Mandela marks 10 years of freedom from prison

Mandela, right after a news conference Tuesday in which he said the end of apartheid came about because of the efforts of many people

Museum to honor extraordinary man who helped liberate South Africa from apartheid

February 10, 2000
Web posted at: 1:36 p.m. EST (1836 GMT)

In this story: A life of protest Freedom and political gains not enough Problems persist for South Africa RELATED STORIES, SITES

From wire reports

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- Nelson Mandela on Friday celebrates the 10th anniversary of his release from nearly 27 years in prison in South Africa by opening a three-part museum honoring his life.

Sections of the museum are located in Mandela's birthplace, Mvezo, and in Qunu, where he grew up. A third section is in Umtata.

In a story of near-mythical proportions, Mandela was 71 when, clenched fist held high, he walked free from Victor Verster prison, near Paarl in the Cape, on February 11, 1990.

His odyssey had taken him from his status as a prisoner -- with no rights because of his skin color -- to his nation's highest official when, four years after his release, he became South Africa's first black president.

He had been imprisoned from 1964 to 1982 on the infamous Robben Island, after telling a court while on trial in 1963 for conspiracy and sabotage that he would be prepared to die for a democratic and free South Africa.

He was transferred to a prison in Cape Town, contracted tuberculosis and was sent to Victor Verster prison, near Paarl in the Cape.

Widely credited with persuading blacks and whites to reconcile after decades of bitter division, Mandela plays down his contribution to South Africa's peaceful transition to democracy and jokes he is now an out-of-work retiree.

"Everything we have achieved in this decade has been the product of partnership," he told a news conference this week.

Mandela and then-wife Winnie upon his release from prison on February 11, 1990

"It is not an individual who is responsible for what has happened in this country," he said.

A life of protest

Born Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela on July 18, 1918, the son of the chief councilor to a Tembu chief, Mandela and colleague Oliver Tambo founded the African National Congress Youth League in 1944.

In 1961, Mandela formed Umkhonto we Sizwe, or Spear of the Nation. He was named the group's commander-in-chief and secretly left South Africa in 1962 for military training in Algeria.

Mandela, who had had several previous run-ins with police, eventually was sentenced to life in prison for his actions to protest South Africa's apartheid government.

On February 2, 1990, then-President F.W. de Klerk lifted the ban on the ANC and announced that Mandela would be released. Three years later, the two men would share the Nobel Peace Prize. And in 1994, Mandela was elected president in South Africa's first all-race general elections.

Freedom and political gains not enough

After his release from prison, South Africa teetered on the brink of all-out civil war. But Mandela kept a cool head, even after the assassination of Communist Party leader Chris Hani by white right-wingers.

Hani, widely seen as Mandela's likely successor, was killed as talks wrapped up between the African National Congress and the ruling National Party on transition to majority government.

Today, South Africa still battles soaring crime, unemployment and poverty.

But de Klerk told Reuters the country is better off without apartheid.

Mandela celebrates his marriage on his 80th birthday to Graca Machel, right

"The new South Africa, with its problems, is a much better place than South Africa would have been if we did not take the quantum leap and make the major changes that we did," de Klerk said.

Problems persist for South Africa

Mandela admits South Africa has much work ahead.

"We all know we still face greater challenges before we can say that we have completed the task we set for ourselves as a nation 10 years ago," he said.

But he says his handpicked successor, Thabo Mbeki , the man who took over as South African president from Mandela last June, is the right man to correct the problems.

"South Africa is moving in the right direction," Mandela said. "We should have confidence that there are great days ahead."

Since his retirement, Mandela has turned his attention to global diplomacy. Last year, he convinced Libya to hand over two suspects for trial in the Lockerbie bombing.

In December, he was appointed mediator in the Burundi peace process and has already held a series of meetings which are due to culminate in a summit in Tanzania later this month.

But his work continues at home, too. Mandela has been wooing corporate leaders to donate money to schools and clinics for the poor.

Divorced from his wife Winnie in 1996, Mandela married Graca Machel on his 80th birthday. He looks the picture of health and says he finds time to play with his grandchildren and write memoirs.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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