NELSON MANDELA
Imprisoned for Life
(Original biographical information included with his bracelet in 1985)
Nelson Mandela was tried in the Pretoria Supreme Court from October 1963 to June 1964 along with Govan Mbeki, Walter Sisulu, Ahmed Kathrada and others in the ‘Rivonia Trial’ where he was number one accused. He was charged under the Sabotage and Suppression of Communism Acts, with campaigning to overthrow the government by violent revolution, and by assisting the armed invasion of the country by foreign troops. The charge sheet listed 193 acts of sabotage allegedly carried out by persons recruited by the accused in their capacity as members of the High Command of Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation). Umkhonto we Sizwe is the military wing of the ANC.
Mandela was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. He has served most of that time on Robben Island, but was transferred with three other political prisoners to Pollsmoor Prison near Retreat, Cape Town in April 1982.
During the trial, Mandela told the court, “during my lifetime I have dedicated myself to the struggle of the African people. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society…. It is an ideal which I hope to life for and to achieve. But, if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die”.
At the time he was brought to trial, Mandela was already serving a five-year prison sentence after being convicted in 1962 for the part he played in organizing a three-day nationwide strike in May 1961 in protest against the government’s decision to proclaim a Republic, on the basis of a ‘whites-only’ referendum.
Mandela was born in 1918 in Umtata in the Transkei. He joined the ANC in 1944, and along with Oliver Tambo (current President of the ANC) and others, founded the militant ANC Youth League. In 1951, Mandela and Tambo went into joint legal practice as attorneys and in that capacity defended hundreds of Africans charged under apartheid laws. Mandela became Transvaal President and Deputy National President of the ANC. He headed the Campaign of Defiance Against Unjust Laws in 1952, and he received a suspended sentence for his part in the campaign. In 1956, he was charged with 155 others, with treason. Five years later, he and all his co-accused were acquitted. After the banning of the ANC, Mandela went underground in early 1961, from where he led the strikes in protest against the declaration of the Republic. He was appointed Commander-in-Chief of Umkhonto we Sizwe when it was formed in 1961. In January 1962, he left South Africa secretly to participate in the conference of the Pan-African Freedom Movement of East, Central, and Southern Africa (PAFMECSA), in Addis Ababa. He also visited several other African countries and the UK. Shortly after his return to South Africa, he was arrested after 18 months underground.
He is married to Winnie Mandela, who is under banning and house arrest orders, and has been detained and jailed on several occasions. They have two daughters. He also has two children from a previous marriage.
___________
The source of this biographical information is International Defence and Aid Fund’s book, Prisoners of Apartheid, 1978. We appreciate their permission to use this material.
Mandela was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. He has served most of that time on Robben Island, but was transferred with three other political prisoners to Pollsmoor Prison near Retreat, Cape Town in April 1982.
During the trial, Mandela told the court, “during my lifetime I have dedicated myself to the struggle of the African people. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society…. It is an ideal which I hope to life for and to achieve. But, if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die”.
At the time he was brought to trial, Mandela was already serving a five-year prison sentence after being convicted in 1962 for the part he played in organizing a three-day nationwide strike in May 1961 in protest against the government’s decision to proclaim a Republic, on the basis of a ‘whites-only’ referendum.
Mandela was born in 1918 in Umtata in the Transkei. He joined the ANC in 1944, and along with Oliver Tambo (current President of the ANC) and others, founded the militant ANC Youth League. In 1951, Mandela and Tambo went into joint legal practice as attorneys and in that capacity defended hundreds of Africans charged under apartheid laws. Mandela became Transvaal President and Deputy National President of the ANC. He headed the Campaign of Defiance Against Unjust Laws in 1952, and he received a suspended sentence for his part in the campaign. In 1956, he was charged with 155 others, with treason. Five years later, he and all his co-accused were acquitted. After the banning of the ANC, Mandela went underground in early 1961, from where he led the strikes in protest against the declaration of the Republic. He was appointed Commander-in-Chief of Umkhonto we Sizwe when it was formed in 1961. In January 1962, he left South Africa secretly to participate in the conference of the Pan-African Freedom Movement of East, Central, and Southern Africa (PAFMECSA), in Addis Ababa. He also visited several other African countries and the UK. Shortly after his return to South Africa, he was arrested after 18 months underground.
He is married to Winnie Mandela, who is under banning and house arrest orders, and has been detained and jailed on several occasions. They have two daughters. He also has two children from a previous marriage.
___________
The source of this biographical information is International Defence and Aid Fund’s book, Prisoners of Apartheid, 1978. We appreciate their permission to use this material.