0:00:02 > 0:00:09This programme contains some scenes which some viewers may find upsetting
0:00:09 > 0:00:10There's a Zulu saying,
0:00:10 > 0:00:15which basically says that people don't go in one direction like water.
0:00:21 > 0:00:22I think, with water,
0:00:22 > 0:00:25we can block it this way, or you can put the dams, you can do anything,
0:00:25 > 0:00:30it will still find a way of getting around, whatever the obstacles,
0:00:30 > 0:00:34because it's got one course that it's determined to get to.
0:00:34 > 0:00:36It's moving down towards the sea.
0:00:38 > 0:00:41Freedom. Despite decades of struggle,
0:00:41 > 0:00:46for black South Africans, it was still just a distant dream.
0:00:48 > 0:00:53But now, at last, the tide was beginning to turn.
0:00:53 > 0:00:56Marches. Protests.
0:00:56 > 0:00:58The civil disobedience,
0:00:58 > 0:01:01the activities of the trade union movement,
0:01:01 > 0:01:05put the maximum possible international pressure to isolate the apartheid regime,
0:01:05 > 0:01:07to weaken it.
0:01:07 > 0:01:13Inside, outside, they were all coming together.
0:01:13 > 0:01:16There's a total onslaught against South Africa...
0:01:18 > 0:01:23..to destabilise our country and to make us give in,
0:01:23 > 0:01:27and to make us accept dictates from outside.
0:01:27 > 0:01:32Nelson Mandela was still locked up in prison,
0:01:32 > 0:01:38but the apartheid regime was now under extreme pressure.
0:01:38 > 0:01:41There would be no let up until he and his country were free.
0:01:54 > 0:01:56# Hey, said what's the word?
0:01:56 > 0:02:00# Tell me brother, have you heard
0:02:00 > 0:02:02# From Johannesburg?
0:02:05 > 0:02:06# Tell me what's the word now?
0:02:06 > 0:02:09# Sister-woman have you heard
0:02:09 > 0:02:12# From Johannesburg? #
0:02:21 > 0:02:271978, and PW Botha becomes South Africa's new prime minister.
0:02:29 > 0:02:33By now, the country had become an international pariah.
0:02:34 > 0:02:37South Africa faced a UN arms embargo,
0:02:37 > 0:02:40a worldwide sporting boycott,
0:02:40 > 0:02:42and the threat of economic sanctions.
0:02:44 > 0:02:46After years of struggle, the ANC's campaign
0:02:46 > 0:02:51to isolate the country was proving highly successful.
0:02:51 > 0:02:54Something had to give.
0:02:54 > 0:02:58PW Botha made a very important speech at a place called Upington
0:02:58 > 0:03:01in 1979, and he said,
0:03:01 > 0:03:05"We will have to adapt or die."
0:03:05 > 0:03:08REPORTER: For PW Botha, the road to reform
0:03:08 > 0:03:10began in the grounds of the union building,
0:03:10 > 0:03:12South Africa's White House. For PW Botha,
0:03:12 > 0:03:15an overwhelming mandate for reform,
0:03:15 > 0:03:18as whites voted in favour of a new three-chamber parliament.
0:03:19 > 0:03:24Whites are joined by coloureds and Indians, blacks were excluded.
0:03:30 > 0:03:33I think the whites have an existential dilemma.
0:03:35 > 0:03:37On the one hand, they live in Africa,
0:03:37 > 0:03:42but, on the other hand, they're susceptible to pressures
0:03:42 > 0:03:47that come from the white world, Europe and the Americas, etc.
0:03:49 > 0:03:52So there has been a desire on their part to want to be seen
0:03:52 > 0:03:54not to be so bad after all, you know?
0:03:54 > 0:03:58Because they have to be accepted into the white family
0:03:58 > 0:04:00of so-called civilised nations.
0:04:03 > 0:04:07For PW Botha, there was this great hope
0:04:07 > 0:04:12that the Tricameral Parliament will be a breakthrough.
0:04:12 > 0:04:16He and his government expected that the whole world,
0:04:16 > 0:04:19the Western world, will be very impressed.
0:04:23 > 0:04:27He went on this big European tour
0:04:27 > 0:04:31to convince Europe about the importance of reform.
0:04:33 > 0:04:36He even had an interview with the Pope.
0:04:40 > 0:04:46The most significant stop on Botha's tour was the United Kingdom.
0:04:46 > 0:04:48Margaret Thatcher, then Prime Minister,
0:04:48 > 0:04:52strongly opposed any sanctions against South Africa.
0:04:52 > 0:04:55Quite a lot has been done in the right direction.
0:04:55 > 0:04:59There's very little apartheid in sport in South Africa.
0:04:59 > 0:05:03When you've got them coming in the right direction, don't hit out.
0:05:03 > 0:05:08Encourage the further movement in the direction which you want to go,
0:05:08 > 0:05:14but do also keep alive the strongest economy in the whole of Africa,
0:05:14 > 0:05:17and that is South Africa, and keep it alive
0:05:17 > 0:05:19for all of the people eventually to govern
0:05:19 > 0:05:21and play their part in government.
0:05:25 > 0:05:29All over Britain, the anti-apartheid movement had been gaining ground.
0:05:29 > 0:05:33# Fighting to stop this mass deception
0:05:36 > 0:05:39# Fighting to scrap the pass-laws... #
0:05:42 > 0:05:46Botha's official visit had rapidly become a fiasco.
0:05:47 > 0:05:50We had demonstrations that stopped the underground,
0:05:50 > 0:05:53stopped the whole of London, on the day he arrived.
0:05:53 > 0:05:56The original intention of Botha coming to Downing Street
0:05:56 > 0:05:59they had to call off, and they had to fly him
0:05:59 > 0:06:01by helicopter to Chequers, out of the country,
0:06:01 > 0:06:03and even then we had people demonstrating.
0:06:03 > 0:06:05# Fighting to change the world
0:06:05 > 0:06:09# And here... #
0:06:13 > 0:06:15So, here's a leader of a country
0:06:15 > 0:06:18invited as a guest by the British government.
0:06:18 > 0:06:23No hotel in Britain would put him up, no aircraft would fly him,
0:06:23 > 0:06:25no train would have him,
0:06:25 > 0:06:30and those unions say so, and she doesn't shake hands with him
0:06:30 > 0:06:33because she can't afford to give a photograph
0:06:33 > 0:06:35of shaking hands with him.
0:06:36 > 0:06:39Margaret Thatcher was forced to change tack.
0:06:39 > 0:06:43Botha comes to this meeting, meets Mrs Thatcher,
0:06:43 > 0:06:46this has been the crowning point of his European tour, and what happens?
