ANC into smaller cells if it got banned. Despite this Mandela and Oliver Tambo formed their own law firm to help the black community affected by police brutality and other aspects of the Apartheid state. 

Nelson and Winnie

However, Mandela's marriage started breaking down. His own infidelities and Evelyn becoming a Jehovah's Witness which argued against direct confrontation caused the two to drift apart. The added strain of Mandela's activities, his law firm, and the Treason Trial added further stress to the family. In 1958 the couple divorced causing stress to both and greatly upset Thembi in particular. Mandela would write how Thembi would sleep in his bed next to him due to the divorce. Following his divorce in 1958 he soon found love again. Mandela described this in Long Walk to Freedom:  'I drove a friend from Orlando to the medical school at the University of Witwatersrand and went past Baragwanath Hospital, the leading black hospital in Johannesburg. As I passed a nearby bus stop, I noticed out of the corner of my eye a lovely young woman waiting for the bus. I was struck by her beauty.' She later visited his legal firm and the two started talking. She was the daughter of two teachers from the Eastern Cape. Winnie Madikizela had a history of political activism so knew about Mandela. The two soon married and within two years the couple had two daughters, Zenani and Zindzi. 

Trials, Exile and MK

Not deterred by the bans after the Defiance Campaign the ANC continued on. There were some splits - the PAC was one who were firmly Africanist compared to the ANC. In 1955 when the government tried to move black residents from Sophiatown, a suburb in Johannesburg, to move in whites Mandela organised a protest. Sophiatown was important to urban blacks with it being a centre of urban black culture, similar to Harlem in New York. The strike failed convincing the ANC that violence may have to be needed in the future - Sisulu even asked China for arms but was rejected due to the ANC's size. In 1955 the ANC joined with unions, Indian activists, other Africanists and the underground communists to draft the Freedom Charter. Declaring that 'South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white' it called for racial equality before the law, equal rights to vote, and nationalisation of major industries. Clearly inspired by Marxism and radical policies Mandela admitted this saying 'It is a revolutionary document precisely because the changes it envisages cannot be won without breaking up the economic and political set-up of present South Africa'. The government hated this. Mandela had another wave of travel bans imposed on him just as his marriage with Evelyn ended. In 1956 the 'Treason Trial' began. Mandela and 155 other individuals ranging from unionists to the ANC leadership were arrested on charges of 'high treason' in December 1956 with the state arguing that the Freedom Charter could only be achieved through violence. The trial dragged on for four years seeing protests in favour of the accused, the four National party supporting judges being replaced, Oliver Tambo fleeing abroad, and the strength of the defendants being sapped. In the end the accused were found not guilty in 1961. During this time Mandela's marriage to Evelyn ended with her having custody of their three children and also him marrying Winnie with the birth of both of his daughters with her. The state even arrested Winnie and in 1959 the Africanist PAC split from the ANC.

Protests at the Treason Trial

Despite viewing the PAC as naive Mandela got behind their pass burning protests - black Africans and other minorities were forced to carry around passes. He publicly burnt his in solidarity with the PAC following the 1960 Sharpeville massacre where police shot over 60 protesters. Apartheid was solidifying itself in South Africa. In 1958 Hendrik Verwoerd became prime minister who cast himself as chosen by God and wanted to properly entrench Apartheid into society. Among this was a policy to truly separate the black and white populations - the black population would be divided into 'nations' and given their own 'homelands' regardless whether they had lived for generations. In retaliation Mandela secretly travelled the country despite his travel bans and the abandonment of his family and firm organising support for the ANC's national strike. The press nicknamed him the 'Black Pimpernel' and he was almost was caught a few times by a police who became a virtual military. A treat among black Africans was to leave milk in the sun and then drink the skin; when visiting a white friend they spotted his milk on a window and almost investigated. He was also advised to shave his beard but he refused because he was attached to it - as someone repeatedly told to shave their beard I can definitely sympathise with this part of his life. To Mandela's dismay the three day national strike was a failure. Around this time Mandela joined the Communist party although how devoted to communism he was and how pragmatic his joining was is still debated. The ANC's president Chief Albert Luthuli was very against armed violence to Mandela's dismay but he managed to win him over to form an armed group. Inspired by Castro's Cuban Revolution Mandela, Sisulu and Slovo co-founded Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation, shortened to MK) in 1961 on the anniversary of Castro's victory. Operating from a smallholding called Lilliesleaf in Rivonia it planned a guerrilla campaign of sabotage to avoid civilian casualties. On December 16 1961 on a day when whites celebrated a victory over the Zulu king Dingane in 1838 bombs were set off across Johannesburg and other cities. However, most of the attacks were clumsy and did little to no lasting damage. Officially to not tarnish the ANC's reputation, especially as Chief Luthuli had won the Nobel Peace Prize, MK was independent but in practice it served as the ANC's armed wing.

