t
i.'i* q,-j
li t, tr
"l cnn prepsred t0 die"*
Nelson Mqndelo prominent leoder of lhe ANC (Africon Notioncl Congress) ond foundEi'r of the ANCV'
militory wing "Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK)", wos declored o terrorist by the oportheid regime cnd chorged ;..
with sqbotoge in the so-colled Rivonis Trioi(1963-64). An impending deoth penotty wos converted io
lifeJong inrprisonment on notorious Robben lslond, off the shores of Cope Town, The stolement which
he prepored for the opening of the defence cose in the Rivonio Triol in Pretoria Supreme Courl on 20
April 1904 is o powerful ond ccurogeous speech thot reflects on the importonce of resistonce cgoinsi
the rocist system. - wr,wv,anc.org.zci show,phpldoc=oncdoss/history/mondelg/ I g60s/rivqflo.hjmj.
Reserves, where sail erosion and. tle overworkiug of
the soil makes it impossibleforthem to live properly off
rhe land. Thirry per cent are labourers, labour tenants, :iti
and squatters on rvhite farms and work and live under
conrlitions similal to those of the serfs of the Middle
Ages. The other 30 pa cent Jive in towns where they have
deveioped econontic and social habits ivhich bring thern
closer in many respects to white standards. Yet most r:
Africans. even in this group, are impoverished by lotv
incomes and high cost of living. t.. .l
The complaint of Africans, however, is n,:t only that
they are poor and the whites are rich, but that the laws
which are made by the whites are designed to prcse*e t1
this sinration. There arc two ways to break out of priverry-.
Ä shack rn the Transkei The firstis b.vformal education, and t}le second is by the
worke: acquiring a greater skill at his work and thr"ls
[. .] At the outset,I want, to say that the suggestion made
. higher wages. As far as Africans are concerned, both
by the State in its opening that the struggle in South these avenues of advancernent are deliberately c»rtailed {i
Afuisa is unrier the intluence of foreigners or c.ommunists by legislation.t...l \,, , .
is who§y incorrect. I have done whatever I did" both as Thele is cpmpulsory education lor ail white childl.tn
an individual and as zl leader ofmy people. because of at virrually no cost to their parenß. be they rich *r paar.
my experience in South Afrieaand my own proudly felt Similar facilities are'not provided för the Africän children"
Airicar:r background. an<i not b*i:ause of what äny outsi<{er tirough there are some rvho receive such assistance. i.:'
might have said. African children, horr,ever" generaily have ta p*y more
In my yar.r& in the Transkei I listened ta the xlders oi' f*r+ä#: ol.ing than whites: According to figur:es
1B my tribe telling stories of the old da1,s. ÄKlr:ngst the qu*ted by rhe South African Institnte of Race Ref.ntion§
tales &ey relafed to ms were those of rvars for:ght by our in it* 1963,jbumal, apryoximately 40 per cenp r*' Africar3."
eacestors in defence of the fatheriand. The n,*rnes of children in the age group between seven to fourteerydo ;:
Dingane and Bambata, Hintsa and h{akana. Squrigthi rtot atfend sctrrocl",For those lvho do attenrl sch*ol, th*
and Ilalasile, Moshoeshoe and Sekhukh*:ri, were praised s{*ndards are vastly different kom those afforderi t*
15 as *f the entire African nati*n" ltioped then that
the glaly ivhite ehildren.[...]
üfe mighf *ffer me rhe opportuaity to §efve my people The other mai* *bstacle to the ec*ncmic advantemrnt
and rnake my ow$ hurxtiie ccntribudon to their freedorn of the Akican is the industrial colour-bar unde rvhich §::
stmggle. fäis is what has rn{}tiveted me in all that I h*ve slI t$:e better j*bs of ilrdustry are reservud for Whites
"
done ir rel*tion to the *hixges made against rne in this only',,[...] Strikes *-f Afri*at workers are i1lega]r.and
case. f .. .l 1...1 they a:e denied the right *f collective bargaiqi*g"o
§cluth .{f}i{.-a is the ril:hest csuntry in Africa, and coriki which i* permitted !o the better-paid White workers. ,
h* cne of the ris.hest coustries in the world. But it is a 1....1 ..