0:06:46 > 0:06:49We have the biggest ever anti-apartheid demonstration here,
0:06:49 > 0:06:52and what Downing Street and the government says afterwards,
0:06:52 > 0:06:55it's an endorsement of the issues we were raising,
0:06:55 > 0:06:57rather than the issues Botha was raising.
0:06:57 > 0:06:59Mrs Thatcher made it abundantly clear
0:06:59 > 0:07:02that we do find and we'll always find it unacceptable
0:07:02 > 0:07:06for a person's rights to depend on the colour of their skin.
0:07:06 > 0:07:08We hope to see a political development
0:07:08 > 0:07:11that will meet the aspirations of all the people of South Africa.
0:07:11 > 0:07:16Nobody can rightfully decide for South Africa
0:07:16 > 0:07:19how to keep its house in order.
0:07:19 > 0:07:24That is our responsibility and our responsibility alone,
0:07:24 > 0:07:26that is all I say.
0:07:26 > 0:07:28Botha's tour was a disaster.
0:07:28 > 0:07:31Europe was not impressed with his reforms,
0:07:31 > 0:07:34and in South Africa, opposition was about to explode.
0:07:34 > 0:07:38In a bizarre way, PW Botha actually gave us the impetus
0:07:38 > 0:07:42to form a national movement, because what he had tried to do
0:07:42 > 0:07:45was to try and say to coloureds and Indians,
0:07:45 > 0:07:48"We give you a little bit of a better deal
0:07:48 > 0:07:52"than we'd give to other people, the race of the black population."
0:07:52 > 0:07:55Will there ever be "one man one vote" in South Africa?
0:07:55 > 0:07:57No.
0:07:59 > 0:08:02We knew, as coloured people and Indian people,
0:08:02 > 0:08:07if we allowed this to happen, that the solidarity we had built up
0:08:07 > 0:08:10through the black consciousness movement in the 1970s,
0:08:10 > 0:08:13that that solidarity would be shattered.
0:08:15 > 0:08:18What we needed was for everybody to come together
0:08:18 > 0:08:22to show our united opposition and form a united front.
0:08:28 > 0:08:33Across South Africa, the call went out to all races.
0:08:33 > 0:08:38"Come to Cape Town under the banner of the new United Democratic Front."
0:08:38 > 0:08:40SINGING
0:08:48 > 0:08:52Communities sent delegates, so you'd have this bus
0:08:52 > 0:08:55arriving from a particular area in the country
0:08:55 > 0:08:59and they were carrying the hopes and aspirations of those people,
0:08:59 > 0:09:01and the spirit was fantastic.
0:09:01 > 0:09:04SINGING
0:09:12 > 0:09:14I mean, here we were,
0:09:14 > 0:09:18every single political organisation had been suppressed,
0:09:18 > 0:09:21driven underground, its leaders thrown in jail, tortured.
0:09:21 > 0:09:24Biko had died in our midst.
0:09:24 > 0:09:28So, one would have expected...
0:09:28 > 0:09:31I mean, I wouldn't say that people would be intimidated
0:09:31 > 0:09:34but at least more subdued. But there was nothing of that.
0:09:34 > 0:09:38No amount of intimidation,
0:09:38 > 0:09:43jail, punishment,
0:09:43 > 0:09:48house arrest will stop the people from marching to freedom today.
0:09:48 > 0:09:50CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:09:55 > 0:09:58This is the same government
0:09:58 > 0:10:02who thinks that they can play God in the lives of people,
0:10:02 > 0:10:05the same government who detain us without trial
0:10:05 > 0:10:07and torture us in their jails
0:10:07 > 0:10:11and ban those who stand up and speak for justice,
0:10:11 > 0:10:15who throw them on that infamous island or lock them up in Baltimore Prison.
0:10:15 > 0:10:17This is the government who want you to go and vote.
0:10:17 > 0:10:19You must be crazy to do that!
0:10:24 > 0:10:28By the time the government was ready with its constitution,
0:10:28 > 0:10:32we had convinced the vast majority of the coloured and Indian communities
0:10:32 > 0:10:34to boycott those elections.
0:10:36 > 0:10:39We engaged in what I call the politics of refusal.
0:10:42 > 0:10:46Our refusal to be manipulated, to be bought by the apartheid regime.
0:10:49 > 0:10:54The success of that first refusal had lain the foundations
0:10:54 > 0:10:58for the work of the United Democratic Front in the 1980s.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05We've got to keep going.
0:11:05 > 0:11:07A general build-up...
0:11:09 > 0:11:15..of a massive force in our country that says no to apartheid.
0:11:16 > 0:11:21A new South Africa now, today.
0:11:21 > 0:11:23Not tomorrow.
0:11:23 > 0:11:25CHANTING
0:11:39 > 0:11:42People started to challenge things around rent struggles,
0:11:42 > 0:11:44housing struggles.
0:11:44 > 0:11:47Black and white, Indians and coloureds...
0:11:47 > 0:11:49Communities coming together to make demands
0:11:49 > 0:11:52to a government we all pay rates and taxes to.
0:11:52 > 0:11:55My freedom is God-given!
0:11:55 > 0:11:58I don't go around saying, "pass, please".
0:11:58 > 0:12:01It was a struggle that was in churches.
0:12:04 > 0:12:07It was a struggle that was on factory floors.
0:12:09 > 0:12:12REPORTER: In Durban today, a strike at seven major bakeries.
0:12:12 > 0:12:15The 1,800 workers felt secure enough to stay inside the gates,
0:12:15 > 0:12:18stopping the last loaves they produced from getting out.
0:12:18 > 0:12:22Suddenly, the traditional economic supremacy of whites has been taken away.
0:12:29 > 0:12:35It really was a very, very strong truly democratic movement
0:12:35 > 0:12:38that represented very ordinary men and women.
0:12:40 > 0:12:42And that was the strength of the UDF,
0:12:42 > 0:12:46that ordinary people were taking charge of their own lives.
0:12:48 > 0:12:53And there was a very strong engagement with the ANC,
0:12:53 > 0:12:56the underground here and people in the neighbouring states,
0:12:56 > 0:12:58ANC people based in the neighbouring states.
0:13:07 > 0:13:09You've tuned into Radio Freedom,
0:13:09 > 0:13:12the voice of the African National Congress.
0:13:12 > 0:13:18'The time has come that the rest of the black masses of our country,
0:13:18 > 0:13:21'all 25 million of us,'
0:13:21 > 0:13:26should join in one determined offensive
0:13:26 > 0:13:31to make all of our country ungovernable.
0:13:38 > 0:13:44It was the internal conflict, the internal dissensions,
0:13:44 > 0:13:47ungovernability, chaos,
0:13:47 > 0:13:50created by the UDF,
0:13:50 > 0:13:54that finally brought South Africa to its knees.
