Conversations with Myself (40 page)
Read Conversations with Myself Online
Authors: Nelson Mandela
Tyhopho
(
See
Sisulu, Walter)
Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK)
Umkhonto we Sizwe, meaning ‘spear of the nation’, was founded in 1961 and is commonly known by the abbreviation MK. Nelson Mandela was its first commander– in-chief. It became the military wing of the ANC. After the 1994 elections MK was disbanded and its soldiers incorporated into the newly formed South African National Defence Force (SANDF) with soldiers from the apartheid South African Defence Force, Bantustan defence forces, IFP’s self-protection units and Azanian People’s Liberation Army (APLA), the military wing of the PAC.
Verwoerd, Dr Hendrik Frensch
(1901–66). Prime minister of South Africa, 1958–66. Minister of Native Affairs, 1950–58. National Party politician. Widely considered the architect of apartheid, he advocated a system of ‘separate development’. Under his leadership South Africa became a republic on 31 May 1961. Assassinated in parliament by Dimitri Tsafendas.
Victor Verster Prison
Low-security prison located between Paarl and Franschhoek in the Western Cape. Mandela was transferred there in 1988, and lived in a private house inside the prison compound. There is a statue of Mandela just outside the prison gates. Now named Drakenstein Correctional Centre.
Vorster, Balthazar Johannes (B J)
(1915–83). Prime minister of South Africa, 1966–78. President of South Africa, 1978–79.
Weinberg, Eli
(1908–81). Trade unionist, photographer and political activist. Member of the SACP. Continuously subjected to banning orders from 1953 onwards. Detained for three months in 1960 during the State of Emergency and again in September 1964. Sentenced to five years’ imprisonment after being found guilty of being a member of the Central Committee of the SACP. Fled South Africa in 1976 on the instruction of the ANC.
Xhamela
(
See
Sisulu, Walter)
Zami
(
See
Madikizela-Mandela, Nomzamo Winifred)
Zeni
(
See
Mandela, Zenani)
Zindzi
(
See
Mandela, Zindziswa)
Books:
Davenport, Rodney and Saunders, Christopher,
South Africa: A Modern History
, 5th ed., Macmillan Press Ltd, London, 2000
Kathrada, Ahmed,
Memoirs
, Zebra Press, Cape Town, 2004
Mandela, Nelson,
Long Walk to Freedom
, Little, Brown and Company, London, 1994
Meer, Fatima,
Higher Than Hope
, Skotaville Publishers, Johannesburg, 1988
Nelson Mandela Foundation:
A Prisoner in the Garden: Opening Nelson Mandela’s Prison Archive
, Penguin, 2005
Nicol, Mike,
Mandela: The Authorised Portrait
, PQ Blackwell, Auckland, 2006
Sampson, Anthony,
Mandela: The Authorised Biography
, HarperCollins Publishers, London, 2000
Sisulu, Elinor, Walter and Albertina Sisulu:
In Our Lifetime
, David Philip Publishers, Cape Town, 2002
Websites:
We are grateful to Zindzi Mandela for permission to reproduce her poem ‘A Tree Was Chopped Down’, and for her support of the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory and Dialogue.
We thank President Barack Obama for his generous foreword, and Ambassador Donald Gips for facilitating liaison with the President.
We acknowledge the importance to this book of the two sound archives created by Ahmed Kathrada and Richard Stengel, both of which were lodged by their creators with the Centre of Memory and Dialogue after the book had been conceived.
