| ||||
| ||||
| ||||
| ||||
|
|
Mandela release down to armed struggle not De Klerk says Zuma
Monday, February 08, 2010 | Comments: 3
By Michael Trapido ;
On 2 February 1990, State President F.W. de Klerk reversed the ban on the ANC and other anti-apartheid organisations, and announced that Nelson Mandela would be released from prison shortly. On 11 February 1990, while the entire planet sat glued to their television sets, Madiba was released from Victor Verster Prison in Paarl and began the next phase in his long walk to freedom.
In an address to the nation on the same day he declared his commitment to peace and reconciliation with the country's white minority, but made it clear that the ANC's armed struggle was not yet over:
“ Our resort to the armed struggle in 1960 with the formation of the military wing of the ANC (Umkhonto we Sizwe) was a purely defensive action against the violence of apartheid. The factors which necessitated the armed struggle still exist today. We have no option but to continue. We express the hope that a climate conducive to a negotiated settlement would be created soon, so that there may no longer be the need for the armed struggle. ”
Within the space of 4 short years South Africa would go from world pariah to multiracial democracy culminating in the election of Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela as it's first President in 1994.
What had led to the chain of events that sparked the reversal in thinking by Afrikaners from that of isolation and apartheid to full blown democracy has been the topic of debate by analysts for many years.
Very few attribute that decision to the armed struggle which the most powerful army in Africa, the South African Defence Force, weathered with relative ease. Indeed military analysts during the 80s had suggested that if South Africa had decided to march north there would have been very little to stop it reaching Cairo.
Most believe that the sanctions imposed by the international community was the primary factor giving rise to the change of heart. The expense of apartheid coupled to the crippling isolation had become unsustainable and De Klerk and the National Party, far closer to the facts and figures than most, knew that the time for change had come.
Of course the armed struggle did play a role - mainly psychological - in the death of apartheid but that it was the primary cause is seriously doubtful.
On Sunday President Jacob Zuma said that it was the intensity of the armed struggle, and not a decision by former president FW de Klerk, that led to Nelson Mandela's release 20 years ago.
Addressing an ANC Boland region meeting in Paarl Zuma confirmed that one of the topics he would be covering in his State of the Nation speech on the anniversary of Madiba's release would be the factors giving rise to his freedom.
"Don't be misled by people who might say today, we slept, we thought we must now release this man. No. It was the struggle, the intensity and depth of the struggle, that led to Madiba being released. Today, in time of peace, everyone one making claims about the release, even those who were on the opposite side of the liberation struggle. No, no. These are all our people. We led them. Because the ANC succeeded, they also succeeded."
While there can be no doubt that South Africa's history is littered with tens-of-thousands of black people who put their very lives on the line in order that freedom might be achieved, Madiba and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela far more than most, the claims being made by the President might smack of post-apartheid revisionism.
If De Klerk had decided to continue in the same vein as his predecessors of the 40 years prior to his becoming president, which let's face it would have been by far the easier personal route for him to go - the armed struggle might well still be going on to this day.
"It looked like a dream that this man who had been in prison for 27 years was being released," Zuma said. "So we must remember him and thank him that he has stayed with us up to now."
Undoubtedly the majority of all races of South Africans will join the President in celebrating the release of President Nelson Mandela, world icon and most beloved of all South African leaders, on Thursday.
In one person all fears of revolution and civil war were dispelled and a multiracial democracy was born from what once was the national disgrace of apartheid.
Our debt to him and all those who died to make that a reality can never be repaid in full.
Sapa-RS
On 2 February 1990, State President F.W. de Klerk reversed the ban on the ANC and other anti-apartheid organisations, and announced that Nelson Mandela would be released from prison shortly. On 11 February 1990, while the entire planet sat glued to their television sets, Madiba was released from Victor Verster Prison in Paarl and began the next phase in his long walk to freedom.
In an address to the nation on the same day he declared his commitment to peace and reconciliation with the country's white minority, but made it clear that the ANC's armed struggle was not yet over:
“ Our resort to the armed struggle in 1960 with the formation of the military wing of the ANC (Umkhonto we Sizwe) was a purely defensive action against the violence of apartheid. The factors which necessitated the armed struggle still exist today. We have no option but to continue. We express the hope that a climate conducive to a negotiated settlement would be created soon, so that there may no longer be the need for the armed struggle. ”
Within the space of 4 short years South Africa would go from world pariah to multiracial democracy culminating in the election of Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela as it's first President in 1994.
What had led to the chain of events that sparked the reversal in thinking by Afrikaners from that of isolation and apartheid to full blown democracy has been the topic of debate by analysts for many years.
