Why was Nelson Mandela imprisoned in South Africa for 27 years?

Answer 1

Nelson Mandela was imprisoned in 1964 for planning acts of sabotage against the South African state. He declared:

"I do not deny that I planned sabotage. I did not plan it in a spirit of recklessness nor because I have any love of violence. I planned it as a result of a calm and sober assessment of the political situation that had arisen after many years of tyranny, exploitation and oppression of my people by the whites."

One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. In the eyes of the South African state he was of course a terrorist, and an unapologetic one. He was willing to take lives for the cause he believed in and the state imprisoned him in its own defense. He was not imprisoned merely for being black, or for being an ANC member although the ANC was an illegal organization at that time.

The judge, President Quartos de Wet, said he was not convinced by their claim to have been motivated by a desire to alleviate the grievances of the African people in this country. Judge de Wet said: "People who organize revolution usually plan to take over the government as well through personal ambition."

Nelson was also put in jail for standing up for the other ethnic groups and was the leader of the ANC

However, he stopped short of the imposing the supreme penalty of death which he could have done, under South African law.

Along with Mandela were imprisoned many others, amongst them a large number of whites and coloreds. The anti-apartheid cause was not black vs white. Similarly there were non-whites who supported the regime.