The photographic images for the book have been made with skill and great patience by Matthew Willman, with the exception of the following: (
rural scene
) and (
young Thembu initiates
) – McGregor Museum, Kimberley, Duggan-Cronin Collection; (
Mandela formal portraits
), (
Mandela burning his pass
) and (
Mandela in candlewick bedspread
) – Eli Weinberg; (
crowd at Drill Hall gates
) – Museum Africa, Times Media Collection; (
Orlando township
) – Leon Levson; (
Mandela in London, UK
) – Mary Benson; (
Rand Daily Mail
) – Avusa Publications; (
Cato Manor protest
) – Laurie Bloomfield; (
prisoners in courtyard
) – UWC-Robben Island Museum, Mayibuye Archives, Cloete Breytenbach; (
Mandela’s desk, Robben Island
) and (
Mandela in prison garden
) – South African National Archives, courtesy Nelson Mandela Foundation; (
barbed-wire fence, Robben Island
) and (
Mandela’s cell on Robben Island
) – Matthew Willman; (
Mandela revisiting Robben Island prison cell
) – Corbis, David Turnley; (
F W de Klerk and Mandela at National Peace Convention, Johannesburg
) – Rodger Bosch; (
1994 election day queue
) –
Argus News
; (
Mandela in print shirt
) – PQ Blackwell; (
Mandela close-up
) – Nelson Mandela Foundation.
We are indebted to the following repositories for providing access to materials: Mandela House Museum, South African National Archives, University of Fort Hare and University of the Witwatersrand (Historical Papers).
For assistance and support we thank Zahira Adams, Jon Butler, Eric Chinski, Diana and Kate Couzens, Achmat Dangor, Lee Davies, Imani Media, Zelda la Grange, Molly Loate, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, Zenani Mandela, Zindzi Mandela, Rochelle Mtirara, Judge Thumba Pillay, Natalie Skomolo, Wendy Smith, Jack Swart, Ivan Vladislavic and Gerrit Wagener.
For Nelson Mandela Foundation Centre of Memory and Dialogue: Verne Harris, Sahm Venter, Ahmed Kathrada, Tim Couzens, Sello Hatang, Razia Saleh, Lucia Raadschelders, Zanele Riba and Boniswa Nyati.
For originating publisher PQ Blackwell: Geoff Blackwell, Ruth Hobday, Bill Phillips, Cameron Gibb, Rachel Clare, Dayna Stanley, Jonny Geller, Betsy Robbins, Kate Cooper and Sloan Harris.
Chapter One: Deep Time
1
.
Professor Fatima Meer, see
People, Places and Events
.
2
.
Mandela is a Thembu and a member of the royal household, and was expected to marry a bride of the regent’s choice.
3
.
Xhosa (isiXhosa) and Sotho (Sesotho) are two of South Africa’s eleven officially recognised languages.
4
.
Autshumao (spelt by Mandela as ‘Autshumayo’), see
People, Places and Events
.
5
.
The Khoikhoi make up one of the four groups who were the original inhabitants of South Africa, see
People, Places and Events
.
6
.
A description of the battle at Poshuli’s Hoek appears in
The Native Races of South Africa: A History of the Intrusion of the Hottentots and Bantu into the Hunting Grounds of the Bushmen, the Aborigines of the Country
, George W Stow (published 1905), which Mandela read. (See his
transcription
from this book.)
7
.
For notes on these individuals, see
People, Places and Events
.
Chapter Two: Cohort
1
.
For notes on these individuals, see
People, Places and Events
.
2
.
Mandela continued his studies for a law degree while in prison and completed his degree in 1989.
3
.
Circumcision is a traditional Xhosa ritual initiating a boy into manhood. Mandela was circumcised when he was sixteen years old.
4
.
Established in 1916, the University of Fort Hare was South Africa’s first college for the higher education of black South Africans.
Chapter Three: Wings to the Spirit
1
.
Mandela found accommodation in Alexandra, a crowded slum known as ‘Dark City’ due to the fact it had no electricity.
2
.
Lazar Sidelsky, see
People, Places and Events
.
3
.
His name was actually ‘Johannes (Skipper Adonis) Molotsi’.
4
.
Winnie was a social worker at Baragwanath Hospital.
5
.
Michael Harmel, see
People, Places and Events
.
6
.
Joe Slovo, see
People, Places and Events
. Ruth First, see
People, Places and Events
.
7
.
Gaur Radebe, see
People, Places and Events
.
8
.
Lionel (Rusty) Bernstein, see
People, Places and Events
.