land *f extrer*es and remarkahle c*ntrcsts. T*l* ri"hites The Iack of hnmiru d'iglrity expe*enced by Africar:s
enj*y rvhar mx3r well tre tha §righest sta*darei of living is the direct result *f, the policy of rvhite süprema*]i.
in the world, whilst A§ic**s §ive in povesty äxld missry. White sup§*macy implies black inferiodfy. Lesislätior1
Forty per cent cf th* Äfricans liv* is hc,pelessly designed ts presorve lvhite supremacy entrenc.hes tfts
overcrorryded aud, i* s*:me case§* drought-stricken notion. h4eniai t*sks in South Atrica aie invariablv ii
§outh Afriea
, ed by Africans. tr."-l §ecause of rhis §ort of the3, x,ork" and not to be cbliged tolive inrented house*
. whits t*trd ro regud Afric*ns *§ a sepärafe whirh they cun never call their own. Africans lrant to
, They do not look upon them as greaple with be part of the general population, and not confined to
älies of their own; they do notrealize that t{rey have Iivlng in their own ghettoes. African men want to have 115
!*ns - thatthey fall in love like whitepeople do; that their wives and children to live with them where they
*ant lo be with their wives and childrcn ]ike rvhite work, and not be forced inlo au unnatural existence irr
want to be with theirs; thar they' want to earn men's hostels. Afrieau women want to be with their
r,noney to support their families prcperly, to feed menfolk and rot be lefi permanently widowed in the
clofhe them and send them to school. And rvhat Reserves. Atricans want to be ailowed out after eleven
-bo-y" or "garden^boy" or labuurer can evcrhope o'elock at night and not to be confined to üreir rooms like
** this? Iittle children. Africans want to be allowcd to hayel in
,.Fars laws, which to the A,fiicans äre am$ng ihe most their crvn country and to seek rvork where the;: v1nn11p
bits of legislation in §outh Africa, render any andnot where the LabourBureau tells them to. Africans
liable to police surveillance at aulr time. [...] waiit ajust share in the whole of South Africa; they wanr
and thousands of Africans are thrown into jail securjty and a stake in society.
ä_**A 1-ear under pass laws. Even rryorse than this is the Abov'e all. rve want equal political rights, hecause
i:.fua that pass laws keep husband and wife aparr and. lead wähnut them our rlisabiiities wilt be permanent- I know
/&,2@Ar"akdown of fami§ lif'e. this so*nds revolutionary to the whites in this country,
:... Foverty and the breakclown of fan:ily life have because rh* majority of voters will be Africans. Thjs 130
K,ryndary effects. Children wander about rhe streets of makes the white :rran fear demo*racy.
fffuwnships because they have no schools to gor*. or But this fear ca.nnot be allowe,l to stancl in the way of
72,,j';&-*aney to snable thern to go to school, or $o perflnts the only solution which wili guarantee racial harmony
|1rg home to sse that they go to school. because hoth *nd freedom for all.It is not true that the enfranchisement
Ase:rt§ (if there be tr.vo) have to work to keep the farnily *f all will resulr in racial domination. Polirical dir.ision,
" This leads to a breakdown in moral sfandards, ro b**ed on colour, is entirely artiticial and, when it
eJanning rise in ülegitimacy, and to growing violence disappears. so will the domirarion of one colour group
,r.aäich erupß not orly politir:ally, brit everyrvhere. Life by anoth*r. The ANC has spent hatrf a century fighting
i:.rk aäü townships i* dangerous. There is not a day that goes against racialism. Sfhen it rriumphs it r.vill not change
§r+ithout sornebody being stabbed or assaulted. And tha{ poiie-:y. 140
* ffience is carried out of the townships in rhe white Thi* then is r.r,hat the ÄNC ie fighting. Thsir srruggle
..,/@xgweas. People aleafraid to walk alonein the skeets is a truly national ane . It is ei struggle of the African
stter dark. Housebreakings androbberies are increasing, people. inrpired b,v theil own suff'ering and their own
;.1,@rpite the fact that the death sentencs can now be experi*nce , It i.r a *a"uggle for ttre right to üve.