Mandela addressing a crowd at the Rivonia Trial

Three weeks after MK's formation Mandela crossed the border into Bechuanaland (Botswana) to travel across Africa for six months to get support for MK. When in Ethiopia he also personally underwent military training saying: 'If there was to be guerrilla warfare I wanted to be able to stand and fight with my people and to share the hazards of war with them'. He met many African leaders including Julius Nyerere of Tanganyika (modern Tanzania), Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt and Ahmed Sekou Toure of Guinea. While abroad he met up with Tambo who had also been generating anti-Apartheid support. While in Sierre Leone he was embarrassed when the entire parliament shook his hand and he realised that they thought he was Chief Luthuli. After six months he arrived back in South Africa but after two weeks in July 1962 when he was careless about security travelling from Durban to Johannesburg he was arrested. It has since been found out that the CIA actually helped find Mandela due to his association with communists. The police had no evidence to link Mandela to MK so he was charged at the Rivonia Trial for leaving the country illegally and inciting African workers to illegally strike. A raid on Lilliesleaf got some evidence with several key anti-Apartheid activists being arrested as well including Ahmed Kathrada and Sisulu. The trial went from October 1963 until June 1964  and were initially charged under the Sabotage Act which brought the death penalty with it. Mandela's forceful personality and charisma allowed him to give a three-hour speech called 'I am Prepared to die' inspired by Castro's 'History will Absolve me' speech. He said 'It was only when all else had failed when all channels of peaceful protest had been barred to us, that the decision was made to embark on violent forms of political struggle, and to form Unkhonto we Sizwe. We did so not because we desired such a course but solely because the Government had left us with no other choice'. On June 12 1964 Mandela, then aged 45, with several others including Sisulu and Kathrada were sentenced to life imprisonment. Thus his life as prisoner no. 466/64 began. 

Imprisonment

Mandela became known as the world's most famous political prisoner. The night of the verdict Mandela and the others were flown from Cape Town to Robben Island where they had to collect seaweed and lime. Conditions were appalling. Kept in a 8 foot by 7 foot cell (2.4 x 2.1 m) he had to sleep on a straw mat, eat hard food, work long hours, was forced to not speak to other prisoners, and had to wear shorts. Africans were seen as children so had to wear shorts as they weren't 'adults'. The glare from breaking gravel and collecting lime permanently damaged Mandela's eyes as he and other prisoners were verbally and physically harassed by the guards. Mandela would describe it as the 'Dark Years'. To improve working conditions Mandela and other prisoners organised strikes, including hunger strikes, which had mixed success. They did organise themselves to educate themselves, their protests, and their debates. At one time a guard offered to help liberate Mandela but he was cautious and for good reason - it later transpired that it was a plot to assassinate him. While in prison he did get some privileges, including a course with a London university, but this was at expense of other ones - he received very few family visits and letters were often censored if they were received at all. When Winnie was allowed to visit they had to use code to discuss their lives - for example Nelson would ask how 'Ngutyana' was doing where Ngutyana was Winnie's clan name. When his mother was dying she was allowed a visit in 1968 and tragically shortly after Thembi was killed in a motorcycle accident. He was barred from the funerals of both his mother and son. In between rare visits and the regular work Mandela and other prisoners would engage in debates and lectures which would go on to nuance and temper Mandela's own views. The PAC were deeply affected along with the ANC and South African Indians' Congress so they regularly debated. Some young Xhosa even asked to be circumcised due to Mandela's lectures on Xhosa culture. Reading material was severely censored - War of the Worlds was banned for having 'war' in the title and Little Red Riding Hood was even banned for having 'red' in the title as well.