9
.
Winifred Nomzamo Madikizela-Mandela, see
People, Places and Events
.
10
.
‘Sweet are the uses of adversity/Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous/Wears yet a precious jewel in his head.’ From
As You Like It,
William Shakespeare, act 2, scene 1.
11
.
Kaiser Daliwonga (K D) Matanzima, see
People, Places and Events
.
12
.
Mandela used both ‘Umtata’ (colonial spelling) and ‘Mthatha’ (post-apartheid spelling).
13
.
Under the Bantu Authorities Act, 1951, the apartheid government established ‘homelands’ or Bantustans for black South Africans.
14
.
Individuals and organisations could be banned by the government and subject to a variety of restrictions.
15
.
Dr James Sebe Moroka, see
People, Places and Events
.
16
.
Ahmed Mohamed (Kathy) Kathrada, see
People, Places and Events
.
17
.
Dr Yusuf Dadoo, see
People, Places and Events
.
18
.
Walter Ulyate Max Sisulu, see
People, Places and Events
.
19
.
Chief Albert John Mvumbi Luthuli, see
People, Places and Events
.
20
.
Ruth First was killed in Mozambique on 17 August 1982 after a parcel addressed to her exploded as she opened it.
21
.
Mandela was about to embark on a working holiday to Durban, the Transkei and Cape Town, 1955. Philemon (Duma) Nokwe, see
People, Places and Events
.
Chapter Four: No Reason to Kill
1
.
In this and the following two entries, Mandela is referring to a trip he took after his banning expired in 1955.
2
.
Evelyn Ntoko Mase, see
People, Places and Events
.
3
.
The 1959 Potato Boycott drew attention to the slave-like conditions suffered by black South African workers on potato farms.
4
.
Henry Nxumalo (1917–57). Journalist and assistant editor of
Drum
magazine who wrote an exposé on the potato farms.
5
.
Lilian Masediba Ngoyi, see
People, Places and Events
.
6
.
Oliver Reginald Tambo, see
People, Places and Events
.
7
.
Ganyile was taking herbal medicine probably prescribed by a traditional healer or
inyanga
.
8
.
The 1960 State of Emergency was characterised by mass arrests, the imprisonment of most African leaders, including Mandela, and the banning of the ANC and PAC.
9
.
Mandela was captured on 5 August 1962. When police raided Liliesleaf Farm on 11 July 1963, they arrested MK operatives and seized incriminating documents.
10
.
Ben Turok, see
People, Places and Events
. Ismail Ahmad (Maulvi) Cachalia, see
People, Places and Events
.
11
.
During his period underground Mandela adopted various disguises.
12
.
Cecil Williams (d. 1979) was a white theatre director and anti-apartheid activist.
13
.
Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), see
People, Places and Events
.
14
.
In his address Mandela had said that the time for passive resistance had ended.
15
.
Moses Kotane, see
People, Places and Events
.
16
.
Masabalala Bonnie (M B) Yengwa (1923–87). Anti-apartheid activist and minister of religion. Member of the ANC.
17
.
Dr Gangathura Mohambry (Monty) Naicker, see
People, Places and Events
.
18
.
Petrus Molefe was killed when a bomb he placed on 16 December 1961 exploded prematurely.
Chapter Five: Bursting World
1
.
Colin Legum (1919–2003). Author, journalist, anti-apartheid activist.
2
.
President William Vacanarat Shadrach Tubman (1895–1971). President of Liberia, 1944–71.
3
.
David Astor (1912–2001). English newspaper publisher and editor.
4
.
Michael Scott (1907–83). Cleric, film-maker, anti-apartheid activist.
5
.
Winnie and their two daughters. Gompo was the family dog.
6
.
Robert Resha, see
People, Places and Events
.
7
.
Dr Abdelhamid Brahimi (1936–). Later became the prime minister of Algeria, 1984–88.
8
.
Denis Healey (1917–). British Labour Party politician.
9
.