..@*osedllorsuch offences. Death sentences cännor cure During xry life.tirne I have dedicated myself tc this 145
tä:* festering sore, Afiieans want to be paitl a living slruggle af th* ,{friean per:ple. I have fought against
,,-,w.{ge. Africans want to perform work which they are white dcrxinatis§), and § have foughr against black
..,'l@lable oJ
doing, and not work which the Goyernment domination. I have ctrrerished the ideal of a democratic
§sclares them to be r:apable of. A{ricaus wanl to be
'::- and free süciety in wlrich all persons live together in
r:'#lowed tn live y*here they obtain work, and not be harmony and with equal opportunities.It is an ideal I50
'|..t*dorsed outof an area because they were not bour there. which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be,
Äfricans wantto be allowed to own land inplaces where it is an ideal for which I am.prepared to die.
'%Ytr"' ":....
Nelson Mondels - lcon ol lhe Roinbow Nolion
; In 2008 Nelson Rolihlohlo Mondeta celebroted hi§ gülh birlhdcy. He wos
i born in o little villoge colled Sunu in the Trqnskei in t 9t B, Durlng the l?sOs
he wos invoiveci in Al'lc oolitics snd soon beccme c leading fsure in the
resistonce movemeni. ln the so-colled ßivonio Triol he u/os sentenced to life
imprisonmenf on R*biren lsland, Nelson Mqndeto stoyed in prison for 27
yecrs ond becciTxe i?resyrnbol of §outh Africon resistqnce ogoinsi aportheid,
Before qnd cfi'er his relesse from prison on 1 1 Februory i gg0, he negCItisted
o free snd derrt*crcäe §ry*h Akico v..rith the oporl'heid government. He was
inougurcled cs ji-:!s,c*:.rr*ry's first black president ofl.er the first free ele:tions
§ in April 1994, He is one of the nrosl irnpressiv+ fitxi ir:*l:**i*3i pciiticions of the 20th qnd llst centurles, t-tis wcy
! deoling with oll members of South African scc;*ri' )l::.*;,i; i.:,e ionner oppressors os well os his prison wordens
of
J ic rn*n"I,^..\lr L- - !---.
I is rerncrkoble snd
--i chcrocterised
^L*--:t^-t-^-r -
by forgivene)§ -.
**t} l.rrqg{s;arriing
South Atrica I 27
I
i.'i* q,-j
li t, tr
"l cnn prepsred t0 die"*
Nelson Mqndelo prominent leoder of lhe ANC (Africon Notioncl Congress) ond foundEi'r of the ANCV'
militory wing "Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK)", wos declored o terrorist by the oportheid regime cnd chorged ;..
with sqbotoge in the so-colled Rivonis Trioi(1963-64). An impending deoth penotty wos converted io
lifeJong inrprisonment on notorious Robben lslond, off the shores of Cope Town, The stolement which
he prepored for the opening of the defence cose in the Rivonio Triol in Pretoria Supreme Courl on 20
April 1904 is o powerful ond ccurogeous speech thot reflects on the importonce of resistonce cgoinsi
the rocist system. - wr,wv,anc.org.zci show,phpldoc=oncdoss/history/mondelg/ I g60s/rivqflo.hjmj.
Reserves, where sail erosion and. tle overworkiug of
the soil makes it impossibleforthem to live properly off
rhe land. Thirry per cent are labourers, labour tenants, :iti
and squatters on rvhite farms and work and live under
conrlitions similal to those of the serfs of the Middle
Ages. The other 30 pa cent Jive in towns where they have
deveioped econontic and social habits ivhich bring thern
closer in many respects to white standards. Yet most r:
Africans. even in this group, are impoverished by lotv
incomes and high cost of living. t.. .l
The complaint of Africans, however, is n,:t only that
they are poor and the whites are rich, but that the laws
which are made by the whites are designed to prcse*e t1
this sinration. There arc two ways to break out of priverry-.
