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S Africa marks 20 years of Nelson Mandela's freedom

By Justine Gerardy | AFP

A bronze statue depicting former South African president Nelson Mandela as he walked to freedom in 1990 following his release after 27 years of incarceration. Prominent South Africans have gathered at a prison outside Cape Town to fete the 20th anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s release from jail, which hastened the demise of apartheid.AFP/Gianluigi Guercia/South Africa

South Africa heaped praise on Nelson Mandela on Thursday as the nation celebrated the 20th anniversary of his release from prison, an earth-shaking event which hastened the demise of apartheid.

Key figures of the anti-apartheid struggle including Archbishop Desmond Tutu paid tribute to the 91-year-old icon in a ceremony at the former Victor Verster Prison from which Mandela was released after nearly three decades in captivity.

Hundreds of people re-enacted the historic moment when the black leader, hand in hand with his then-wife Winnie, walked proudly out of the prison with his fist raised high as the world watched.

Neither Mandela nor his former wife was present for the occasion, though they were both expected to attend a special session of parliament later Thursday.

Nobel peace laureate Tutu exhorted South Africans to use the day to remember the long road the country had travelled since 11 February 1990.

“The day Nelson Mandela walked free from Victor Verster Prison our collective spirit soared. It was a day that promised the beginning of the end of indignity.”

Hundreds of people erupted in a triumphant raised-fist chant of “Amandla Awethu” (power to the people) as they passed a giant bronze statue of Mandela outside the prison, recalling the popular liberation-struggle mantra.

Many braved the scorching sun to sing and dance in the streets, waving ANC and multicoloured national flags.

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela herself cancelled an appearance at the celebration at the last minute.

Tutu, widely hailed as the nation’s conscience keeper, said that while much had been achieved, there was still more to be done.

“If we really want to make a difference we must recapture the spirit of that day of Nelson Mandela?s release … We must not forget the past,” he said.

Mandela spent the final months of his 27-year imprisonment at the prison outside Cape Town, now known as Groot Drakenstein Prison, negotiating his release with apartheid’s last president FW de Klerk.

He had spent the bulk of his time behind bars on the notorious Robben Island, and later at Pollsmoor Prison near Cape Town.

Mandela, increasingly frail and rarely seen in public, will make his only appearance of the day when he arrives at parliament in Cape Town to hear a special commemorative State of the Nation speech by President Jacob Zuma.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said in a tribute that the anti-apartheid struggle was the “defining political question of our time” and praised Mandela as “forgiving, playful, utterly gracious and with a generosity of spirit that lifts the world”.

Mandela won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993, jointly with de Klerk, and became South Africa’s first black president in a landslide election victory for his African National Congress a year later.

Some politicians downplayed de Klerk’s role in ordering Mandela’s release, insisting he had only bowed to pressure.

“In fairness to him, he saw the writing on the wall,” said veteran anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Kathrada, released four months before Mandela.

“If he did not take the route that he did take, this country was going to be plunged into an era of violence that we had never seen before,” he said.

Veteran activist Cyril Ramaphosa recalled that Mandela was serene as he prepared to walk out a free man.

“Here is a man who’s about to be released out of prison after 27 years. He was as cool as a cucumber and younger people would say he’s a cool cat,” said Ramaphosa, who was part of the team that welcomed Mandela.

Ramaphosa told anti-apartheid veterans and government ministers gathered at the prison grounds: “We are celebrating a life that has been lived in service of our people.

“He knew he needed to continue living for the people that were outside,” he said.

With Mandela sitting nearby, Zuma is later expected to tap into the optimism of two decades ago, while outlining a roadmap of the way forward in the year South Africa hosts the football World Cup.

Zuma campaigned in last year’s general elections with promises to fight poverty in a nation with the widest gap between rich and poor in the world.

The hope and joy that greeted Mandela’s release and the first elections four years later have given way to cynicism as successive governments struggle to meet expectations, especially of the poor.

Since the ANC won the first all-race elections 16 years ago, South Africa has seen huge strides in housing, electricity and sanitation and a growing black middle class.

But unemployment remains officially at nearly 25 percent, some 5.7 million of South Africa’s 48 million people have HIV, and there is an average 50 murders a day.

Copyright © 2010 AFP

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