On this day, August 5, 1962, Nelson Mandela, freedom fighter and revolutionary, was arrested by the apartheid regime.
Born in 1918 to a royal Thembu family, Mandela would later go on to join the African National Congress (ANC) in 1944. As apartheid became official policy in 1948 under the white-led National Party, Mandela rose as a climactic figure in the anti-apartheid movement, leading nonviolent protests and strikes, fighting to secure freedom for the people. After the 1960 Sharpeville massacre, when South African police opened fire on unarmed protesters demonstrating against apartheid pass laws, Nelson Mandela helped co-found the ANC’s armed wing to fight against white minority rule.
On August 5, 1962, Mandela, operating underground for over a year, had been traveling under the alias “David Motsamayi,” moving across the country to rally support and coordinate resistance. But on this ruinous day, his clandestine efforts came to a screeching halt when police, alerted by the CIA, stopped his car near Howick, KwaZulu-Natal. Disguised as a chauffeur, Mandela, the country’s most wanted man, was allegedly caught with incriminating documents.
Charged initially with inciting strikes and leaving the country illegally, Mandela was later sentenced to life in prison during the infamous Rivonia Trial in 1964 after being convicted of sabotage and conspiracy.
He would not walk free again for 27 years.
During his time at Robben Island prison, where he spent 18 of his 27 years of imprisonment, Mandela was confined to a small cell, allowed just one visitor a year and rigorously censored. Despite this, he managed to smuggle out letters and writings which helped to sustain the global anti-apartheid movement.
Over the years, across Africa, across the diaspora, voices rose up demanding his release. On February 11, 1990, Mandela finally walked free.
Still, even after decades of incarceration and mistreatment, Mandela refused to move forward with hate in his heart.
“As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn’t leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I’d still be in prison,” he would later say about the historic day.