Ä shack rn the Transkei The firstis b.vformal education, and t}le second is by the
worke: acquiring a greater skill at his work and thr"ls
[. .] At the outset,I want, to say that the suggestion made
. higher wages. As far as Africans are concerned, both
by the State in its opening that the struggle in South these avenues of advancernent are deliberately c»rtailed {i
Afuisa is unrier the intluence of foreigners or c.ommunists by legislation.t...l \,, , .
is who§y incorrect. I have done whatever I did" both as Thele is cpmpulsory education lor ail white childl.tn
an individual and as zl leader ofmy people. because of at virrually no cost to their parenß. be they rich *r paar.
my experience in South Afrieaand my own proudly felt Similar facilities are'not provided för the Africän children"
Airicar:r background. an<i not b*i:ause of what äny outsi<{er tirough there are some rvho receive such assistance. i.:'
might have said. African children, horr,ever" generaily have ta p*y more
In my yar.r& in the Transkei I listened ta the xlders oi' f*r+ä#: ol.ing than whites: According to figur:es
1B my tribe telling stories of the old da1,s. ÄKlr:ngst the qu*ted by rhe South African Institnte of Race Ref.ntion§
tales &ey relafed to ms were those of rvars for:ght by our in it* 1963,jbumal, apryoximately 40 per cenp r*' Africar3."
eacestors in defence of the fatheriand. The n,*rnes of children in the age group between seven to fourteerydo ;:
Dingane and Bambata, Hintsa and h{akana. Squrigthi rtot atfend sctrrocl",For those lvho do attenrl sch*ol, th*
and Ilalasile, Moshoeshoe and Sekhukh*:ri, were praised s{*ndards are vastly different kom those afforderi t*
15 as *f the entire African nati*n" ltioped then that
the glaly ivhite ehildren.[...]
üfe mighf *ffer me rhe opportuaity to §efve my people The other mai* *bstacle to the ec*ncmic advantemrnt
and rnake my ow$ hurxtiie ccntribudon to their freedorn of the Akican is the industrial colour-bar unde rvhich §::
stmggle. fäis is what has rn{}tiveted me in all that I h*ve slI t$:e better j*bs of ilrdustry are reservud for Whites
"
done ir rel*tion to the *hixges made against rne in this only',,[...] Strikes *-f Afri*at workers are i1lega]r.and
case. f .. .l 1...1 they a:e denied the right *f collective bargaiqi*g"o
§cluth .{f}i{.-a is the ril:hest csuntry in Africa, and coriki which i* permitted !o the better-paid White workers. ,
h* cne of the ris.hest coustries in the world. But it is a 1....1 ..
land *f extrer*es and remarkahle c*ntrcsts. T*l* ri"hites The Iack of hnmiru d'iglrity expe*enced by Africar:s
enj*y rvhar mx3r well tre tha §righest sta*darei of living is the direct result *f, the policy of rvhite süprema*]i.
in the world, whilst A§ic**s §ive in povesty äxld missry. White sup§*macy implies black inferiodfy. Lesislätior1
Forty per cent cf th* Äfricans liv* is hc,pelessly designed ts presorve lvhite supremacy entrenc.hes tfts
overcrorryded aud, i* s*:me case§* drought-stricken notion. h4eniai t*sks in South Atrica aie invariablv ii
§outh Afriea
, ed by Africans. tr."-l §ecause of rhis §ort of the3, x,ork" and not to be cbliged tolive inrented house*
. whits t*trd ro regud Afric*ns *§ a sepärafe whirh they cun never call their own. Africans lrant to
, They do not look upon them as greaple with be part of the general population, and not confined to
älies of their own; they do notrealize that t{rey have Iivlng in their own ghettoes. African men want to have 115
!*ns - thatthey fall in love like whitepeople do; that their wives and children to live with them where they
*ant lo be with their wives and childrcn ]ike rvhite work, and not be forced inlo au unnatural existence irr
want to be with theirs; thar they' want to earn men's hostels. Afrieau women want to be with their
r,noney to support their families prcperly, to feed menfolk and rot be lefi permanently widowed in the
clofhe them and send them to school. And rvhat Reserves. Atricans want to be ailowed out after eleven
-bo-y" or "garden^boy" or labuurer can evcrhope o'elock at night and not to be confined to üreir rooms like
** this? Iittle children. Africans want to be allowcd to hayel in
,.Fars laws, which to the A,fiicans äre am$ng ihe most their crvn country and to seek rvork where the;: v1nn11p
bits of legislation in §outh Africa, render any andnot where the LabourBureau tells them to. Africans
liable to police surveillance at aulr time. [...] waiit ajust share in the whole of South Africa; they wanr
and thousands of Africans are thrown into jail securjty and a stake in society.