Mandela in 1966

While outside Apartheid was becoming strengthened, Winnie was arrested at times, and the arrested were soon forgotten about to be eclipsed by a new generation of activists including Steve Biko. Inside the prison the prisoners after years of protest after 1967 managed to get trousers, were allowed games, and had better food. In 1970 the extremely brutal and racist Commander Piet Badenhorst was put in charge of the prison but Mandela managed to get him replaced when he complained of his abuse to visiting judges. In 1975 he and other prisoners were reclassified as Class A giving them extra rights, including the opportunity to send more letters outside to figures like Desmond Tutu. He even started writing his autobiography which would become Long Walk to Freedom but it was discovered and had his rights to his London university revoked. The 1970s saw the hardening of Apartheid sending the new activists to prison creating debates with the younger prisoners. His own words were smuggled outside, such as his condemnation of the Soweto uprising in 1976, allowing more people to hear his words. Mandela's influence on younger activists started scaring the state who in 1982 sent him and other prisoners to Pollsmoor. Conditions at Pollsmoor were better than Robben Island, Mandela had access to 52 letters a year now and could have a garden, but he missed the debates at Robben Island, and he became a martyr. Oliver Tambo had international anti-Apartheid activism focus on Mandela, Nelson would even joke that people thought 'Free' was his first name due to the slogan 'Free Nelson Mandela!'. Hard-right politicians during the last decade of the Cold War, like Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, encouraged South Africa to keep him and other prisoners imprisoned. At one point Thatcher even called for Mandela's execution! 

In prison Mandela's health was declining. In 1985 he had surgery and he would catch TB forcing him to be moved to Victor Verster where he got his own personal chef whom he developed a friendship with. Outside Apartheid was collapsing. Violence skyrocketed as clashes between the ANC,  other groups, the state and a Zulu conservative party called Inkatha took place; Winnie even had her own group called the 'Mandela United Football Club' which assassinated opponents (including 14-year old Stompie Moeketsi in 1989). The economy was doing appallingly; international boycotts and faults in the South African economic system caused by Apartheid were slowly destroying it. In 1987 the Minister of Justice met with Mandela to negotiate and end to violence but Mandela refused, he said the ANC would only stop violence if the government did. In 1989 he even met with the prime minister, P.W. Botha, who was a fierce supporter of Apartheid but couldn't handle the escalating situation, especially following his stroke. Six weeks later F.W. de Klerk replaced Botha and started the process of legalising the banned parties and releasing prisoners. Finally on February 11 1990 Mandela walked from prison hand-in-hand with Winnie.

Transition and Presidency

Despite Mandela's release Apartheid lingered on for another four years. Mandela and de Klerk met regularly to try and end the violence with little success. Between 1987 and 1990 4,000 were killed in clashes between Inkatha and anti-Apartheid activists in Natal which continued until 1994. It is estimated that about 14,000 died in political violence in the four years between Mandela's arrest and the first multi-racial election. Anthony Sampson has accused de Klerk of encouraging Inkatha and since we have found out that he did indeed do this; violence by the ANC had a police response but violence from Inkatha was ignored. A literal neo-Nazi group was even formed by pro-Apartheid whites called the Afrikaner Weerstand Beweging and an activist called Chris Hani was assassinated in April 1993 by a Polish anti-communist and English-speaking MP who supported Apartheid. Relations between de Klerk and Mandela soon soured as each blamed each other for the violence despite both winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. Of course Mandela was not the only one to help bring down Apartheid. Finally on April 26 1994 Nelson Mandela cast his vote at Ohlange High School in Inanda near Durban in South Africa's first multi-racial election. With a staggering majority Nelson Mandela became the first black president of South Africa and the first president of a new state.

