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Unwavering:Opponent In V. me Nelson Mandela By ROBERT D.McFADDEN The hair has gone gray-and the box- er's shoulders are shells under the awkward jacket now. The booming voice that had roared for justice in the 1960's became a gentle echo in his lonely, cell long ago. But amid.the many perils of South Af- Man rica's future, one thing seemed clear yesterday: Din-the the years of imprison- News ment had not broken Nel- son R.Mandela. Emerging from Victor Verster. Prison near Cape Town, the 7l-year- old black nationalist leader who had not been seen or heard publicly for almost 26 years raised his fist in a triumphant salute and spoke to a sea of cheering followers of their dig- nity and his dreams of "peace, democracy and freedom for all"' in a Pictorial Parade new nation without apartheid. , lease yesterday frohi Victor Verster prison in Paarl, South Africa The face was like parchmentand hevoice was strained, but the pas- sion was still there: power seemed to radiate from the lean old figure. And A lawyer and leader of the out- anyone could see that the years of lawed African National Congress who prison had ravaged only the body, not had'gone underground and launched the spirit had, if anything solidi- guerrilla warfare against Pretoria, fied his resolve and raised his stature he,was arrested in 1962 and convicted asthe embodiment of black libera- of Sabotage and treason in a 1964 trial tion. for trying to overthrow-white rule, a Indeed, as with Gandhi, Andrei D. charge he conceded, before sentenc- Sakharov and other prisoners of con- ing in his last and most famous affir- science, confinement had served only mation of principle. toburnish his legend and preserve A time comes in the life of any na- the,flame of rebellion until the si- tion," he declared on April 20, 1964, lenced renegade came at last to .."where there remains only two tower over his oppressors. choices -- submit or fight. That time Possibly the Last Hope forPeace has now come to South Africa. We shall not submit and we have no. They offered in recent years to re- lease him for a promise of nonvio- choice but to hit back by all the Ience, but he refused, saying his free- means in our power in defense of our people, our future, our freedom. ' dom and that,of his people were in- separable.And finally, President Sentenced to Life in Prison EW.de Klerk had to make conces- "During my lifetime, I have dedi- sions tohim to bring his release, for cated myself to this struggle of the Ithe man once regarded by white. African people. I have cherished the South Africans as a threat to every- ideal of a democratic and free society thing they prized had become the in. which all persons live together in best,perhaps the last, hope of peace- harmony with equal opportunities.It fulreconciliation. is an ideal which I hope to live for and Outside City Hall in Cape Town, a achieve,but if needbe,an ideal for fraction of the millions who believe he which I am prepared to die."' should be president and have viewed Sentenced to life in prison, Mr. his release with expectations border- Mandela became South Africa's, and ing on the messianic, Mr. Mandela eventually the world's, most notable told the crowd that the struggle for political prisoner, officially a nonper- which he went to prison will continue, son whose views could not be publicly but he expressed hope for "a climate discussed and whose photograph conducive to a negotiated settle- could not be published. ment." For 18 years, he was kept at the prison fortress at Robben Island where he endured substandard food, deprivation of reading material and hard labor that included breaking rocks in a lime quarry. In 1982, he was transferred to Poll- smoor Prison near Cape Town. There he shared a cell with other prisoners, was allowed to cultivate' a small vegetable garden andto study for.an Jadvanced law degree, which he re- : ceived last year. Eventually at Poll- smoor, he began receiving uncen- Tsored newspapers and letters. His communications with his wife, ALL INEORWATION CONTAINED Winnie, and children were limited to HEREIN IS UNCLASSIFIED DATE 04-22-2014 BY NSICG F54M93K42