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… in the evening, OR [Tambo]

© GCIS … Mzwayi [Piliso] and I have a discussion and they suggest I should lead the delegation. I feel, however, that this may undermine OR’s position and affect his weight in his general work [for the ANC]. We eventually reach a compromise [and consensus on the matter]3. Mandela successfully addressed the conference which was opened by Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia and his paper was subsequently adopted by the PAFMECSA conference as an official record on the current situation in apartheid South Africa. Giving Mandela the platform at the conference indicates that as early as the 1960s Tambo and other members Mandela as public face of the ANC’s executive committee regarded Mandela as the public face of the organisation - a status that of the African National would be officially confirmed during the early 1980s. But Mandela always 1 insisted that the leader of the ANC Congress was OR Tambo and therefore he was accountable to him. It is worth elaborating the fact that Mandela, By Sifiso Mxolisi Ndlovu , Wilton Mkwayi and other leaders respected him profoundly uring the early 1960s the ’s demeanour – and felt honoured to be led by him. In African National Congress including his impeccable attitude of return, Tambo later supported efforts took a strategic decision to mutual respect for his colleagues – to use Mandela, through the Release D Mandela Campaign, as a unifying use multi-lateral organisations such as was praiseworthy; he harboured no the Pan African Freedom Movement personal ambitions to oust the exiled symbol of the anti-colonial struggle for of East, Central and Southern Africa Tambo from the ANC leadership. This liberation. It was a clear case of mutual (PAFMECSA) and the United Nations is evident in Mandela’s diary entry of affection, displaying the human side 4 as sites to pursue the struggle for Wednesday, 1 February 1962, which of the liberation struggle . In fact the national liberation. The General later formed part of the apartheid official title of the campaign established Assembly’s Special Committee on state’s evidence against him during in 1980 was “Release Nelson Mandela Apartheid became the specific focus the . It records a pre- and other political prisoners”. of many of the ANC activities and conference planning meeting between However, a collective is a collection offered badly needed access to the Mandela and his colleagues in Dar es of individuals and there are times in international community. In July 1963, Salaam. They were about to depart for the life of a political movement where for example, Duma Nokwe, Robert Addis Ababa to attend a conference individual leaders embody some of the Resha and Tennyson Makiwane made convened by the PAFMECSA to be held outstanding qualities one would expect this proposal to the Special Committee: from 2–10 February 1962. Mandela, from an astute leader. According to All countries should...implement who was then the commander of Mandela, the ANC had been extremely immediately the resolutions adopted , the military wing fortunate in this regard when past at the seventeenth session of the of the ANC, was appointed by his leaders are placed under scrutiny. General Assembly which included colleagues to address this important Mandela had these affectionate words a request that all members break meeting on behalf of the ANC, instead to say about O.R. Tambo: diplomatic relations with South of Tambo, who, as the then deputy It is a phenomenal leader who can Africa...boycott all South African president of the organisation formed succeed in exile to keep united a goods and refrain from selling part of the official delegation, as Chief vast multiracial organisation with anything to South Africa...the UN Albert Luthuli, the president of the divergent schools of thought, with should demand the immediate ANC was in South Africa. Mandela a membership deployed in distant release of all political prisoners... was uneasy about this arrangement continents, and a youth seething banned persons.2 and wrote in his diary: with anger at the repression of their

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people; a youth who believe that of the global anti-apartheid movement Kennedy were the first presidential anger alone without resources and meant that the ANC had to fine-tune candidates to appear together proper planning can help overthrow its strategy to be disseminated to the before the television cameras. Four a racist regime. wider world. Later, in addition to times – altogether four hours – achieved all this. To political and economic sanctions, sport and cultural within a span of four weeks they common law prisoners inside the boycotts entailed using public history answered questions put to them country, to foreign freedom fighters, and other new sites of the struggle by a panel of four newsmen. In diplomats, Heads of State, O.R. was for national liberation. These new their first encounter, on September acknowledged as a shining example sites included the mass media, ANC 26 in Chicago, and on October 27 of a smart and balanced leader who journals such as Sechaba and Mayibuye, in Washington D.C., and October was sure to help restore the dignity banners, posters, placards, stickers, 21 in New York, the two men of the oppressed people and put t-shirts, theatre, drama, protest songs spoke from the same studio. On their destiny in their [own] hands5. and dance including musicians and October 13, when Nixon was in performance artists such as Amandla, Los Angeles and Kennedy was in Release Mandela Campaign Miriam Makeba, Harry Belafonte and New York, they met each other at In 1980, the ANC leadership Hugh Masekela. a distance – through split-screen officially called on its structures and But the challenge still remained that technique. Judged