0:13:54 > 0:13:57REPORTER: The government hoped it would end.
0:13:57 > 0:14:00They wanted an end to the day-by-day violence
0:14:00 > 0:14:04that's left the country's black townships virtually ungovernable.
0:14:04 > 0:14:07They want to be impossible.
0:14:07 > 0:14:10The people were simply no longer prepared to listen.
0:14:14 > 0:14:17I must say, I was afraid.
0:14:19 > 0:14:23Because I have a strange feeling of my stomach
0:14:23 > 0:14:26that we are...
0:14:26 > 0:14:29We are also going to experience
0:14:29 > 0:14:33a bloody French Revolution in South Africa.
0:14:46 > 0:14:50The ANC's armed wing now stepped up its bombing campaign
0:14:50 > 0:14:53in the centre of major cities.
0:14:53 > 0:14:57Listen, my friends, listen.
0:14:57 > 0:15:00Destroy white South Africa,
0:15:00 > 0:15:05and our influence in this subcontinent of Southern Africa
0:15:05 > 0:15:11and this country will drift into factions, strife, chaos and poverty.
0:15:11 > 0:15:13APPLAUSE
0:15:21 > 0:15:28In July 1985, PW Botha declared a state of emergency throughout South Africa.
0:15:31 > 0:15:36PW Botha coined the phrase that there's a total onslaught,
0:15:36 > 0:15:40a total Communist onslaught against South Africa.
0:15:40 > 0:15:43It was against the white civilisation,
0:15:43 > 0:15:45it was against Christianity,
0:15:45 > 0:15:50it was against capitalism, etc.
0:15:50 > 0:15:53and that therefore we need a total strategy,
0:15:53 > 0:15:58and billions and billions was spent on defence.
0:15:58 > 0:16:00GUNSHOT
0:16:01 > 0:16:05That's when the Army started to move into townships,
0:16:05 > 0:16:06literally occupying townships.
0:16:06 > 0:16:11Sometimes it was almost as many soldiers in the township as what there were residents.
0:16:11 > 0:16:15Hey, somebody's there. Block him! Block him, get up there.
0:16:17 > 0:16:20You saw these roadblocks.
0:16:20 > 0:16:23What they then did was stop buses and they really beat people up.
0:16:38 > 0:16:42All manner of things happened in that period.
0:16:42 > 0:16:45People disappeared, people I knew very well.
0:16:45 > 0:16:47Some people poisoned.
0:16:48 > 0:16:52People were dumped into drums of acid and disappeared.
0:16:52 > 0:16:57People were dumped in rivers with crocodiles, you know, killed.
0:16:59 > 0:17:03You'd be walking off somewhere, and the next thing you'd be gone.
0:17:03 > 0:17:07There are still some people who haven't been accounted for.
0:17:10 > 0:17:12It's a weasel!
0:17:12 > 0:17:16So when I think back about what we achieved,
0:17:16 > 0:17:22at the same time, all these images of these people that one knew
0:17:22 > 0:17:24that had lost their lives.
0:17:45 > 0:17:47SINGING
0:17:51 > 0:17:57In response, the ANC increased the level of its attacks.
0:17:57 > 0:18:00If you're being attacked, if you're being beaten up every day,
0:18:00 > 0:18:03if you're being shot at, if you're being insulted
0:18:03 > 0:18:08and subjected to inhumanities and indignities,
0:18:08 > 0:18:13and you're a man, you're a human being, and this is being done to you
0:18:13 > 0:18:17by another human being, you can put up with this for some time,
0:18:17 > 0:18:21but you do reach a point where you feel you must resist and you must fight back.
0:18:23 > 0:18:27REPORTER: The ANC's guerrillas once took elaborate precautions
0:18:27 > 0:18:30to avoid hurting white civilians, but no longer.
0:18:30 > 0:18:34We're moving away from this level of precaution,
0:18:34 > 0:18:39and we'll continue, of course, to calculate on what will this mean for civilians?
0:18:41 > 0:18:43And we're absolutely certain
0:18:43 > 0:18:46that many civilians will be caught in the crossfire.
0:18:47 > 0:18:5220 people were hurt in the latest bomb attack outside a supermarket.
0:18:52 > 0:18:5415 bombs have gone off in urban areas this year,
0:18:54 > 0:18:59nearly half of them since the state of emergency began three weeks ago.
0:18:59 > 0:19:02Mounting such a major campaign
0:19:02 > 0:19:06required the constant movement of ANC forces.
0:19:06 > 0:19:08People had gone out of the country for training
0:19:08 > 0:19:11and had come back into the country.
0:19:11 > 0:19:15I had to be constantly in the neighbouring countries,
0:19:15 > 0:19:18the borders of South Africa,
0:19:18 > 0:19:21which became the important conduit for contact with people
0:19:21 > 0:19:26coming from inside the country out, and going back.
0:19:27 > 0:19:31We used to cross quietly, clandestinely into South Africa.
0:19:34 > 0:19:37So Mac Maharaj came to Amsterdam
0:19:37 > 0:19:40and he explained this all to me.
0:19:40 > 0:19:44He said, "What we're going to need are very special skills.
0:19:44 > 0:19:47"We're going to need people who can disguise people,
0:19:47 > 0:19:51"not just amateurs, professional people, the best people there are.
0:19:51 > 0:19:54She had access in her network to dentists
0:19:54 > 0:19:59who were able to do false teeth that will change your face,
0:19:59 > 0:20:04and she had access to a lot of artists in the theatre world.
0:20:10 > 0:20:14Conny Braam's disguises allowed key ANC members
0:20:14 > 0:20:18to operate secretly within South Africa.
0:20:18 > 0:20:21Now, you can bring leadership into South Africa,
0:20:21 > 0:20:25but, without a base, they can't operate.
0:20:25 > 0:20:31So the idea was that I'd recruit people, preferably couples,
0:20:31 > 0:20:35they would emigrate to South Africa, have a job, buy a house,
0:20:35 > 0:20:39a car, preferably a big house of course with a big wall around it,
0:20:39 > 0:20:41a job, a social life, everything,
0:20:41 > 0:20:46and then they would have servants, like all white people have servants.
0:20:46 > 0:20:49But these would be, of course, very special servants.
0:20:49 > 0:20:54I mean, a gardener... You can let your imagination work from there.
0:20:54 > 0:20:58And in the kitchen could be... You never know who's a minister now!
0:21:01 > 0:21:05This was a highly secret operation, only known by four people,
0:21:05 > 0:21:07of course including Oliver Tambo.
0:21:07 > 0:21:11It was his idea, he was the main responsible person for this.
