Tuesday 11 February marks the 30th anniversary since late former president Nelson Mandela was released from the then, Victor Verster Prison, after 27 years of incarceration.
In memory of Madiba and the legacy he left behind, we’ve put together five iconic photos that best represent his release from prison on 11 February 1990.
Mandela was an anti-apartheid political leader and philanthropist who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country’s first black head of state and the first elected in a fully representative democratic election.
Initially committed to non-violent protest, Mandela in association with the SACP, co-founded the militant Umkhonto we Sizwe in 1961 and led a sabotage campaign against the government. He was arrested in 1962 and sentenced in 1964.
Mandela served 27 years in prison, split between Robben Island, Pollsmoor Prison, and Victor Verster Prison. President F. W. de Klerk released him in 1990. Today we comemorate Mandela’s leadership and bravery.
Mandela is released from the Victor Verster Prison
A picture taken on February 11, 1990 shows Nelson Mandela (C) and his then-wife anti-apartheid campaigner Winnie raising their fists and saluting cheering crowd upon Mandela’s release from the Victor Verster prison near Paarl. Rolihlahla Dalibhunga Mandela, affectionately known by his clan name “Madiba”, became commander-in-chief of Umkhonto weSizwe (Spear of the Nation), the armed underground wing of the African National Congress, in 1961, and the following year underwent military training in Algeria and Ethiopia. After more than a year underground, Mandela was captured by police and sentenced in 1964 to life in prison during the Rivonia trial, where he delivered a speech that was to become the manifesto of the anti-apartheid movement. Mandela started his prison years in the notorious Robben Island Prison, a maximum security prison on a small island 7Km off the coast near Cape Town. In April 1984 he was transferred to Pollsmoor Prison in Cape Town and in December 1988 he was moved the Victor Verster Prison near Paarl. While in prison, Mandela flatly rejected offers made by his jailers for remission of sentence in exchange for accepting the bantustan policy by recognising the independence of the Transkei and agreeing to settle there. Again in the ‘eighties Mandela rejected an offer of release on condition that he renounce violence. Prisoners cannot enter into contracts. Only free men can negotiate, he said, according to ANC reports. AFP PHOTO FILES / ALEXANDER JOE Alexander JOE / FILES / AFP
Mandela’s first speech after his release
A picture taken on February 11, 1990 shows Nelson Mandela (C), flanked by hi then-wife anti-apartheid campaigner Winnie, giving his first speech in Cape Town after being released from the Victor Verster prison. Rolihlahla Dalibhunga Mandela, affectionately known by his clan name “Madiba”, became commander-in-chief of Umkhonto weSizwe (Spear of the Nation), the armed underground wing of the African National Congress, in 1961, and the following year underwent military training in Algeria and Ethiopia. After more than a year underground, Mandela was captured by police and sentenced in 1964 to life in prison during the Rivonia trial, where he delivered a speech that was to become the manifesto of the anti-apartheid movement. Mandela started his prison years in the notorious Robben Island Prison, a maximum security prison on a small island 7Km off the coast near Cape Town. In April 1984 he was transferred to Pollsmoor Prison in Cape Town and in December 1988 he was moved the Victor Verster Prison near Paarl. While in prison, Mandela flatly rejected offers made by his jailers for remission of sentence in exchange for accepting the bantustan policy by recognising the independence of the Transkei and agreeing to settle there. Again in the ‘eighties Mandela rejected an offer of release on condition that he renounce violence. Prisoners cannot enter into contracts. Only free men can negotiate, he said, according to ANC reports. AFP PHOTO FILES / WALTER DHLADHLA Walter DHALDHLA / FILES / AFP
Police await Madiba’s release
11 February 1990. Paarl, South Africa. Police officials stand around anxiously at the gates of the Victor Verster prison, awaiting the release of political prisoner, Nelson Mandela, following his 27 years of incarceration. Gallo Images.
Mandela chats to Jack Swart at Victor Verster
South African President Nelson Mandela chats with former cook Jack Swart on the patio of the house in which he spent the last years of his imprisonment at Victor Verster prison in Cape Town, 29 October 1996. (Photo credit should read ANNA ZIEMINSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
Walk to freedom
A statue of Nelson Mandela, an anti-apartheid revolutionary and the former president of South Africa, depicting him walking to freedom, stands in front of the entrance of the Drakenstein Prison, previously called Victor Verster Prison, in Paarl on January 23, 2020. Nelson Mandela spent the last 14 months of his 27 year imprisonment in a house at the Victor Verster prison and was released from on February 11, 1990, and went on to win the Nobel Peace prize and become the first President of democratic South Africa. RODGER BOSCH / AFP
