Online Reporter
The Herald, 9 December 1988
NELSON MANDELA was a step closer to freedom yesterday after being moved to a closely-guarded prison warder’s house in the heart of South Africa’s wine growing region.
After 26 years in cells and hospital rooms, Cde Mandela was transferred on Wednesday to a secluded white- walled bungalow with a swimming pool and rose garden in the grounds of the Victor Verster Prison outside Paarl.
He was told his immediate family could visit him whenever they wished, but his wife Cde Winnie rejected the regime’s concession. She said she would stick to the 40- minute visits allowed in the past until similar rights were granted to all political prisoners.
“Mandela still remains a prisoner. All that has happened is that he has been moved to another prison,” said Cde Mandela’s lawyer, Mr Ismail Ayob.
Cde Mandela was moved 75 km from a Cape Town clinic where he was taken from Pollsmoor Prison in August to be treated for tuberculosis.
Relaxing the terms of detention, racist justice minister Mr Kobie Coetzee announced, Cde Mandela’s wife, children and 10 grandchildren could visit him for as long and as often as they liked.
Cde Mandela, leader of the African National Congress, was jailed for life in 1964 for plotting to overthrow the racist regime.
The United Nations will today present awards to six of the world’s outstanding Human Rights activists to mark the 40th anniversary of its Human Rights Declaration. Cde Mandela and his wife, Winnie, are among the six who will be honoured for their outstanding achievement in the promotion and defence of human rights.
The other four are chairman of the Gandhi Memorial Leprosy Foundation and the National Leprosy Organisation of India, Mr Murlidbar Devidas Amte, former director of United Nations Human Rights division and founding president of the Canadian section of Amnesty International, Mr John Humphrey, first president of the supreme court of Poland, Mr Adam Lopatka, and the late Mr Leonidas Proano.
Lessons for today:
- Winnie Mandela refused special visitation rights for her husband, insisting that similar privileges be extended to all political prisoners. This remains a powerful lesson in principled leadership and equality. Her stance reminds us that true justice is not about individual concessions but systemic change, a principle that resonates deeply in today’s world.
- Winnie’s refusal to accept preferential treatment underscores the importance of solidarity over self-interest, a value that activists and leaders must uphold when advocating for human rights.
- Moreover, the passage highlights the danger of cosmetic progress. Mandela’s move to a comfortable house was celebrated as a step toward freedom, yet he remained a prisoner.
