Nelson Mandela: A Life Inspired by Gillian Kendall

Author:Gillian Kendall
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub, mobi
Tags: General Fiction
ISBN: 9781503292345
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Published: 2014-12-02T06:00:00+00:00

The Soweto Massacre

In 1976, the government began to require that half of all classes be given in Afrikaans, the language of the white supremacists. In demonstrations against this rule, tens of thousands of South Africans protested in the streets. As Mandela had predicted, the children who had grown up and been educated under the oppressive Bantu education laws were angrier and more violent than previous generations.

In an area called Soweto (short for South-West Townships), the police opened fire on the protestors. They fired no warning shots and gave no call to disperse, instead firing right into the crowd. On the first day, 25 people—many of them children—were killed. By the end of the uprising, some 1,000 people were dead. Not one was a police officer.

Shortly after the Soweto Massacre, many members of the BCM were arrested and began to arrive at Robben Island. While Mandela and the other, older members of the ANC welcomed their contribution to the anti-apartheid struggle, Mandela attempted to persuade them to be less exclusive. He maintained that there was room for whites, Coloured people, and Indians in the movement against racism and that all of the groups would be more powerful and effective together instead of split apart.

At first the BCM prisoners were uncooperative and inclined to violence. Some attacked warders; most of them refused to study. But over time, Mandela was able to engage many BCM members in meaningful and constructive conversations, and some grew less militant and more inclusive in their outlook.

In 1976, Mandela was recognized for his work as a peacekeeper and leader in the prison as well as for his reasonable outlook and potential to influence younger prisoners. The minister of prisons, Jimmy Kruger, visited Mandela, and after some conversation about the ANC, he offered Mandela a version of freedom. The government had for more than a decade been instituting the Bantustan or “homelands” policies that offered a degree of nominal independence for blacks living in certain assigned areas, but which overturned traditional tribal societies and gave little actual freedom from oppression. Mandela opposed the legislation and the plan because it offered no real independence, opportunity, or freedom. But Kruger offered to reduce Mandela’s life sentence drastically if Mandela would agree to go and live in the Transkei region and to acknowledge the Bantustan form of government.

As much as Mandela might have yearned for his personal freedom, he refused to betray the cause. He stayed in Robben Island.

In 1977, Steve Biko died while in police custody. His cause of death was said to be brain damage, but the head injury occurred while he was being beaten by police, and his condition was exacerbated by neglect. The brutality of his treatment added to the rising outrage around the world.

In 1975, Winnie altered her daughter Zindzi’s passbook to make it look as though she were 16, and she brought Zindzi to see her father for the first time since she was three years old. It was a precious and uplifting visit, although Winnie

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