by the audience supporters inside the country to embark an engaging public face was needed they reached, the broadcast was a on a Release Mandela Campaign. by the liberation movement to further huge success. Between 65 and 70 Percy Qoboza, the redoubtable editor propel it to new heights. The answer million watched any one telecast; of the Sunday Post in Johannesburg, may have been found in the rising somewhere between 85 and 120 launched the initiative in an editorial influence of television as a tool of mass million were estimated to have on 9 March 1980. He called on his communication and its massive impact witnessed at least one of the four readers to sign a petition and more on US politics during the 1960s. In fact (television broadcasts)8. than 86 000 responded, drawing in one has to take into cognisance the Indeed, from the 1960s onwards it the support of many organisations and fact that television became a central gradually became clear that in terms prominent leaders. A Release Nelson part of American life in the 1950s. of a sound political strategy and in Mandela Committee was formed Moreover, technological advances order to appeal to voters, a public that same month6. Why was the made television sets less expensive and face representing a leader of a given official establishment of the campaign accessible to consumers throughout political party had to be the focal point projecting Mandela as the movement’s the US and therefore by the 1960s of a political campaign that called public face necessary? the majority of the households in for widespread grassroots support The answer is provided by the America had a television set. Thus the of the party’s policies and political ANC’s strategic decision to focus on the television became a part of everyday programmes. This was also the case importance of international solidarity as life of the American people. As sales in Europe which had to adopt the one of the four most important pillars boomed there were new opportunities US example regarding the impact of of the struggle for national liberation in for broadcasters and political parties. television on the political fortunes of rival South Africa. For the ANC, the question This was because politics in most parts political parties. As an example, both arose during the early 1960s: How could of the world, particularly in the West, the Labour and Conservative parties in international solidarity be nurtured and were becoming more personalised. If Britain mimicked their US counterparts then sustained for the duration of the one analyses the US elections of 1960 and used the television during political liberation struggle in apartheid ruled - the presidential race to the White campaigns in the 1960s. It was courting South Africa? The challenge was for the House involving Richard Nixon and disaster to organise a political campaign ANC to develop a multi-faceted strategy John Kennedy – and the election of for the president of the USA or the to strengthen its international appeal subsequent US presidents - it is evident prime minister of the United Kingdom and to consolidate this burgeoning that it was far easier for television and by using the collective draw card of a solidarity with the support of various related forms of broadcasting media given political party national executive social movements, non-governmental in the US to focus on a particular council. But some in the Congress organisations, multi-lateral organisations individual rather than on entire Alliance argued that in terms of such as the United Nations (UN), national executive committees of the promoting inclusivity and transparency Organisation of African Unity (OAU) Democratic Party or Republican Party. this was still possible concerning the and the Non Aligned Movement. This It is worth emphasising the point struggle for national liberation in South also included the support of various that the 1960 election was the closest Africa. The exiled ANC disagreed with governments throughout the world.7 in history despite Kennedy’s stirring this viewpoint because it was becoming With Kwame Nkrumah rhetoric and apparent triumph in increasingly difficult for the liberation spearheading international solidarity televised political debates. In their book movement to promote its international during the late 1950s and the anti- entitled Politics and Television, Gladys solidarity campaign by focusing on only apartheid movement in England and Kurt Lang write that in 1960: the Congress Alliance as a collective or following suit, the exponential growth Richard M. Nixon and John F. its national executive committee as a

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group. apartheid regime’s security forces There was no overt animosity in the It became obvious to the leadership after the Sharpeville Massacre. leadership structure and this was an of the ANC that the advent of Furthermore, by the 1960s he had important reason why the Release multimedia, particularly television as already shown signs of remarkable Mandela Campaign achieved its a mass communication tool was not leadership potential within the goals. merely a passing fad. But there were organisation. Those who knew him • The drive to garner international questions which needed answers. and had worked with him in South solidarity would not have enjoyed Firstly, was it correct to identify Africa argued that he possessed the same impact if relationships had one individual to promote the struggle charismatic qualities; qualities that been fractious on the decision to use for liberation in South Africa? If the were essential in a leadership role. Mandela as the public face of the answer was yes, would not the ANC He had what we call gravitas, a campaign. To be sure there were and allies create a situation where the magnetic personality, so much so instances when the leadership