In his typical self-depreciating manor he would joke that he would miss the quiet of prison while president. Mandela's presidency has been seen as being mixed with many individuals, both in and out of the country, seeing him as a sellout. Winnie also criticised his presidency for this reason and it had nothing to do with their divorce. The couple separated in 1992 and were divorced in 1996 as they had drifted apart (according to Mandela) and also due to Winnie's own infidelities and association with violence (according to Martin Meredith). There are two reasons why Mandela's presidency has seen as being a disappointment. The first is the economy. Mandela hoped to have a series of welfare reforms, nationalisation and policies to bring black Africans out of destitution with the intention of using the state's immense wealth to do so. However, he soon found out that years of Apartheid had in fact destroyed the economy, the state had a veneer of wealth which fooled everyone. The second was that Mandela was focused on peace between minorities and whites. Seeing the exodus of the white populations of Mozambique, Angola and Zimbabwe which took the wealth with them which he hoped to avoid (although it did partially happen). Trying to appease whites he made de Klerk his deputy which gave conservative whites a foot in the door to block some of Mandela's more radical plans. However, his presidency was praised for reconciliation with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission which was controversial but respected. The 1996 constitution also protected gay rights and paved the way for the legalisation of gay marriage in 2006 which he supported. While president he did have Long Walk to Presidency published and married Graca Machel, the widow of Mozambique's president. He chose to only serve one term handing power to the ANC's new leader Thabo Mbeki in 1999.

Post-Presidency

At the World Cup

Until his death in 2013 Mandela remained a figure in South African society. Among the campaigns he took part in were advocacy for those with HIV/AIDs and called for more treatment of it, especially as his son Makgatho tragically passed because of AIDs in 2005. During his presidency he had tried to smooth over Libyan-UK relations which had worsened thanks to the Lockerbie bombing and post-presidency he tried to call for better treatment of Libyan terrorists in British prisons. He was also one of the many political figures to oppose the invasion of Iraq and was very critical of US foreign policy. Mandela, Tutu and Machel formed a group called the Elders which aimed to advise world leaders and politicians in affairs which included calling on Robert Mugabe to improve human rights in Zimbabwe. Of course the world definitely paid attention when Mandela got South Africa to host the 2010 Football World Cup and appeared at the opening ceremony. For the last few years of his life he suffered from respiratory problems before sadly passing in 2013. His funeral saw thousands of mourners come to pay their respects and was televised worldwide.

Despite disappointments in his presidency Nelson Mandela inspired thousands to millions around the world. His devotion to democracy, equality and freedom couple with oppression in prison for decades made him an icon and an idol for individuals across the world.

Thank you for reading. For future blog posts please see our Facebook or catch me on Twitter @LewisTwiby. The sources I have used are as follows:

-Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom, (London: Abacus, 1994)

-Martin Meredith, The State of Africa: A History of the Continent since Independence, (London: Simon & Schuster, 2005)

-William Beinart, Twentieth-Century South Africa, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001)

-Anthony Sampson, Mandela: The Authorised Biography, (London: Harper Collins, 1999)

-Saul Dubow, Apartheid, 1948-1994, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014)

Who was Winnie Madikizela-Mandela?

On 2 April 2018 Winnie Madikizela-Mandela passed away at the age of 81. Known across the world as Winnie Mandela she was an ardent anti-Apartheid activist who had far more agency than just being the wife of Nelson Mandela. Today we look at her life to understand her role in the history of South Africa.

South Africa and early Life

Nomzamo Winifred Zanyiwe Madikizela was born in Bizana in the Eastern Cape in 1936. Her name, Nomzamo, means 'one who strives or undergoes trials' which was a prophetic name for her later career. Even before independence in 1910 South Africa was a settler society on the same lines as the future Zimbabwe and Kikuyuland in present day Kenya. White farmers had historically taken arable land from the local population and in the cities Africans and Indians were met with discrimination. Before official Apartheid began in 1948 legislation had been put in place stripping Africans, Indians, and 'Coloureds' (mixed race) people of the same rights awarded to the white population. In 1912 the African National Congress (ANC) was founded to combat racism in South Africa.

Winnie was the sixth child of eleven to two teachers, but tragedy struck at the age of nine when her mother died causing her family to be separated. Despite this she managed to become head girl at her school before going on to study social work at Jan Hofmeyr School, and later international relations at the University of Witwatersrand. It should be noted that since the National Party's official creation of the Apartheid policy in 1948 it had been extremely difficult for black Africans to go into higher education - it was even difficult before this with Nelson Mandela (Winnie's senior by 16 years) commenting on how narrowly he was accepted. It is really a testament to her character and ability that she managed to get in at all. After graduating she went through several small jobs before becoming the first black female social worker at Baragwanath Hospital in Johannesburg at the age of 21. As a young, well-educated black woman it is likely that she became politicized relatively quickly, after all she entered her teen years just as Apartheid officially became law. During her student years she had been affiliated with the Non-European Unity Movement. It was in 1957 when she first met Nelson.

