Long Walk to Freedom

On the day of his release, February 11, 1990, Mandela plans to go into Cape Town and address a crowd on the Grand Parade. At the prison gates, he is slightly alarmed by the large crowd of reporters and well-wishers and quickly gets into a car. They approach Cape Town by the back roads. Mandela is astonished to see rural Afrikaners raising their fist in the ANC salute as he passes.

At Cape Town, a jubilant crowd of tens of thousands surrounds his car. After being rescued, the car finally manages to reach the back of City Hall. From the balcony, Mandela addresses the crowd, telling them that he is their humble servant and it was their efforts that made his freedom possible. Mandela reveals his secret negotiations with the government and urges all South Africans to join in the process of recreating the country. He tells the crowd that de Klerk is a “man of integrity” (566), which he would come to regret in hindsight because de Klerk proved less reasonable than Mandela had hoped.

At a press conference the next day, Mandela repeatedly stresses his unfailing loyalty to the ANC, that armed struggle would continue until the government negotiated, and that international sanctions on South Africa should not be lifted.