0:21:15 > 0:21:21I agreed with Oliver to develop an entire new communications system.
0:21:21 > 0:21:24Computers and modems - I didn't know about it all.
0:21:24 > 0:21:30And through that, I linked Nelson Mandela with Oliver Tambo.
0:21:30 > 0:21:35Now, there was one weak point in that whole communication system, and it was the new floppy disk.
0:21:35 > 0:21:40New coding had to go via Amsterdam to South Africa every three weeks.
0:21:40 > 0:21:46I could only think of one category of people who fly in all the time -
0:21:46 > 0:21:49air hostesses, stewardesses.
0:21:51 > 0:21:55Conny's stewardess was able to pass customs easily.
0:21:55 > 0:21:58She became a magnificent courier.
0:21:58 > 0:22:03I then sent Mandela's lawyer to go and visit Nelson.
0:22:03 > 0:22:06We agreed on a particular mode by which messages would come to him.
0:22:06 > 0:22:09And then it would go back.
0:22:09 > 0:22:11Now, for the first time in 20 years,
0:22:11 > 0:22:15Oliver Tambo could communicate with his old friend and comrade
0:22:15 > 0:22:17Nelson Mandela in prison.
0:22:17 > 0:22:19They could actually talk to each other.
0:22:19 > 0:22:21From strategic to practical questions,
0:22:21 > 0:22:24there was an overwhelming load of issues.
0:22:24 > 0:22:28And the notes in these archives will show how
0:22:28 > 0:22:32they would meticulously work at the formulation.
0:22:32 > 0:22:33So the South African government
0:22:33 > 0:22:36thought they separated him from his organisation,
0:22:36 > 0:22:40underestimating us!
0:22:40 > 0:22:43Especially clever Mac.
0:22:43 > 0:22:46# Whoa, Nelson Mandela
0:22:46 > 0:22:50# We all receive your hand. #
0:22:50 > 0:22:55By now, Mandela's organisation had guerrilla bases in Angola,
0:22:55 > 0:22:59and offices throughout the countries bordering South Africa.
0:22:59 > 0:23:02The Frontline States.
0:23:02 > 0:23:07I treated Oliver Tambo as head of state,
0:23:07 > 0:23:10just away illegally from his country.
0:23:10 > 0:23:16We were going to allow them to set up their organisations on our soil.
0:23:16 > 0:23:23- # Praise be to God - Praise be, praise be, praise be
0:23:23 > 0:23:27# Bless our great Zambia... #
0:23:27 > 0:23:30'We could have stayed away from an active
0:23:30 > 0:23:34'but special struggle against Apartheid.'
0:23:34 > 0:23:38And the rest of Africa would have understood and appreciated that.
0:23:38 > 0:23:42But I went ahead and participated.
0:23:42 > 0:23:46South Africa, it was very hard.
0:23:50 > 0:23:53We were almost in a kind of state of war with them
0:23:53 > 0:23:58and they were warned about the dangers
0:23:58 > 0:24:03that they will cause to their own people
0:24:03 > 0:24:07if they continue accommodating terrorist bases.
0:24:28 > 0:24:32They attacked Maseru, where they killed citizens of Maseru.
0:24:32 > 0:24:36They attacked Mozambique, Maputo, Matola.
0:24:36 > 0:24:40They would kidnap people in the Frontline States,
0:24:40 > 0:24:42and they even went to war in Angola.
0:24:57 > 0:25:04One day, about 11, one Saturday morning, we heard bombs.
0:25:06 > 0:25:08I got the shock of my life.
0:25:08 > 0:25:11There were 600 people dead.
0:25:28 > 0:25:32Before the end comes,
0:25:32 > 0:25:34we expect...
0:25:37 > 0:25:41..rivers of blood to flow.
0:25:41 > 0:25:45The streams have started.
0:25:48 > 0:25:55And it will take the international community only...
0:25:55 > 0:25:57We are helpless.
0:25:59 > 0:26:03..to restrict the duration of the slaughter.
0:26:07 > 0:26:11For decades, Tambo had appealed for sanctions from the West,
0:26:11 > 0:26:16arguing that this would bring the apartheid government to the negotiating table.
0:26:16 > 0:26:19Sanctions are a weapon that the international community
0:26:19 > 0:26:23can and must use against the racist regime.
0:26:23 > 0:26:26A weapon that can weaken Pretoria's capacity
0:26:26 > 0:26:28to maintain its aggressive posture.
0:26:28 > 0:26:32The South African government is under no obligation
0:26:32 > 0:26:35to negotiate the future of the country with any organisation
0:26:35 > 0:26:38that proclaims a goal of creating a Communist state
0:26:38 > 0:26:42and uses terrorist tactics and violence to achieve it.
0:26:42 > 0:26:46I will have nothing to do with any organisation
0:26:46 > 0:26:47that practices violence.
0:26:47 > 0:26:50I've never seen anyone from the ANC, PLO or the IRA,
0:26:50 > 0:26:52and would not do so.
0:26:56 > 0:27:00Oliver had to carry the case for the African National Congress
0:27:00 > 0:27:05into hostile territory, into all the countries of Western Europe,
0:27:05 > 0:27:08into the United States.
0:27:08 > 0:27:10Initially, the doors were closed to him.
0:27:10 > 0:27:14CHANTING: ANC! ANC!
0:27:14 > 0:27:18But in the very countries whose leaders refused to meet Oliver Tambo,
0:27:18 > 0:27:22grassroots opposition had been growing for decades.
0:27:22 > 0:27:25With the UDF's success in South Africa,
0:27:25 > 0:27:29these international campaigns would finally be victorious.
0:27:37 > 0:27:41All over the world were these anti-apartheid movements.
0:27:41 > 0:27:46So many people for the same cause.
0:27:46 > 0:27:48Millions and millions there must have been.
0:27:50 > 0:27:54'Out there in the world were people who morally felt so offended
0:27:54 > 0:27:59'by what was happening to us that they took huge risks.
0:27:59 > 0:28:03'People were beaten up by police in their own countries.'
0:28:06 > 0:28:10We had created a climate internationally.
0:28:10 > 0:28:13It was directly related to what was happening at home.
0:28:13 > 0:28:18As struggle escalated in the country, you got greater support.
0:28:22 > 0:28:26The international isolation of the apartheid regime
0:28:26 > 0:28:31was not because the leaders of those countries made that decision.
0:28:31 > 0:28:35It came from the grassroots in those countries,
0:28:35 > 0:28:37and people must know it made a huge difference.
0:28:42 > 0:28:45In America, a wave of demonstrations erupted on campuses,
0:28:45 > 0:28:50in city councils and, finally, in Congress.
