There is also evidence in Source F that Mandela is a terrorist. In part of Mandela’s defence in the Rivonia trials in 1964 he said that teaching peace in South Africa would be “unrealistic and wrong” seeing as “violence in this country is inevitable”. Mandela is basically saying that there was no point in using peaceful methods. Again people would see this as an admittance from Mandela saying that he had used terror and violence to try and make the country ungovernable. This undoubtedly makes him look guilty and so this would be used as more evidence that the ANC used terrorism.
Another source that explains that Mandela was a terrorist is Source I, a statement by President Botha in January 1985. “The government is willing to consider Mr. Mandela’s release. President Botha explains that the Nationalist’s are willing to release Mandela if he “gives a full commitment that he will not make himself guilty of planning, instigating or committing acts of violence”. On the surface this looks like a fair compromise, Mandela says that he will never use violence again and they will let him out. But this makes Mandela look like a terrorist because if he says that he will not, he is admitting that he has used acts of violence. If Mandela says that he will not say that he will not use violence then he will remain in prison and it makes him look close to terrorism and if he admits it and then the people who are causing the violence do not stop then he looks like he is out of control of his own people.
Source H is explaining what life was like on Robben Island but in the second source it an Australian journalist talks to Mandela and asks him what life was like. In part of Mandela’s answer he says, “We devise our own ways of obtaining information…” This clearly states that Mandela was obtaining outside information while in prison. The NP could use this as evidence against Mandela saying that he was plotting while in prison and secretly organising attacks and bombs on power stations.
But Mandela could also have been “an abused leader of his people” this is because the government could have discriminated him and put him in prison for no reason. Source A backs this up when it says “the communists were the only people who would eat with us, talk with us, live with us and work with us”. Although to some extent saying that he was working with the communists Mandela also excuses this to say that it was their only choice and they were given no other option. The NP saw the communists as a bad influence because of their ideas so Mandela would already be suspected of treason because he would be accused of working with the communists.
This also links with Source D, Maisels, the lawyer defending Mandela in the Treason Trials talks about the laws a black man must follow at the end of the passage Maisels says, “do you not think that the Native may well regard himself as oppressed and exploited by the white man?” The answer is “…in some spheres of life, yes”. Here Maisels is proving that Mandela was forced to work with the communists because of the unfair laws laid down for the black community.
Source B also is on Mandela’s side because Walter Sisulu talks about the NP being at its “high water mark” and there being, “no possibility of the Nationalists getting any stronger”. This is on Mandela’s side because it says nothing about Mandela doing anything wrong, only that the NP are on their last legs. But Sisulu would say this anyway because he was the Leader of the ANC and would not say anything different.
In Source C Winnie Mandela describes her in her memoirs the police searches of her home in the 1950’s. This is saying that Mandela is “an abused leader” because it implies that the police searched the Mandela’s home for no good reason other than an excuse to put him in prison so that the ANC no loner was a threat to the NP. In the source Winnie says, “They couldn’t find anything incriminating”. This proves that Mandela was abused and was only trying to lead his people just like any other leader would do except to do this he had to motivate them. He was suspected by the government and they were looking for an excuse to get rid of him.
Source E also seems to back up Mandela and prove that he is not a terrorist, the left hand image shows him in a suit and tie looking very business like. In this photo Mandela was trying to appeal to all the European Whites and get them to vote fro Mandela and to show he was not guilty of treason as this photo was taken during the Treason Trials. The photo seems to show that Mandela has been incriminated for no reason. Mandela is also smiling in the photo portraying the kindness that he has and what a good leader he is. Mandela could also use the argument that the picture on the left shows him being aggressive because that was the only way in which he could get the support of the black community.
To some extent Source F also defends Mandela as well because it gives him an excuse that there was no point in teaching peace if violence was inevitable and when “all channels of peaceful protest are barred”. This indicated that he is an abused leader because Mandela says that it is his only choice an that this was the only reason that the ANC resorted to violence.
In Source G also says that Mandela may have been an abused leader when the cartoonist, Illingworth, suggests that Mandela cannot be held down by the system and this in its self implies that Mandela is aggressive and this is why he can not be held down because he will break free by using violence. Illingworth is also saying that if violence goes on while Mandela is in prison then it can not be his fault.
Even though in Source I it says that Mandela was a terrorist no matter what he said it also says that Mandela was an abused leader because the government made it look as though Mandela was a terrorist without him even doing anything. This means he becomes an abused leader because the government are controlling and manipulating him. It is a political statement made by President Botha that even though is not true, puts Mandela in a bad light because to some members of the public Mandela was seen to promote acts of violence. This is why he is abused because he was in prison while others who were out of his control used violence to make the country ungovernable.
One more source that says that Mandela was an abused leader is Source H. In the third part of Source H there is a passage by an ex-prisoner called Neville Alexander. Alexander says that life is so bad on Robben Island, where Mandela was imprisoned, that people who read the passage would feel sympathy for Mandela and he becomes an abused leader because this means that he has been put in “hell on earth” for no good reason.
To conclude it is obvious that Mandela and the ANC used violence to gain support and to generally make the country ungovernable so that the NP would lose support and people would see that the ANC was the best way forward. It is also obvious that in some cases Mandela was abused because even though he had done nothing wrong at the time people were still blaming him.
Mandela used peaceful methods at first to gain support and to get people to admit that the apartheid was wrong; these peaceful protests were those such as the Defiance Campaign in 1952. Here the protesters did nothing wrong because it was a peaceful protest but the NP still arrested people. The ANC then found that persuasion was not working that well and so resorted to violence, but was it violence or terrorism? It is safe to say that Mandela was “an abused leader of his people” because he was blamed for the violence even when he was in prison and the probability is that he had nothing to do with the killings. But the ANC then resorted to violence by blowing up power stations and in one case an oil refinery. It could be argued that the violence used was terrorism because innocent people were killed and much disruption caused but it could also be argued that the violence was not terrorism because these people were not meant to be killed and the bombs were only meant to disrupt the country indirectly.
I think that Nelson Mandela was “an abused leader of his people” who resorted to violence but not terrorism. Even though he was using violence for what he believed in. The evidence for this is that Mandela was suspected even during the Treason Trial of being guilty and the reason they raided his home was to find evidence incriminating him, another reason is that even though he did not order the attacks he was blamed for them by the NP. The reason I do not think that the violence that the ANC used was terror is because the deaths that occurred during the bombings were probably not intended and the Mandela had no other choice than to resort to violence because there was no point in teaching peace when violence was inevitable.
It is also clear that it was not terrorism because many people outside the country agreed that the NP should be kicked out of power and agreed with what Mandela was doing. The world did not look on the events with disgrace because they knew Mandela was fighting for a just cause. The truth is that Mandela slightly lost control of his people while he was in prison and this is why he would not admit to using violence in Source H and why he was blamed for the violence. Nelson Mandela was “an abused leader of his people” who resorted to violence instead of admitting defeat.