Hugh Gaitskell (1906–63). British Labour Party politician. Leader of the Labour Party, 1955–63.
10
.
Harold Macmillan (1894–1986). British prime minister, 1957–63.
11
.
Anthony Sampson, see
People, Places and Events
.
Chapter Six: The Chains of the Body
1
.
Kathrada is referring to how Mandela came to be arrested on 5 August 1962.
2
.
Nontsikelelo (Ntsiki) Albertina Sisulu, see
People, Places and Events
.
3
.
See note 1, this chapter.
4
.
Hilda Bernstein, see
People, Places and Events
.
5
.
Rusty Bernstein was acquitted in the Rivonia Trial.
6
.
Following the trial the Bernsteins fled South Africa.
7
.
Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe, see
People, Places and Events
.
8
.
The four comrades were Abdulhay Jassat, Moosa (Mosie) Moolla, Harold Wolpe and Arthur Goldreich. On 11 August 1963 they escaped the Marshall Square police station in Johannesburg by bribing Johannes Greeff.
9
.
Isu (Laloo) Chiba, see
People, Places and Events
.
10
.
Moosa Mohamed (Mosie) Moolla, see
People, Places and Events
.
11
.
Harold Wolpe (1926–96). Economist, writer and anti-apartheid activist. Member of the SACP.
12
.
Caroline Motsoaledi. Wife of Elias (Mokoni) Motsoaledi. For Elias (Mokoni) Motsoaledi, see
People, Places and Events
.
13
.
Sefton Siphiwo Vutela. Married to Winnie’s sister, Nancy Madikizela.
Chapter Seven: Unaccommodated Man
1
.
Archibald Gumede (1914–88). Lawyer and anti-apartheid activist. Member of the ANC. Co-founder and president of the United Democratic Front (UDF).
2
.
Amina Cachalia, see
People, Places and Events
.
3
.
Mandela was imprisoned on Robben Island twice. The first time was for two weeks in 1963 while he was serving a five-year prison sentence for incitement to strike and leaving the country without a passport.
4
.
Mandela is actually referring to the fifth Xhosa war, 1818–19.
5
.
Mandela is actually referring to the sixth Xhosa war, 1834–36.
6
.
Sheikh Abdul Rahman Mantura. Muslim cleric who was imprisoned on Robben Island in the eighteenth century.
7
.
Ahmed Ben Bella (1918–). President of Algeria, 1963–65.
8
.
Under the apartheid system, black South Africans were expected to call white men ‘baas’, which is Afrikaans for ‘boss’.
9
.
Andrew Mokete Mlangeni, see
People, Places and Events
.
10
.
Prisoners were put to work in a lime quarry on Robben Island. Many prisoners’ eyes, including Mandela’s, were damaged by the harsh glare of the sun striking off the white stones.
11
.
Steve Vukhile Tshwete, see
People, Places and Events
.
12
.
‘Three meals’ is a punishment where a prisoner is put in isolation without meals for a day.
13
.
Dr Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd, see
People, Places and Events
.
14
.
Officials would regularly fabricate charges against prisoners as it gave them an excuse to punish them.
15
.
Mandela was talking about being in solitary confinement at Pretoria Local Prison while awaiting trial in 1962.
16
.
Frieda Matthews (née Bokwe). Married to Professor Zachariah Keodirelang (Z K) Matthews. For Professor Zachariah Keodirelang (Z K) Matthews, see
People, Places and Events
.
17
.
Mandela was transferred to Victor Verster Prison in 1988, see
People, Places and Events
.
18
.
Balthazar Johannes (B J) Vorster, see
People, Places and Events
.
19
.
Makgatho (Kgatho) Mandela, see
People, Places and Events
.
20
.
Madiba is Mandela’s clan name.
Chapter Eight: Arras
1
.
Mandela’s mother, Nosekeni Fanny Mandela, died of a heart attack on 26 September 1968.
2
.
Nophikela Madikizela. Winnie’s stepmother.
3
.
In 1969 Winnie was detained and placed in solitary confinement for seventeen months.
