Nelson Mandela

Twenty years of prison brutality only strengthen his will and political influence of the former South African president

“I was born not with the will to be a free man. I was born as a free man,” was written by Nelson Mandela in his autobiography. Grew up in Transkei, South Africa, Nelson had the privilege the son of the tribe chief counselor. He spent his time playing with other children and herded his family’s cattle. He also spent hours watching his father gave council to the chief, and he witnessed how the chief listened patiently to every petition and opinion proposed, made a fair decision for everyone. Nelson, born under the name “Rohihlahla” or “troublemaker” in English, did not expect that this would become an important lesson in his later life.

Nelson’s childhood education was distracted by the death of his father. He was sent to live with a local governor, a friend of his father, who was responsible for his education and enrolled him to the best school that accepted an African-American. Nelson’s accomplished many things, however when people was trying to match him with a woman, he moved to Johannesburg, the place where he worked in a law firm. After earning a law title, he opened his own firm.

Although Nelson had a good career and family, Johannesburg brought about a question to his freedom. The life of the white and black people were very contradictive, the luxury in one part of the city and poverty on the other part. Nelson was shocked by the boundary that came between the potential and violation that he had to deal with every single day under the apartheid policy, or “segregation”, the same with segregation in Southern America. He joined a local group-the African National Congress (ANC)-a political party that fought for equality for natives African and democracy; and quickly he became the leader of the group.

Under the suppressing apartheid government, Nelson and ANC supporters were taken to court to be put into trial. Although they were released from their charges, these protesters became a target of violence act that happened repeatedly and under the surveillance of the police. Nelson continued his struggle with underground faction, successfully disguised himself from the police and was known as “the Black Pimpernel”.

Nelson was on the run for quite some time, left the country to gather funds for the ANC from other countries outside Africa. However, when he returned to South Africa, he was arrested by the police and charged with illegal emigration, and later followed by another serious charge which was sabotage. This time, the court did not give him any mercy. He and all ANC leaders were sentenced to life.

Living in a prison had the same meaning as living in the worst place in South Africa: Robben Island. ANC prisoners earned “D” classifications, which was prisoners who were the most dangerous and had the least rights. They were kept in cells with hay carpets and thin blankets as beds and iron buckets for toilets. The daily menu was always the same; small portion of corn soup with extra vegetable or meat chop for dinner. The men were wearing thin shirts from khaki and shorts, even during the winter, and were restricted from reading newspapers or magazines-they were not allowed to read any news at all. The prisoners spent most of their time in a chalk mine, where they worked very hard.

As one of the leaders of the group, Nelson received more harsh treatment than the others. He was kept 23 hours in his cell every day, shined only by a lamp. This made him unable to sleep or know what the time was. He was only allowed to have one visitor every six months and once he was not allowed to see his wife for two years, Winnie. He could only write and receive one letter every six months. The letter he received was screened by the guard, who would cut the parts that were considered to be unsafe, effectively erasing those parts even though there were writings behind those parts.

Despite the circumstance, he kept on writing, “Every person or institution who are trying to take away my honor will lose,” in a letter smuggled outside the prison. He and his fellow prisoners conspired to fight against the people who arrested them and developed a method to deliver notes among prisoners and even between cell blocks. At first, Nelson replaced the bottom part of a matchbox with a piece of paper full of small writings, after that he dropped the matchbox at the sport field so it can be picked up by other prisoners. When the rain ruined their plan, they switched plan by wrapping notes inside plastic bag and left it on the food waste basket or stuck it inside the toilet. For safety, they wrote message using milk, which when dried would become invisible until it was sprayed with disinfectant that they used to clean their cells.  Nelson used his favorite method-writing on a toilet paper using small fonts to be smuggled through the visitors-to write his autobiography when he was still in prison, even though newspapers and publishers in South Africa were forbidden to write about it or take pictures.

ANC prisoners discovered their biggest strength through knowledge, which they distributed as many as possible for the prisoners. They earned a permission to study and pursue their titles by mail correspondence, and many prisoners earned their titles that the prison was known as “The University”. The name also reflected group study system which was developed by ANC inside the prison. Divided into work groups in mine, the prisoners changed this into learning sessions, led by ANC senior members who discussed about many subjects. At certain times, the prisoners learned English, Africa, art, geography, and mathematics. They received additional infrastructures from their fellow prisoners about political history and philosophy. Although there was an attempt from the guards to eliminate ANC infrastructures, the relationship between the prisoners made them possible to train new members, which consolidated and strengthened the organization from within.

The education was not only written for prisoners. Like Nelson wrote, “Educating everyone was ANC policy, even our enemies: we believed that everyone, even the guards, was capable to change, and we did our best to influence them.”

The longer Nelson stayed in prison, the demand for his freedom also became stronger and the organization itself became stronger. The government once tried to trade for his freedom twice, first by asking Nelson to go into exile in Transkei, second by insisting his followers to abandon violence as a way to win their struggle. He refused both and asked for his own freedom. He claimed: “A prisoner could not be put into a contract. Only free man could.”

When violence broke out between the police and the demonstrators, along with international sanction against apartheid which was threatening the country, the government agreed to be involved in a real negotiation with Mandela. Nelson secretly met President Pieter Botha, then President Frederik de Klerk. Nelson rejected every single agreements and settlements until ANC main demands were given: to release all political prisoners immediately, to remove every prohibition against all political organization, and to remove state emergency that has affected African civil rights. A few days later, President de Klerk announced his plan to end apartheid and replace it with a more inclusive democracy.

De Klerk immediately made arrangements to release Mandela. On February 11th, 1990, when Nelson was released from prison, holding his wife by the hand, he was greeted by thousands of people singing, cheering, waving flags and banners. Nelson held his hand into the air and yelled, “Amandla!” (“Power”), and the crowd replied, “Ngawethu” (“The power is ours!”).

Mandela and de Klerk received a Nobel Prize for Peace in 1993. A year after that, Nelson Mandela considered the time spent in prison for almost 30 years was his preparation to become the new South African President.

Nelson Mandela was known because of his saying, “Struggling is the way I live”, which related to South African struggle against tyranny. However for Nelson Mandela, the real meaning of life struggle was to overcome obstacles, to hope for something more, and to challenge yourself. In his struggle, Nelson Mandela discovered his greatest strength-and his country.