Nelson Mandela is Released from Prison
On 11 February 1990, at around 16:16 in the afternoon, recently released leader of the African National Congress (ANC), Nelson Mandela, emerged from Victor Verster (now called Drakenstein) Prison hand-in-hand with his wife Nomzamo Winnie Mandela, as marshals of the Mass Democratic Movement (MDM) were struggling to hold back the crowds that came to witness the event. Most people wanted to see Mandela since his picture was banned from being published, and those who grew up after he was incarcerated had never seen his face before.
At around 19:45 that evening, Nelson Mandela appeared on the podium at Cape Town’s Grand Parade, as the crowds were restless after waiting for more than two hours for him to begin speaking. Mandela extended his gratitude to all the people in the world that had fought for his release, to the people of Cape Town who tirelessly marched for their freedom as political prisoners, to the African National Congress (ANC) that had fulfilled their expectations in its role “as leader of the great march to freedom”, and to his comrade President Oliver Tambo, who had managed to lead the ANC “under the most difficult circumstances”.
He then saluted the rank-and-file members of the ANC that had sacrificed life and limb in the pursuit of the noble cause of the struggle. Notably, he saluted the combatants of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), specifically mentioning Solomon Mahlangu and Ashley Kriel, who had “paid the ult