Very few attribute that decision to the armed struggle which the most powerful army in Africa, the South African Defence Force, weathered with relative ease. Indeed military analysts during the 80s had suggested that if South Africa had decided to march north there would have been very little to stop it reaching Cairo.
Most believe that the sanctions imposed by the international community was the primary factor giving rise to the change of heart. The expense of apartheid coupled to the crippling isolation had become unsustainable and De Klerk and the National Party, far closer to the facts and figures than most, knew that the time for change had come.
Of course the armed struggle did play a role - mainly psychological - in the death of apartheid but that it was the primary cause is seriously doubtful.
On Sunday President Jacob Zuma said that it was the intensity of the armed struggle, and not a decision by former president FW de Klerk, that led to Nelson Mandela's release 20 years ago.
Addressing an ANC Boland region meeting in Paarl Zuma confirmed that one of the topics he would be covering in his State of the Nation speech on the anniversary of Madiba's release would be the factors giving rise to his freedom.
"Don't be misled by people who might say today, we slept, we thought we must now release this man. No. It was the struggle, the intensity and depth of the struggle, that led to Madiba being released. Today, in time of peace, everyone one making claims about the release, even those who were on the opposite side of the liberation struggle. No, no. These are all our people. We led them. Because the ANC succeeded, they also succeeded."
While there can be no doubt that South Africa's history is littered with tens-of-thousands of black people who put their very lives on the line in order that freedom might be achieved, Madiba and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela far more than most, the claims being made by the President might smack of post-apartheid revisionism.
If De Klerk had decided to continue in the same vein as his predecessors of the 40 years prior to his becoming president, which let's face it would have been by far the easier personal route for him to go - the armed struggle might well still be going on to this day.
"It looked like a dream that this man who had been in prison for 27 years was being released," Zuma said. "So we must remember him and thank him that he has stayed with us up to now."
Undoubtedly the majority of all races of South Africans will join the President in celebrating the release of President Nelson Mandela, world icon and most beloved of all South African leaders, on Thursday.
In one person all fears of revolution and civil war were dispelled and a multiracial democracy was born from what once was the national disgrace of apartheid.
Our debt to him and all those who died to make that a reality can never be repaid in full.
Sapa-RS
1067 Bernie Madoff
[ Monday, February 08, 2010 | 11:22:51 PM ]
Mike,
You should save this sort of thing for shul. Don't take any notice of the rabbi ,You can take your graven image of Mandela and pray to hm. "Oh Nelson. You saved me. You are my hashem"
"In one person all fears of revolution and civil war were dispelled and a multiracial democracy was born from what once was the national disgrace of apartheid.
Our debt to him and all those who died to make that a reality can never be repaid in full."
You should save this sort of thing for shul. Don't take any notice of the rabbi ,You can take your graven image of Mandela and pray to hm. "Oh Nelson. You saved me. You are my hashem"
"In one person all fears of revolution and civil war were dispelled and a multiracial democracy was born from what once was the national disgrace of apartheid.
Our debt to him and all those who died to make that a reality can never be repaid in full."
1064 Cliff Manaton
[ Monday, February 08, 2010 | 5:07:57 PM ]
"Armed struggle" is a euphemism employed to sanitise the Johannesburg station rush hour bombing, hand grenading and machine-gunning of women and children attending a church service, the bombing of women and children in supermarkets, the bombing of young whites in a beer garden, the bomb detonated in a park which killed a park attendant, and sundry other bombs that were ineffective or defused before detonation.
All of which posed no danger to the perpetrators, except in the single instance when a church-goer returned fire with a pistol - and they ran like rabbits.
Historical revisionism, like cancer, is best identified and counteracted early.
All of which posed no danger to the perpetrators, except in the single instance when a church-goer returned fire with a pistol - and they ran like rabbits.
Historical revisionism, like cancer, is best identified and counteracted early.
1063 Lyndall Beddy
[ Monday, February 08, 2010 | 11:05:27 AM ]
Wishful thinking.There was no "armed" struggle. Less than 10,000 people in camps in Africa,mainly torturing and executing their own as apartheid spies.The biggest group that infiltrated SA was 167 people -who were caught in 24 hours.The only place where MK fought battles was in Angola.
De Klerk could have hung on. The UN would have done nothing but sqwark - like in Tibet, Sri Lanka, Burma, Sudan, Western Sahara, Zimbabwe.
De Klerk could have hung on. The UN would have done nothing but sqwark - like in Tibet, Sri Lanka, Burma, Sudan, Western Sahara, Zimbabwe.
Check out our Weekly Columnists!
| ||||
| ||||
| ||||
| ||||
| ||||
| ||||
| ||||
| ||||
