Word: rivonia
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Throughout his 35-year career, Magubane, 58, has been on hand for most of South Africa's historic moments. He photographed Mandela's Rivonia trial in 1964 and covered the 1960 Sharpeville massacre, which claimed the lives of 69 blacks. "I had never seen so many dead people," he recalls. Later, his editor would chide him for hanging back from the bloodshed and not taking any close-ups. "From that day," he says, "I decided I was not going to get emotionally involved, or at least not until after I have done my work...
Following De Klerk's election, according to a Cabinet minister, the government's talks with Mandela took on real meaning. In October they worked out the release of eight political prisoners, including Walter Sisulu and other A.N.C. leaders who were convicted along with Mandela in the Rivonia treason trial a quarter-century earlier...
...A.N.C.'s underground military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation) and launch a campaign of sabotage. After 17 months on the run, he was caught in 1962. He was convicted in June 1964 of attempting to overthrow the government along with seven others in the Rivonia trial. His sentence: life in prison...
Threatened by the possibility of additional Western economic sanctions, De Klerk appeared to be acting swiftly on his campaign pledge to lead the country into a new era through negotiations with the country's disenfranchised blacks. After allowing Mandela a pre-release reunion with his fellow Rivonia prisoners, the government permitted him to receive Mrs. Sisulu along with three other leaders of the antigovernment coalition known as the Mass Democratic Movement. Later the government lifted a 20-month-old order that barred Mrs. Sisulu from political activities. Also, De Klerk was the host for three hours of what he described...
...waiting ended later that day. President F.W. de Klerk ordered the release of Sisulu and seven others, including all the remaining Rivonia prisoners except Mandela, as soon as "the necessary formalities" could be arranged. There was a mixture of joy and sadness when Mrs. Sisulu later visited the 71-year-old Mandela in his stucco bungalow at the Victor Verster prison farm. As the 8 p.m. television news announced De Klerk's decision, Mandela embraced Mrs. Sisulu. "We want to take you with us right now," she told him. "Yes," Mandela replied. "I want to go home...