(TALKZIMBABWE) ANC not de Klerk liberated Mandela, says Zuma
ANC not de Klerk liberated Mandela, says ZumaTendai Masaraure in Johannesburg, SA
Tue, 09 Feb 2010 23:29:00 +0000
SOUTH AFRICAN President Jacob Zuma says the release of Nelson Mandela from 30 years of incarceration by the evil and brutal apartheid regime on 2 February 1990, was not engineered by former president F.W. de Klerk, but was a result of the pressure exerted by his ANC party's military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe).
Speaking on Sunday President Zuma said that it was the intensity of the armed struggle, and not a decision by de Klerk, that led to Nelson Mandela's release 20 years ago.
Although De Klerk reversed the ban on the ANC and other anti-apartheid organisations, and announced that Mandela would be released from prison, he cannot be credited for the eventual end to apartheid, according to Mr Zuma.
Addressing an ANC Boland region meeting in Paarl Zuma confirmed that one of the topics he would be covering in his State of the Nation speech on the anniversary of Madiba's release would be the factors giving rise to his freedom.
"Don't be misled by people who might say today, we slept, we thought we must now release this man. No. It was the struggle, the intensity and depth of the struggle, that led to Madiba being released.
"Today, in time of peace, everyone making claims about the release, even those who were on the opposite side of the liberation struggle. No, no. These are all our people. We led them. Because the ANC succeeded, they also succeeded."
Zuma added: "It looked like a dream that this man who had been in prison for 27 years was being released," Zuma said. "So we must remember him and thank him that he has stayed with us up to now."
South Africans will join the president Zuma in celebrating the release of Mandela on Thursday.
On 11 February 1990, at his release, Mandela made it clear that the ANC's armed struggle was not yet over:
“ Our resort to the armed struggle in 1960 with the formation of the military wing of the ANC (Umkhonto we Sizwe) was a purely defensive action against the violence of apartheid.
"The factors which necessitated the armed struggle still exist today. We have no option but to continue.
"We express the hope that a climate conducive to a negotiated settlement would be created soon, so that there may no longer be the need for the armed struggle.”
Labels: ANC, JACOB ZUMA, LIBERATION, MK, NELSON MANDELA
posted by MrK @ 1:47 PM
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