at cult of the personality would be the that when he entered a hall or a Robben Island had their squabbles order of the day, as had happened in meeting, he immediately became – Harry Gwala, Oom the Soviet Union with Joseph Stalin; in the focus of attention. had sharp differences with Mandela. Cuba with Fidel Castro; and in China • Mandela already had a larger than But these were internal dynamics with Chairman Mao Tse Tung? It was life image among the majority that were duly resolved in routine obvious that if one wanted an influential of the oppressed; they referred organisational structures. international solidarity campaign to to him as the ‘Black Pimpernel’ • Mandela was highly principled succeed, one could not just have a and had unbounded admiration and grounded as far as the political general campaign such as: ‘free all for his exploits in outwitting the traditions of the ANC were political prisoners incarcerated in regime’s security forces while concerned. For example, when South African prisons by the apartheid he was operating in the ANC’s the devious apartheid regime regime’ – end of story – however underground during the early 1960s tried to set a divide-and-rule trap noble this human rights ideal was! That and underwent military training to besmirch his reputation, he would suffice to intellectualise such outside the borders of South saw right through it. Pretoria sent ideals in abstract terms. But how would Africa. Henceforth, the majority his cousin Chief Matanzima (the one get the international community of the people were already talking leader of the Transkei Bantustan) and democrats across the racial divide about ‘Mandela the revolutionary’. and others to try and convince to focus on that noble issue without Furthermore, his secret sojourns him to forsake the struggle as an identifying one individual to become elsewhere on the African continent individual and in this way ‘buy’ his the symbol and the ‘public face’ of and the links he had established freedom. He would have none of that concerted political campaign? with other nationalist struggles and it and bluntly refused the offer. His As argued earlier, a formal decision leaders, stood him in good stead. forthright political principles further was adopted by the exiled National • However much the apartheid convinced the ANC to structure the Executive Committee of the ANC racist regime tried to destroy his campaign for the release of political during the early 1980s to assign this name, his courageous and fearless prisoners around Mandela. role to Mandela. Immediately, the conduct as a principled member • Even if the oppressed in South Africa international community and members of the ANC during the Rivonia Trial did not express it loudly, the fact of the anti-apartheid movement in served to elevate and augment his of the matter was that Mandela’s various countries were focused on international stature. Mandela’s name resonated with them and Mandela who became the symbol dignified conduct at this trial was they appreciated and understood of all political prisoners, not only in underscored by his now famous the great sacrifices he and other South Africa but in other parts of (and often quoted) statement that political prisoners had made to the world too. In Marxist terms the he was ready to die for the cause. realise the liberation cause. identification of Mandela as the public Therefore the ANC was certainly • The Release Mandela Campaign face of the liberation struggle could be not taking an unknown figure into was inclusive although it bore defended from a Marxist view about the international arena. Mandela’s name. All the posters, the relationship between the particular • Very interestingly, if one looks at t-shirts, placards, memorabilia, and the general. the Mass Democratic Movement banners, flags, stickers, protest songs What were the circumstances after the release of Mandela and etc. proclaimed the release not only behind the choice of Mandela by the other political prisoners, no one in of Nelson Mandela but also of other ANC to play such a crucial role? the ANC disputed the leadership of well-known political prisoners such • Mandela was the ideal choice O.R. Tambo by pursuing factional as Walter Sisulu, , because he was the first leader of politics and agendas. That says Govan Mbeki, , MK, the military wing of the ANC. something about their level of Andrew Mlangeni Dennis Goldberg, He had also spearheaded the political consciousness, maturity and Wilton Mkwayi, and so forth. All-in-Africa Conference held in understanding of the challenges that • In hindsight, there was also the South Africa in 1961 - defying the faced the banished organisation. element of mystique that surrounded

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Mandela at the time and continues launched a concerted campaign and made up of , Joe to do so into his twilight years. The for Corvalán’s release. The call for Modise, , Joe Gqabi and ANC had no real photographs or Corvalán’s freedom became the symbol Joe Slovo, was invited by their political other forms of images of him since of Chilean resistance. When he was colleagues to undertake a study tour in his incarceration on Robben Island finally set free Corvalán travelled to the Vietnam. After the visit, the Commission except the one with Sisulu. This Soviet Union, the German Democratic submitted its report (also known as The perhaps contributed to the aura and Republic and other socialist countries Green Book/Theses on our Strategic interest that fuelled the international to thank those who had supported him Line) to the ANC’s national executive campaign. so valiantly. Corvalán also attended committee in March 19799. • All these factors culminated in the international conferences and was To conclude this article which mainly famous Release Mandela music one of the first political