0:28:50 > 0:28:52President Reagan has fought long and hard
0:28:52 > 0:28:56to prevent Congress from imposing new economic sanctions
0:28:56 > 0:28:57against South Africa.
0:28:57 > 0:29:00Recently, even leaders of his own party begged him to stop.
0:29:00 > 0:29:02He didn't. Today, he lost.
0:29:02 > 0:29:07The Senate joined the House in overriding Mr Reagan's veto.
0:29:10 > 0:29:13And, in fact, in many countries it was a criminal offence
0:29:13 > 0:29:17to lend money to the South African government.
0:29:17 > 0:29:20So it was a terribly, terribly difficult time to try
0:29:20 > 0:29:22and keep this economy afloat.
0:29:22 > 0:29:26And I think that, quite literally,
0:29:26 > 0:29:29the apartheid state was becoming bankrupt.
0:29:46 > 0:29:50REPORTER: Britain has done an about-turn on its policy on South Africa.
0:29:50 > 0:29:51It's offered to meet Oliver Tambo,
0:29:51 > 0:29:54the leader of the African National Congress.
0:29:54 > 0:29:58It will be the first meeting between a minister and this organisation
0:29:58 > 0:30:00which is banned in South Africa.
0:30:00 > 0:30:02'It was a tremendous success.
0:30:02 > 0:30:05'It turned the whole of public opinion round to the extent
0:30:05 > 0:30:07'that a number of Conservative MPs'
0:30:07 > 0:30:10would say bluntly in Parliament
0:30:10 > 0:30:12that apartheid was morally wrong and indefensible.
0:30:12 > 0:30:15Mr Tambo, could we ask you to come to the microphone, sir?
0:30:15 > 0:30:19- What are you all doing here? - We hope you'll tell us something.
0:30:19 > 0:30:22'It's a sea change of opinion.'
0:30:22 > 0:30:25That whole sea change of opinion is what we were looking for.
0:30:25 > 0:30:29Thank you very much. Thanks very much.
0:30:29 > 0:30:31HE CHUCKLES
0:30:31 > 0:30:34You have turned me into a little film star!
0:30:34 > 0:30:36LAUGHTER
0:30:36 > 0:30:40- REPORTER:- This man, Oliver Tambo, who the Reagan Administration
0:30:40 > 0:30:42once considered a Communist and a terrorist,
0:30:42 > 0:30:44became a Washington VIP today.
0:30:44 > 0:30:47A symbol of the administration's abrupt shift from a policy
0:30:47 > 0:30:51of dealing exclusively with South Africa's white minority government,
0:30:51 > 0:30:56to opening a dialogue with the black nationalists who want to destroy it.
0:30:56 > 0:30:58By the end of the decade,
0:30:58 > 0:31:02the ANC would have more official international missions
0:31:02 > 0:31:06than the South African government had embassies.
0:31:06 > 0:31:09We knew we would need that solidarity
0:31:09 > 0:31:11during the next phase of our struggle,
0:31:11 > 0:31:17which is to negotiate, peacefully,
0:31:17 > 0:31:20a solution to the problems of South Africa.
0:31:20 > 0:31:23We have said, the first step,
0:31:23 > 0:31:26the very first one,
0:31:26 > 0:31:33which would lead us to consider the possibility of negotiations
0:31:33 > 0:31:38as a realistic way out of the situation
0:31:38 > 0:31:41would be the release of Nelson Mandela
0:31:41 > 0:31:43and other political prisoners.
0:31:43 > 0:31:46Why is this unacceptable?
0:31:46 > 0:31:48# Free
0:31:49 > 0:31:51# Free
0:31:52 > 0:31:59# Free, free, free Nelson Mandela. #
0:31:59 > 0:32:05By now, Nelson Mandela had become a household name.
0:32:05 > 0:32:06This was no accident.
0:32:09 > 0:32:13The general advice we got from the British anti-apartheid movement,
0:32:13 > 0:32:17from a lot of others - that you need a face, you need a name.
0:32:18 > 0:32:21# Free
0:32:21 > 0:32:25# Nelson Mandela
0:32:25 > 0:32:28# 21 years in captivity
0:32:29 > 0:32:32# Shoes too small to fit his feet. #
0:32:35 > 0:32:37Before we started, nobody cared.
0:32:37 > 0:32:42There wasn't public consciousness of who Nelson Mandela was.
0:32:42 > 0:32:47Mandela's transformation from a largely unknown jailed dissident
0:32:47 > 0:32:52to a world famous celebrity was the result of a deliberate strategy
0:32:52 > 0:32:54of the anti-apartheid movement.
0:32:54 > 0:32:57In Britain, we got the largest number of institutions
0:32:57 > 0:33:00named after Nelson Mandela.
0:33:00 > 0:33:04Gardens at the University of Leeds were Mandela Gardens.
0:33:04 > 0:33:07Local authority smashes down old houses,
0:33:07 > 0:33:09builds a whole new one, there's Mandela.
0:33:09 > 0:33:12In the end, the street where we had our office -
0:33:12 > 0:33:15Mandela Street.
0:33:15 > 0:33:18In Glasgow, the South African Consulate,
0:33:18 > 0:33:22the street outside it was named Nelson Mandela Street!
0:33:22 > 0:33:25Scientists from Leeds University believe they may have found
0:33:25 > 0:33:27the particle from which all others are built.
0:33:27 > 0:33:32By April this year, the particle had a name - Mandela.
0:33:32 > 0:33:36One has to show a bit of courage and stick one's neck out.
0:33:36 > 0:33:37This is what we are doing.
0:33:37 > 0:33:40# Free
0:33:40 > 0:33:43# Nelson Mandela. #
0:33:45 > 0:33:50# Free Nelson Mandela
0:33:50 > 0:33:53# Begging you, begging you. #
0:33:57 > 0:34:00It was quite amazing, the impact it had.
0:34:00 > 0:34:04People who were not born when Mandela went to prison
0:34:04 > 0:34:07were campaigning for his release.
0:34:11 > 0:34:14The South African government had been backed into
0:34:14 > 0:34:19an impossibly tight corner and its leaders began to realise
0:34:19 > 0:34:22that only one person could get them out.
0:34:22 > 0:34:26The man they had held in prison for more than two decades.
0:34:26 > 0:34:29And they were consistently looking for ways out.
0:34:29 > 0:34:34Not to end apartheid. They hadn't reached that point yet.
0:34:34 > 0:34:37But certainly business and other white South Africans
0:34:37 > 0:34:39were beginning to question.
0:34:43 > 0:34:47After I broke away from the national party early in 1987,
0:34:47 > 0:34:53we had six or seven clandestine meetings with the ANC.
0:34:53 > 0:34:57To be involved in those meetings was quite something special.
