| S. Africa marks 50 years since Mandela’s arrest |
HOWICK South Africa unveiled its latest monument to Nelson Mandela on Saturday, a new statue along a rural highway marking the spot where he was arrested 50 years ago for his struggle against apartheid.
Mandela, now 94, was arrested as a young liberation fighter on August 5, 1962, near the eastern town of Howick, just months after he founded the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC).
He had returned just a few weeks earlier from a trip across Africa drumming up support for the new Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), or ‘Spear of the Nation’.
The sculpture is made up of 50 steel rods of between five and 10 metres high and when viewed from a certain angle, Mandela’s image come into focus.
“The front of the sculpture is a portrait of Mandela, it has vertical bars which represent his imprisonment,” said the monument’s designer Marco Cianfanelli.
“When you walk through the structure it radiates like a burst of light, which symbolises the political uprising of many people and solidarity.”
South African President Jacob Zuma, Mandela’s grandson Mandla Mandela, and others planted trees along a pathway leading to the monument in honour of the Nobel peace prize winner. At the foot of the trees, wooden signposts were inscribed with the words negotiator, courageous, statesman, leader, prisoner, comrade and character.
“We must encourage generations to visit the site because those who do will be inspired,” said Zuma, who unveiled the monument.
Mandela’s life on the lam, dodging apartheid police while making appearances across the country, earned him the nickname ‘Black Pimpernel’.
He was arrested while travelling illegally to Johannesburg from Durban, where he had briefed ANC leader Albert Luthuli on his trip.
Police found him disguised as a driver under the false name of David Motsamayi, in the car of the theatre director Cecil Williams.
The anniversary of the arrest “reminds the country of how far we have travelled”, said Verne Harris of the Nelson Mandela Centre for Memory.
“Madiba now lives in a democratic South Africa, while 50 years ago he had to fight for freedom,” he said, using the Mandela clan name, a term of respect.
“While we still have many challenges and reality is still harsh for many South Africans, we have come a long way.”
Agencies
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