ä_**A 1-ear under pass laws. Even rryorse than this is the Abov'e all. rve want equal political rights, hecause
i:.fua that pass laws keep husband and wife aparr and. lead wähnut them our rlisabiiities wilt be permanent- I know
/&,2@Ar"akdown of fami§ lif'e. this so*nds revolutionary to the whites in this country,
:... Foverty and the breakclown of fan:ily life have because rh* majority of voters will be Africans. Thjs 130
K,ryndary effects. Children wander about rhe streets of makes the white :rran fear demo*racy.
fffuwnships because they have no schools to gor*. or But this fear ca.nnot be allowe,l to stancl in the way of
72,,j';&-*aney to snable thern to go to school, or $o perflnts the only solution which wili guarantee racial harmony
|1rg home to sse that they go to school. because hoth *nd freedom for all.It is not true that the enfranchisement
Ase:rt§ (if there be tr.vo) have to work to keep the farnily *f all will resulr in racial domination. Polirical dir.ision,
" This leads to a breakdown in moral sfandards, ro b**ed on colour, is entirely artiticial and, when it
eJanning rise in ülegitimacy, and to growing violence disappears. so will the domirarion of one colour group
,r.aäich erupß not orly politir:ally, brit everyrvhere. Life by anoth*r. The ANC has spent hatrf a century fighting
i:.rk aäü townships i* dangerous. There is not a day that goes against racialism. Sfhen it rriumphs it r.vill not change
§r+ithout sornebody being stabbed or assaulted. And tha{ poiie-:y. 140
* ffience is carried out of the townships in rhe white Thi* then is r.r,hat the ÄNC ie fighting. Thsir srruggle
..,/@xgweas. People aleafraid to walk alonein the skeets is a truly national ane . It is ei struggle of the African
stter dark. Housebreakings androbberies are increasing, people. inrpired b,v theil own suff'ering and their own
;.1,@rpite the fact that the death sentencs can now be experi*nce , It i.r a *a"uggle for ttre right to üve.
..@*osedllorsuch offences. Death sentences cännor cure During xry life.tirne I have dedicated myself tc this 145
tä:* festering sore, Afiieans want to be paitl a living slruggle af th* ,{friean per:ple. I have fought against
,,-,w.{ge. Africans want to perform work which they are white dcrxinatis§), and § have foughr against black
..,'l@lable oJ
doing, and not work which the Goyernment domination. I have ctrrerished the ideal of a democratic
§sclares them to be r:apable of. A{ricaus wanl to be
'::- and free süciety in wlrich all persons live together in
r:'#lowed tn live y*here they obtain work, and not be harmony and with equal opportunities.It is an ideal I50
'|..t*dorsed outof an area because they were not bour there. which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be,
Äfricans wantto be allowed to own land inplaces where it is an ideal for which I am.prepared to die.
'%Ytr"' ":....
Nelson Mondels - lcon ol lhe Roinbow Nolion
; In 2008 Nelson Rolihlohlo Mondeta celebroted hi§ gülh birlhdcy. He wos
i born in o little villoge colled Sunu in the Trqnskei in t 9t B, Durlng the l?sOs
he wos invoiveci in Al'lc oolitics snd soon beccme c leading fsure in the
resistonce movemeni. ln the so-colled ßivonio Triol he u/os sentenced to life
imprisonmenf on R*biren lsland, Nelson Mqndeto stoyed in prison for 27
yecrs ond becciTxe i?resyrnbol of §outh Africon resistqnce ogoinsi aportheid,
Before qnd cfi'er his relesse from prison on 1 1 Februory i gg0, he negCItisted
o free snd derrt*crcäe §ry*h Akico v..rith the oporl'heid government. He was
inougurcled cs ji-:!s,c*:.rr*ry's first black president ofl.er the first free ele:tions
§ in April 1994, He is one of the nrosl irnpressiv+ fitxi ir:*l:**i*3i pciiticions of the 20th qnd llst centurles, t-tis wcy
! deoling with oll members of South African scc;*ri' )l::.*;,i; i.:,e ionner oppressors os well os his prison wordens
of
J ic rn*n"I,^..\lr L- - !---.
I is rerncrkoble snd
--i chcrocterised
^L*--:t^-t-^-r -
by forgivene)§ -.
**t} l.rrqg{s;arriing
South Atrica I 27
I