0:34:57 > 0:35:01I still remember the first meeting in a little hotel
0:35:01 > 0:35:07and we had to go down in a room in the cellar,
0:35:07 > 0:35:13and I was always asking, "Am I not a traitor?
0:35:13 > 0:35:16"Am I not a traitor to talk to these people?"
0:35:18 > 0:35:23But even the Minister of Justice, Mr Kobie Coetsee,
0:35:23 > 0:35:28starts very secret discussions only with Mr Mandela.
0:35:32 > 0:35:39PW Botha's argument was that before he is prepared to have negotiations
0:35:39 > 0:35:46with the ANC, the ANC must renounce violence.
0:35:46 > 0:35:51And it was too much to ask for the ANC at that stage, so it broke down.
0:35:51 > 0:35:58It's a bit heartless to keep saying the ANC must abandon violence,
0:35:58 > 0:36:03because that is saying that the regime is not violent.
0:36:03 > 0:36:07Even at a time when daily on the television screens,
0:36:07 > 0:36:11we are seeing the regime shooting down children.
0:36:11 > 0:36:14The government summoned foreign correspondents to Pretoria
0:36:14 > 0:36:19and told them that from now on, the government will be taking a tougher line on the press.
0:36:19 > 0:36:21The censorship is almost total.
0:36:21 > 0:36:25No statement may be transmitted the government considers "subversive".
0:36:25 > 0:36:31There can be no report about activities or behaviour of white government security forces.
0:36:31 > 0:36:34I request of you to leave this area. We are operating here.
0:36:34 > 0:36:38I was ordered by higher command to tell you to leave here, please,
0:36:38 > 0:36:40thank you very much. I want your names.
0:36:40 > 0:36:42Come, come, come.
0:36:42 > 0:36:46SHOUTING
0:36:49 > 0:36:54- REPORTER:- This NBC team was deliberately shot at.
0:36:54 > 0:36:57Censorship of the media was total,
0:36:57 > 0:37:00and now that news from South Africa was cut off,
0:37:00 > 0:37:04the job of keeping the struggle in the public eye
0:37:04 > 0:37:07was taken up by celebrities and musicians.
0:37:07 > 0:37:08# I said what's the word?
0:37:08 > 0:37:11# Tell me, brother, have you heard
0:37:11 > 0:37:14# About Johannesburg?
0:37:14 > 0:37:17# Somebody tell me, what's the word?
0:37:17 > 0:37:21# Tell me, brother, have you heard from Johannesburg? #
0:37:21 > 0:37:24I think we became conscious of how music could really make
0:37:24 > 0:37:27a difference in reaching people in a different way.
0:37:27 > 0:37:30Was this a way that we could bring Mandela's case
0:37:30 > 0:37:33right back to people's consciousness?
0:37:33 > 0:37:38Here was someone who, if we didn't act, was going to die in prison.
0:37:38 > 0:37:39And it was his 70th birthday.
0:37:44 > 0:37:48Wembley witnessed some stylish sprinting as it opened its gates
0:37:48 > 0:37:52to the greatest gathering of recording stars since Live Aid.
0:37:52 > 0:37:5572,000 packed into the stadium
0:37:55 > 0:38:00as Harry Belafonte set the concert on course with a tribute to Nelson Mandela.
0:38:00 > 0:38:05He is a symbol of their fight against the cruel
0:38:05 > 0:38:08and unjust system of apartheid.
0:38:08 > 0:38:14'And they agreed to transmit the whole event live on BBC.'
0:38:14 > 0:38:17I mean, it was unbelievable.
0:38:17 > 0:38:21In Rome, it was shown in one of the big squares on a huge screen,
0:38:21 > 0:38:25so that people could be there, so it wasn't just something they watched on TV at home.
0:38:25 > 0:38:29So gradually the thing just kind of mushroomed into something
0:38:29 > 0:38:32which exceeded all our expectations.
0:38:32 > 0:38:36# It was 25 years they take that man away
0:38:40 > 0:38:44# Now freedom moves in closer every day
0:38:48 > 0:38:52# Wipe the tears down from your saddened eyes
0:38:55 > 0:39:00# They say Mandela's free so step outside
0:39:03 > 0:39:08# Oh-oh-oh-oh, Mandela day
0:39:11 > 0:39:14# Ooh-ooh-ooh, Mandela's free... #
0:39:14 > 0:39:20This fills us with determination to end this system.
0:39:21 > 0:39:26And end it not just for ourselves, but for humanity.
0:39:26 > 0:39:30And we can see humankind when we see this crowd.
0:39:30 > 0:39:34We can see the young people, this is the future of the world
0:39:34 > 0:39:36and they are involved with us.
0:39:36 > 0:39:39APPLAUSE AND CHEERING
0:39:42 > 0:39:44The following week,
0:39:44 > 0:39:48Mandela's birthday was celebrated across Europe,
0:39:48 > 0:39:52Africa...
0:39:52 > 0:39:55and Asia.
0:39:55 > 0:39:59SITAR MUSIC
0:39:59 > 0:40:01# Mandela...
0:40:06 > 0:40:10# Mandela... #
0:40:10 > 0:40:14We asked people to send an anniversary card to Mandela.
0:40:14 > 0:40:19150,000 people replied, including people from prisons.
0:40:19 > 0:40:22And they wrote heartbreaking letters,
0:40:22 > 0:40:24"I'm also in prison, and how are you doing?"
0:40:28 > 0:40:32The South African government was forced into action.
0:40:32 > 0:40:35It was quite clear that they knew the writing was on the wall
0:40:35 > 0:40:38and they'd have to at least make some movement in this process.
0:40:38 > 0:40:42And so the first batch of people were released.
0:40:44 > 0:40:50Wardens come in the morning, five o'clock, the master key goes...
0:40:54 > 0:40:59They say, "Get your things together, get your things together."
0:41:03 > 0:41:06And I'm put onto a helicopter,
0:41:06 > 0:41:10flown to the military airport in Cape Town.
0:41:12 > 0:41:15It was wonderful.
0:41:18 > 0:41:21REPORTER: At Johannesburg's airport, the first opportunity
0:41:21 > 0:41:24for Govan Mbeki to meet the people from the townships.
0:41:24 > 0:41:29Crowds bussed in, eager to catch their first glimpse of the man that to most here is a hero.
0:41:29 > 0:41:33The gamble taken by the state is whether it can contain
0:41:33 > 0:41:36the overwhelming emotion and raised political expectations
0:41:36 > 0:41:40the release of Govan Mbeki has inevitably given rise to. Tonight, it succeeded.
0:41:40 > 0:41:43The ironic sight of police protecting the same man
0:41:43 > 0:41:45they kept in prison for 23 years.