Winnie and Nelson

In his autobiography Long Walk to Freedom Mandela described the first time he saw Winnie: 'I drove a friend from Orlando to the medical school at the University of Witwatersrand and went past Baragwanath Hospital, the leading black hospital in Johannesburg. As I passed a nearby bus stop, I noticed out of the corner of my eye a lovely young woman waiting for the bus. I was struck by her beauty.' At the time Mandela's first marriage to Evelyn Ntoko Mase was coming to an end and he was preparing for the 'Treason Trial' where he and 155 other anti-Apartheid activists had been arrested for treason. Winnie and her brother had been visiting Mandela and his partner Oliver Tambo to seek legal help. Mandela wrote 'I cannot say for certain if there is such a thing as love at first sight, but I do know that the moment I first glimpsed Winnie Nomzamo, I knew that I wanted to have her as my wife.' The two got on extremely well, so much so that on 14 June 1958 they were married. When on trial Nelson couldn't work so often they had to live off of the wages from Winnie's social work but for what it was they lived happily at 8115 Orlando West in Johannesburg. 

Winnie's role in the anti-Apartheid movement has strangely been forgotten by the general public since the collapse of Apartheid, but even before Nelson's imprisonment she was active in the movement. A lot of domestic activism was organised at the grassroots level which Winnie took part in, including many student and women's protests. While pregnant she was even arrested and there was a genuine fear that she would give birth while in prison. She was released and in 1958 gave birth to her first daughter, Zenani; Zenani is a Xhosa word for 'What have you brought into the world?' suggesting that one had to contribute something to society. Winnie's headstrong attitude was shown here: Nelson mother had come to the birth to let Zanani have a Xhosa baptism with an inyanga, tribal healer, but Winnie saw it as outdated and unhealthy so rejected it. In 1960 her second daughter, Zindzi, was born in the township of Soweto in Johannesburg. However, family life was short lived. Both Winnie and Nelson were constantly harassed by the government with Nelson going into exile for organizing the ANC's armed wing Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK). In 1964 he was imprisoned and would not be released until 1990.

The Anti-Apartheid Struggle

Alone with two young children Winnie never lost hope and continued in the anti-Apartheid struggle. The 1960s and 1970s were some of the worse years of Apartheid with the state actively murdering activists, increasing legal discrimination, and even disenfranchising black Africans. Despite these setbacks Winnie would became a prominent figure in the anti-Apartheid movement while also focusing on particularly black women's emancipation. The state started targeting her and her family as well; one time a Special Branch officer broke into their Orlando home and when she reacted, quite understandably, angry the lieutenant laid a charge of assault against her. To allow their daughters to get an education Winnie had sent them to a school with them designated as Indians (although persecuted South Africa's Indian population faced less discrimination compared to the black populace) so with Nelson's advice she ended up sending them to a boarding school in Swaziland. While visiting him prison they set up a code to give each other information. Nelson would ask 'How is Ngutyana doing?' which was one of Winnie's clan names so she could tell him how she actually was doing as the guards did not know this. In 1969 Winnie was arrested and imprisoned for the first time for 18-months for anti-Apartheid activities. It would be the first of many arrests. 

In June 1976 20,000 students protested the imposition of Afrikaans in schools originating in Soweto which police brutally crushed down on generating international furor. Many activists were arrested by the government for this and Winnie was one thanks to her role in the Black Parents' Association. Instead of prison she was instead sent into internal exile in the Free State away from her home in Soweto. Winnie, Zindzi, and all their possessions were dumped in front of a tin-roofed shack in Brandfort, a rural area where Sesotho, not Xhosa, was spoken. They had no toilet, running water and heat; were placed under constant police surveillance; and the only shops were hostile to African customers. However, Winnie managed to pull through. She had organised Operation Hunger which helped redistribute food to poor families, started a creche for the township, and raised funds for a medical clinic - something which few had access to. Soon local from both the Sesotho and Afrikaner populations grew to love her. Zindzi was soon allowed guests and could move about, especially as Zanani had married into the ANC supporting Swazi royal family, but Winnie could only leave Brandfort to visit Nelson or got to hospital. Winnie soon got international attention - Oliver Tambo had managed to turn Mandela into a key symbol of Apartheid's cruelty abroad and when word got out that his wife was also being persecuted this made her a symbol as well. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s despite opposition from the state she would continue her activism.

