In this and later statements, he legitimised the previously used guerrilla tactics of the ANC, but still hinted towards a brighter future, one of reconciliation and compromise. The international pressure to end Apartheid began to boil in the 1980s, highlighted by a huge Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute concert at London's Wembley Stadium. Finally, caving into global demand, South Africa's President F W de Klerk in 1990 reversed the ban against the ANC, the Pan Africanist Congress and other political organisations and announced Mandela's release.
The highly celebrated release from Victor Verster Prison was broadcast worldwide, and millions watched him take his first steps as a free man.
Rather than retire and fade into the shadows, Mandela again positioned himself squarely in the centre of the country's politics, though by this time he was an old man. He was promptly elected ANC President at the Congress's 48th National Conference, the first legal meeting of the part in South Africa since the early 1960's. He proved an adept negotiator, able to balance the demands of a multi-party political system in the middle of a tremendous upheaval. In 1993, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, along with former South Africa President de Klerk. The 1994 release of his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, garnered him even more fame and acclaim. But domestically, with tensions at a boiling point, Mandela began his drive towards the Presidency. In April 1994, the ANC won 62 percent of the votes, and thus, control of the government. On May 10, 1994, Mandela officially became the country's first black President.
Image: Nelson Mandela, and South Africa's last Apartheid President Frederik de Klerk shake hands in Oslo after being awarded the Nobel Peace Prizes on December 10, 1993.
Photograph : Gerard Julien/AFP/Getty Images
Also read: 'Why do you Indians come here?'
Advertisement
