Many people across the globe yesterday remembered the day in which former President Nelson Mandela raised his fist in the air as he made his way out of the Victor Verster prison, in a move that would forever alter the history of South Africa.
The world vividly remembers the iconic photograph of a grey-haired Mandela dressed in a dark suit, crisp white shirt, and tie, arm-in-arm with Mama Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, as they emerged from the Paarl prison that Madiba, as he is affectionately known, had called home for 14 months.
The anti-apartheid global icon was released on February 11, 1990, from the facility which is now known as the Drakenstein Correctional Centre. In present-day South Africa, the centre boasts a statue of the man himself, with his fist clenched in the air.
Madiba’s release followed the announcement by then President FW de Klerk of the unbanning of liberation movements like the African National Congress (ANC) and the Pan Africanist Congress. (Text courtesy of The Guardian)