By the 1980s Winnie was given more room to breathe, although on one trip to Johannesburg in 1985 for medical treatment her house in Brandfort and the clinic were firebombed. The 1980s were Apartheid's last desperate years so security forces became harsher and opponents became more willing to use violence. Winnie was one who started advocating for more violent measures including 'necklacing' - putting a wheel on someone's neck, dousing it in petrol and then setting it on fire. A group called the Mandela United Football Club (MUFC) was set up to act as her bodyguard but quite often resorted to acts of kidnapping, assassination, extortion and at times even torture. One example which became a blot of her record was the kidnapping and murder of 14-year old United Democratic Front activist James Seipei, better known as Stompie Moeketsi, in 1989. She was charged with kidnapping in 1991 for this reason. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 1998 concluded that 'Ms Winnie Madikizela Mandela [was] politically and morally accountable for the gross violations of human rights committed by the MUFC' but that her role in the actual murder of Seipei was 'negligent'. 

After Apartheid

In 1990 after years of imprisonment Nelson was freed from prison and Winnie's jubilant cry of happiness as he walked out of prison has become well known world wide. It took a further four years for Apartheid to formally end in South Africa's first multi-racial election. During this four-year period both Nelson and Winnie constantly continued to campaign for equality. Winnie was critical of Nelson's seemingly willingness to compromise to the South African president F.W. de Klerk. However, soon their marriage would fall apart. In Long Walk to Freedom Nelson would attribute this to them falling apart after literally decades apart while several historians, such as Martin Meredith, have attributed this to Winnie's involvement with the MUFC and several of her infidelities. Despite this for the most part both remained close. Winnie kept her married name but then also used her family name becoming Madikizela-Mandela. Due to the divorce though Zindzi acted as First Lady during the first part of her father's presidency. Winnie would remain a major player in the ANC actively criticizing the shortcomings of Mandela's presidency. Late Apartheid had destroyed the economy and Mandela was fearful that his proposed reforms could cause an exodus of the white population as what happened in Zimbabwe and Mozambique. This left many millions of black Africans still languishing in poverty and wealth largely in the hands of a few figures so Winnie took up their cry.

In 2003 Winnie was convicted on over 40 charges of fraud so she resigned from all her roles in the ANC. Despite this controversy she still continued her campaigns for various social justice including immigrant rights and women's rights. For this reason she remained very popular both inside and outside the ANC, and especially in other countries. During the 2007 National Executive Committee elections for the ANC she returned to formal politics where she came first. In 2009 she even was one of the top placed figure on the ANC's electoral success. Winnie remained close to Nelson and she spent his last few moments with him in 2013, and she was photographed in tears with his widow Graca Machel. Finally in January 2018 she received an honorary degree from Makerere University, Uganda. Then on 2 April 2018 she tragically passed away.

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela remains today one of the most famous and influential anti-Apartheid activists and is still widely known as 'Mother of the Nation'. Thousands across the world currently mourn her for good reason. Like her husband she fought for equality and a fairer society, and she will be missed by both South Africa and the world. 

The sources I have used are as follows:

-Obituary: Winnie Madikizela-Mandela of South Africa
-Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, 491 Days: Prisoner Number 1323/69, (Cape Town: Pan Macmillan, 2013)
-Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom, (London: Abacus, 1994)
-Martin Meredith, The State of Africa: A History of the Continent since Independence, (London: Simon & Schuster, 2005)
- Anne Mare du Preez Bezdrob, Winnie Mandela: A Life, (Cape Town: Zebra Press, 2003)
Also this interesting article about how legacies are viewed: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/03/winnie-mandela-hero-white-protest-apartheid

Thank you for reading. For future blog updates please see our Facebook or catch me on Twitter @LewisTwiby