prisoners to focuses on the relationship between concert in Hyde Park, London, in publicly support the call for the release an individual and a collective in the late 1980s when the message of Mandela and other South African contemporary politics, when Rolihlahla spread across the world was the political prisoners. Nelson Mandela was released from release of political prisoners in South Another interesting case study is prison in 1990, there were internal Africa. Had the ANC not been able that of Ananias Maidana, the former dynamics in the liberation movement to introduce the political element general secretary of the Communist that might have scuppered his as the cornerstone of this hugely Party of Paraguay. He served more ascendancy to the presidency of both the successful extravaganza, it would than twenty years as a political prisoner ANC and the country. But this did not have become just another popular under the violent dictatorship of happen, because Mandela’s colleagues music concert. International artists Alfredo Stroessner. The Paraguayan in the ANC made it possible for him and music stars such as Simple regime was exceptionally repressive at to reach the pinnacle of politics and Minds, Tracy Chapman, Joan the time but the international solidarity assume the presidency. To say this is not Armatrading, UB 40, Eurhythmics, movement was unable to build an to downplay Mandela’s personal role in Whitney Houston, George Michael effective campaign for his release. The his achievement. It also says a great deal and Stevie Wonder, to name a few, World Communist Movement and about the ANC’s leadership maturity participated. others demanded that he be set free but and level of political consciousness. The But it is important for us to guard could not sustain a specific campaign collective and consultative traditions against concluding that the ANC was to this end. Yet Maidana’s case was of the ANC proved invaluable during unique and exceptional in using the just as deserving as those of Corvalán Mandela’s term as the first president of tactical strategy of harmonising the and Mandela. He served a long term the democratic Republic of South Africa. individual and collective imperatives of imprisonment just as Mandela These traditions, as much as Mandela’s in a given struggle for political did and was just as courageous. The charismatic personality, shaped the style emancipation. crucial difference was that the ANC, and the achievements of his brief time as a liberation movement, was able to in office.  The international context: Latin mobilise its struggle around Mandela in References: America and South East Asia as case a manner that no political organisation 1 This paper benefitted immensely from extensive oral studies in the world had ever done before or history interviews with Essop Pahad conducted by Sifiso Ndlovu, SADET Oral History Project, For example, in the case of since. 2 UN General Assembly, Official Records, Resolution the politically oppressed in Latin In terms of the geopolitics of the Cold 1761, XVII Session, 6 November 1962. 3 South African National Archives (hereafter SANA), America, particularly Chile, the World War in South East Asia – in particular Transvaal Province Depot (hereafter TPD), Criminal Communist Movement adopted a the freedom struggle in Vietnam – the Case (CC) 253/64 (Rivonia Trial), Exhibit 17. 4 For such a viewpoint, see ‘Oliver Tambo’, speech similar political strategy and made an relationship between the individual delivered by Mandela at the funeral of O.R. Tambo, 2 May 1993, in K. Asmal et al., Nelson Mandela, international call for the release of and the collective was also identified from Freedom to the Future: Tributes and Speeches, Luis Corvalán, the long-time leader as vitally important. It was quite clear (Johannesburg and : Jonathan Ball, 2003), 489–492. of the Chilean Communist Party that Ho Chi Minh was a central figure 5 Mandela, Conversations with Myself, 345. whose support was critical to the rise in Vietnam’s international solidarity 6 See for example, ‘For the sake of SA, free Nelson Mandela’, Post, 21 March 1980; ‘Release Mandela in 1970 of Salvador Allende, the first campaign. His name featured in slogans, call is growing rapidly’, Rand Daily Mail, 2 June elected Marxist head of state in the protest songs, etc. But of course General 1980; ‘Churches must save the soul of the nation by supporting the campaign to free Mandela – or commit Western Hemisphere. Corvalán will Giap was also prominent because of his an act of treason against God’, Post, 23 March 1980; ‘Worldwide calls to free Mandela’, Post , 12 October be remembered in the west as a high- tremendous capacity as a symbol of 1980; ‘Swapo joins Mandela call’, Post, 6 April 1980; profile political prisoner in General guerrilla warfare and a famed military ‘Free Mandela say Tanzania and Kenya’, Post, 13 April 1980. Augusto Pinochet's regime of terror. leader who held the invading forces at 7 See SADET, The Road to Democracy in South Africa, He was subsequently exchanged for bay. It was not surprising that the ANC Volume 3, International Solidarity (Pretoria: Unisa Press, 2010). the Soviet dissident Vladimir Bukovsky established a fraternal relationship with 8 G.E. Lang and K. Lang, Politics and Television (Beverly in 1976. their Vietnamese counterparts. During Hills: SAGE, 1984),97; G. and K. Lang, Voting and Nonvoting (Boston,: Blaisdell, 1968); T. Klapper, The Although there were many other the late 1970s the ANC’s Politico- Effects of Mass Communication (Glencoe, IL: Free Press, 1960). Chilean political prisoners incarcerated Military Strategy Commission, led by 9 http:/www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/history/mk/green-book. in jail, the Soviet Union and others the ANC’s president, Oliver Tambo, html

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