At first, Mandela and his fellow members of the ANC used nonviolent tactics like strikes and demonstrations to protest apartheid. In , Mandela helped escalate the struggle as a leader of the Defiance Campaign, which encouraged Black participants to actively violate laws. More than 8, people —including Mandela—were jailed for violating curfews, refusing to carry identification passes, and other offenses. See pictures from the life and times of Mandela. After serving his sentence, Mandela continued to lead protests against the government and, in , he, along with others, was tried for treason.
He was acquitted in and lived in hiding for 17 months after the trial. Over time, Mandela came to believe that armed resistance was the only way to end apartheid. In , he briefly left the country to receive military training and gain support for the cause but was arrested and convicted soon after his return for leaving the country without a permit.
They charged him and his allies with sabotage. Mandela and the other defendants in the ensuing Rivonia Trial knew they were sure to be convicted and executed. So they turned their show trial into a statement, publicizing their anti-apartheid struggle and challenging the legal system that oppressed Black South Africans.
It is a struggle of the African people, inspired by our own suffering and our own experience. It is a struggle for the right to live. He was allowed only one minute visit with a single person every year, and could send and receive two letters a year. Confined in austere conditions, he worked in a limestone quarry and over time, earned the respect of his captors and fellow prisoners. He was given chances to leave prison in exchange for ensuring the ANC would give up violence but refused.
His supporters agitated for his release and news of his imprisonment galvanized anti-apartheid activists all over the world.
In the s, some members of the United Nations began to call for sanctions against South Africa—calls that grew louder in the decades that followed. Eventually, South Africa became an international pariah. Now 71, Mandela negotiated with de Klerk for a new constitution that would allow majority rule. Apartheid was repealed in , and in , the ANC, now a political party, won more than 62 percent of the popular vote in a peaceful, democratic election. Here's how South Africa has changed since the end of apartheid.
Mandela served as president for five years. Mandela finally walked free on February 11, , and negotiations to end apartheid formally began that year.
These negotiations lasted for four years, ending with the election of Mandela as president. In , the country initiated a Truth and Reconciliation Commission in an attempt to reckon with the gross human rights violations during apartheid.
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South African Resistance. Mandela and de Klerk make opening news statements in May during the first talks between the South African government and the African National Congress. De Klerk gives a news conference during his visit to Paris on May 10, President George W.
De Klerk announces the scrapping of remaining apartheid laws in parliament on February 1, , in Cape Town. De Klerk holds his grandson in March De Klerk shakes hands with schoolchildren before a campaign rally on January 21, , with farm workers, farmers and children in Dwarsfontein, South Africa. Mandela and de Klerk hold their hands high as they address a huge crowd on May 10, , after the first presidential inauguration.
De Klerk poses for a photo with his wife Marike at their home in De Klerk poses for a portrait in January A security guard was later convicted of her murder. South Africa was later selected to host the competition. De Klerk leaves the Panorama Clinic in Cape Town on July 3, , following the successful removal of a colon tumor and treatment for a serious lung infection.
De Klerk in gives an interview on January 31, , in Hong Kong. De Klerk stands beside the casket of Mandela on December 11, , in Pretoria. Mandela died on December 5 at his home. De Klerk answers questions about his memories of Mandela, in his office in Cape Town, on July 11, It also marked the beginning of lengthy and tense negotiations, during which de Klerk and Mandela developed a complex relationship that occasionally resembled friendship but more often became strained, bitter and adversarial.
In , de Klerk and other leaders ratified a new constitution that formally ended decades of racial segregation in South Africa. De Klerk went on to lose South Africa's first multiracial, fully democratic election to Mandela, before taking a post in the new government.
But after retiring from politics he made a number of conflicting comments about the era he helped bring to an end, and he leaves behind a complicated legacy in South Africa. Archbishop Desmond Tutu paid tribute to his compatriot on Thursday, saying he "recognized the moment for change and demonstrated the will to act on it. The nation's current President, Cyril Ramaphosa, said in a measured statement de Klerk's move to end apartheid was a "courageous decision.
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