0:41:53 > 0:41:57But the jubilation at Govan Mbeki's release was short lived.
0:41:57 > 0:42:00REPORTER: The South African government has said
0:42:00 > 0:42:04it is afraid of the effect the 77-year-old Mbeki has on people.
0:42:04 > 0:42:09So, from now on, the government has forbidden Mbeki from even talking to reporters,
0:42:09 > 0:42:13let alone speaking or writing for publication.
0:42:13 > 0:42:16He is now confined to the black townships of Port Elizabeth
0:42:16 > 0:42:20where he lives. The government's position - he is being manipulated
0:42:20 > 0:42:23by the outlawed African National Congress
0:42:23 > 0:42:25to promote revolution within South Africa.
0:42:25 > 0:42:30They make a total sham of having released him
0:42:30 > 0:42:33because now they are turning him
0:42:33 > 0:42:37into a prisoner who will be his own jailer.
0:42:40 > 0:42:44I was given only a measure of freedom.
0:42:46 > 0:42:51The African National Congress was still banned.
0:42:51 > 0:42:53And the struggle was still bitter in South Africa.
0:43:00 > 0:43:04It was just a reign of terror that would break the spirit
0:43:04 > 0:43:10of resistance amongst people. But it was too deeply rooted.
0:43:10 > 0:43:13There was no way the clock would be turned back in the country.
0:43:13 > 0:43:17And so the only recourse that they had,
0:43:17 > 0:43:19they thought, was to ban the UDF.
0:43:21 > 0:43:24For as long as our most respectable sons -
0:43:24 > 0:43:27people like Nelson Mandela, people like Walter Sisulu -
0:43:27 > 0:43:32for as long as they are still on Robben Island or in Pollsmoor,
0:43:32 > 0:43:37and for as long as people of the calibre of Oliver Tambo
0:43:37 > 0:43:42are still languishing in exile, the UDF shall continue to exist.
0:43:42 > 0:43:46APPLAUSE
0:43:46 > 0:43:49We all knew that our freedom was not going to come
0:43:49 > 0:43:51through the barrel of a gun.
0:43:51 > 0:43:54We knew that the only way we could secure freedom
0:43:54 > 0:43:58and retain it afterwards was through mass mobilisation.
0:44:07 > 0:44:13In a deliberate link with the historic defiance campaigns
0:44:13 > 0:44:17of the 1940s and the 1950s in which Nelson Mandela
0:44:17 > 0:44:21and Walter Sisulu and those people played such an important role.
0:44:35 > 0:44:40There were some beaches which were fiercely racial enclaves,
0:44:40 > 0:44:45and thousands of people managed to make their way onto the beach to defy apartheid on that day.
0:44:48 > 0:44:50Feed you to the sharks!
0:44:50 > 0:44:54We don't want this guy. Hit this guy's face.
0:44:54 > 0:44:56Hey, get lost, man.
0:44:56 > 0:44:59SIRENS BLARE
0:44:59 > 0:45:02HELICOPTER BLADES DROWN OUT SPEECH
0:45:02 > 0:45:09They had police, they had dogs, they had tear gas.
0:45:09 > 0:45:15To do what? To stop people from walking on God's beaches!
0:45:17 > 0:45:22What the state did at the time was they antagonised a whole lot of other people,
0:45:22 > 0:45:26including white South Africans, who for the first time felt the brunt
0:45:26 > 0:45:32of the random nature of the violence that's unleashed against peacefully demonstrating people.
0:45:35 > 0:45:38We had the famous Purple March
0:45:38 > 0:45:42right in the middle of the city where the police decided not
0:45:42 > 0:45:46just to use water cannon, but there was some purple dye in the water.
0:45:46 > 0:45:52So that they could brand people and catch them afterwards.
0:45:52 > 0:45:55And all of us ended up in purple in the end,
0:45:55 > 0:45:59because you would have this colour which you couldn't get off for days.
0:45:59 > 0:46:02And it became anecdotally known as the purple rain!
0:46:02 > 0:46:07In fact, they sprayed the Methodist cathedral purple.
0:46:07 > 0:46:10All the buildings in town were purple. I mean, it was mad!
0:46:10 > 0:46:14And people took one clause of the Freedom Charter that said
0:46:14 > 0:46:15"The people shall govern."
0:46:15 > 0:46:17And it then became "The purple shall govern,"
0:46:17 > 0:46:21so you really felt very proud that you were one of the purple people,
0:46:21 > 0:46:23you know, who was going to govern the country.
0:46:23 > 0:46:26SINGING
0:46:34 > 0:46:38There was a general consensus growing
0:46:38 > 0:46:42that if we just tried to carry on the way we were
0:46:42 > 0:46:46that we were heading for a revolution.
0:46:50 > 0:46:56In 1989, FW de Klerk became president.
0:46:56 > 0:47:01Up till that stage, he was regarded as a right winger.
0:47:01 > 0:47:05REPORTER: Confronted with increasing international pressure,
0:47:05 > 0:47:09acting state president FW de Klerk has tried to distance himself
0:47:09 > 0:47:10from apartheid.
0:47:10 > 0:47:15Stop making racists out of us. We are not racists.
0:47:15 > 0:47:20He must have reached a point where he said, "The longer we wait,
0:47:20 > 0:47:23"we're going to lose it all."
0:47:23 > 0:47:31Perhaps, why don't we talk, so that we lose a bit, but we remain?
0:47:35 > 0:47:38And the world, too, was changing.
0:47:38 > 0:47:43At the end of '89, South Africa lost its biggest trump card.
0:47:43 > 0:47:47Because South Africa always thrived on this raising
0:47:47 > 0:47:50of the Communist spectre, and saying,
0:47:50 > 0:47:54"Well, we are the bastion for the free world in Africa."
0:47:54 > 0:47:58And suddenly that fell away and that was no trump card any more.
0:48:03 > 0:48:05All the great powers -
0:48:05 > 0:48:10that was the Bush administration at that stage, Gorbachev, France,
0:48:10 > 0:48:16Germany, Japan, Canada, Italy - all were involved,
0:48:16 > 0:48:20realising that the policy of apartheid
0:48:20 > 0:48:23was a threat for world peace.
0:48:25 > 0:48:32That group, in effect, put a revolver against FW de Klerk's head.
0:48:32 > 0:48:36I mean, he is a realist. He's a good politician.
0:48:36 > 0:48:40He knew that he was up against the wall.
0:48:40 > 0:48:43The only way you could stop it was to come to some deal.
0:48:43 > 0:48:45And I mean, that was a drastic deal.
0:48:48 > 0:48:51The prohibition of the African National Congress,
0:48:51 > 0:48:54the Pan Africanist Congress, the South African Communist Party
0:48:54 > 0:48:58and a number of subsidiary organisations is being rescinded.
0:48:58 > 0:49:00CROWD CRIES OUT
0:49:00 > 0:49:02SCATTERED APPLAUSE
0:49:10 > 0:49:14Here was your ultimate,
0:49:14 > 0:49:17ultimate conservative politician
0:49:17 > 0:49:19taking not a one degree or a 90 degree,
0:49:19 > 0:49:22a 180 degree turn about,
0:49:22 > 0:49:26and throwing out of the window everything.
0:49:26 > 0:49:29I am now in a position to announce
0:49:29 > 0:49:37that Mr Nelson Mandela will be released at the Victor Verster Prison on Sunday, 11 February,
0:49:37 > 0:49:40at about 3pm.
0:49:40 > 0:49:43AFRICAN SPIRITUAL MUSIC
0:50:59 > 0:51:01CHEERING
0:51:05 > 0:51:13I stand here before you not as a prophet
0:51:13 > 0:51:20but as a humble servant of you, the people.
0:51:20 > 0:51:24APPLAUSE AND CHEERING
0:51:34 > 0:51:38And the first country he visited was Zambia, to come and say thank you.
0:51:38 > 0:51:42He knew how much we suffered.
0:51:42 > 0:51:45It was like a big dream come true.
0:51:49 > 0:51:53# Nelson Mandela
0:51:53 > 0:51:56# Nelson Mandela
0:51:56 > 0:51:59# Nelson Mandela... #
0:51:59 > 0:52:04And I always remember that moment where, for one little moment
0:52:04 > 0:52:09in history, one can see something of how life was meant to be.
0:52:09 > 0:52:11Joy was a purpose.
0:52:22 > 0:52:25The defining moment was to see him stand
0:52:25 > 0:52:29in the halls of Congress and speak.
0:52:29 > 0:52:33That's an honour that I never expected to see in my lifetime,
0:52:33 > 0:52:36to see any black South African,
0:52:36 > 0:52:40but to see Nelson Mandela speak to the Congress? Ha!
0:52:44 > 0:52:47I mean, the whole country was celebrating.
0:52:47 > 0:52:50And you suddenly realised that what you had done
0:52:50 > 0:52:54was that you'd actually really reached ordinary people
0:52:54 > 0:52:56and that they were celebrating
0:52:56 > 0:52:59and they felt that they had played a part in that.
0:53:11 > 0:53:14But it was Mandela's visit to Sweden,
0:53:14 > 0:53:18his first stop outside Africa, that meant the most.
0:53:20 > 0:53:25And they came here because of Oliver Tambo, to see him.
0:53:25 > 0:53:27That was the first journey abroad.
0:53:27 > 0:53:31The decades of work securing international support
0:53:31 > 0:53:36had taken their toll. Six months earlier, in August 1989,
0:53:36 > 0:53:38Tambo had suffered a stroke
0:53:38 > 0:53:43and moved to a clinic as a guest of the Swedish government.
0:53:43 > 0:53:47It was an emotional, an emotional occasion.
0:53:47 > 0:53:51It was like, "Is it true? Are you out of prison?
0:53:51 > 0:53:55"Is it true that you come to Oliver Tambo?"
0:53:55 > 0:54:01Oliver could walk, talk with great difficulty.
0:54:01 > 0:54:05And they mostly embraced each other.
0:54:05 > 0:54:08And they stood hand-in-hand, and they just beamed,
0:54:08 > 0:54:11like two happy children seeing each other
0:54:11 > 0:54:15after such an enormously long time.
0:54:15 > 0:54:20Madiba would come, towering... "Oh..."
0:54:20 > 0:54:24All the speeches each one of them has made
0:54:24 > 0:54:28will never be as meaningful as that first hug.
0:54:28 > 0:54:33After 27 years, they haven't talked directly to each other,
0:54:33 > 0:54:38they have so much ground to cover, they would never sleep.
0:54:38 > 0:54:43The only way to make them sleep was to separate them, painful as it was.
0:54:45 > 0:54:49I actually didn't think he would live to go back to South Africa.
0:54:49 > 0:54:53Trevor Huddleston, Mike Terry and I went to see him
0:54:53 > 0:54:59in North London a day before he was due to return to South Africa.
0:54:59 > 0:55:04He could hardly speak. He couldn't stand unaided,
0:55:04 > 0:55:06and I said to Adelaide Tambo,
0:55:06 > 0:55:11his wife, "Will Oliver survive the journey?"
0:55:11 > 0:55:18And she said, "Well, he's got to go back, he wants to go back."
0:55:20 > 0:55:23And we left very despondent.
0:55:23 > 0:55:28And some months later I spoke to Adelaide, I said, "What happened?"
0:55:28 > 0:55:30She said, "It was quite incredible.
0:55:30 > 0:55:34"We could almost feel, from the moment the plane took off,
0:55:34 > 0:55:37"Oliver gathering strength going home,
0:55:37 > 0:55:40"and all the disjointed nerves began to grow back again."
0:55:40 > 0:55:45Actually, when he got off the plane, he actually walked off the plane.
0:55:45 > 0:55:49It was astonishing, absolutely astonishing power of will.
0:55:49 > 0:55:57In December 1990, Oliver Tambo's 30 years of exile came to an end.
0:56:02 > 0:56:06But he would never vote in a free South African election.
0:56:08 > 0:56:10You know, when he died,
0:56:10 > 0:56:14some people who were working with him in exile fainted.
0:56:14 > 0:56:17They couldn't believe it.
0:56:17 > 0:56:25Particularly because he died before he saw the liberation,
0:56:25 > 0:56:31the victory, the result of what he was working for.
0:56:31 > 0:56:37The whole of Africa lost something when he died.
0:56:37 > 0:56:43Oliver Tambo was in a class of his own. We have lost a truly great man.
0:57:08 > 0:57:14On 27 April, 1994, for the first time in its history,
0:57:14 > 0:57:19all South Africans voted in a free and democratic election.
0:57:19 > 0:57:23Having to stand in that queue to do something
0:57:23 > 0:57:27for which I'd sacrificed all my life,
0:57:27 > 0:57:32but there was something about it that felt almost like an anti-climax,
0:57:32 > 0:57:36come to think of it! It's like you prepare your life
0:57:36 > 0:57:40for all of this and all it ends up with is, you know,
0:57:40 > 0:57:44it's just the little ballot and then, what next?
0:57:44 > 0:57:49And then you turn and you walk away and it's over! Is that it?
0:57:49 > 0:57:52When you compare it to what it cost to get there
0:57:52 > 0:57:55and what we did to get there.
0:58:54 > 0:58:58Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd