Free Nelson Mandela (2026) s01e02 Episode Script

1
The one unifying symbol
about which there is no doubt
at all in all our minds
is Nelson Mandela! Amandla!
NELSON MANDELA'S DAUGHTER ZINDZI:
The people still regard him
as a symbolic leader.
After all these years,
he hasn't been forgotten.
The stone-throwing and tear gas.
The symptoms are the same,
and so are the root problems
in Soweto and South Africa.
For the past 19 years,
Nelson Mandela has been
a prisoner here on Robben Island.
NELSON MANDELA'S
GRANDDAUGHTER, NDILEKA:
The first time I went
to Robben Island in 1981,
you were sort of
thrown into the deep end.
My grandfather came to the window
and we kissed either side
of the panel.
He was handsome.
SHE LAUGHS
I was seeing him for the first time,
and I really was in awe of this man.
I mean,
he was very neatly dressed
with a pen in his lapel.
This man that commanded respect.
He was an imposing figure.
How many leaders have
that magnetism?
The Africans, they want
political independence.
Only Mandela.
We are fighting for a South Africa
which can only be led by him.
All over the world.
Couldn't rest!
We had to get him out!
They've got no education.
They've only just come
down from the trees.
The alternative is bloodshed!
GUNSHOTS
- The alternative is murder!
- GUNSHO
I will have nothing to do
with any organisation
that practises violence.
You know that this can never,
has never
and will never be right.
Free Nelson Mandela! ♪
It was a global struggle against
blatant racism and oppression.
Social movements can change
the world and music can have
that political power.
We are here to celebrate
Nelson Mandela's birthday, all right?
You must free him
and in freeing him, you free
the people of South Africa.
Free Nelson Mandela! ♪
NELSON MANDELA'S VOICE:
One of the things that is difficult
for me to comprehend is that
we spent such a long time here.
Of course,
there were painful moments
because the apartheid regime
was an expert in prosecuting
people psychologically.
In prison, we didn't
torture them physically.
We tortured them psychologically,
tried to break the spirit
with their family ties,
tried to break their relationships,
and the authorities used,
"We need to punish Mandela."
Winnie was the love
of Mandela's life,
a classic love story,
except that he was hardly
ever there.
They did terrible things to her.
She had the 491 days
in solitary confinement,
which I don't think many human
beings could have survived.
MANDELA: I thought about her
very often. I loved her.
It happened ever so suddenly.
They broke the door down.
They took my mother off to
a police station.
And my mother was told then
that she'd be moved
to Brandfort and
we were just taken there.
It was quite shocking, you know?
Winnie Mandela was banished
to this township,
the white town of Brandfort,
a deeply conservative place
where the Afrikaner farmers
make sure
the blacks know their place.
They can't reason like grown-ups.
They're really children.
Winnie Mandela may not leave
without government permission.
She may not be quoted
in South Africa,
nor may she meet more
than one person at any time.
The South African government
wanted to isolate her
from influencing
the Soweto community
and influencing the resistance
in South Africa at the time.
It is painful.
It is the reality of our struggle
for freedom.
When I met Winnie
for the first time
I was a lamb, really.
I was an artist, painting,
playing music.
When she walked in, she was so
regal, so beautiful, so sexy, man.
When she bent down to greet me,
I don't know what came over me.
I mean, I was just a boy.
I kissed her so passionately
and refused to let go
for quite a while.
She was flustered and shocked.
"Good God! What was that?"
"What what were you doing?"
You know, it was
That's how I met Winnie,
if you'd like to know.
I was entrusted with
the responsibility of caring
for her and became part of
the Mandela household.
WINNIE: I engaged myself heavily
in numerous projects for
the community.
In a way,
it became a live able prison.
Mandela knew of my life with Winnie
and his resolution and attitude
was to say, "Let it continue
until I come back."
At that time, we were not allowed
to receive newspapers in prison.
But I would find a press cutting
on the table.
One of the things I always
kept in mind
was that she was about 24
when I married her
and naturally, she was unable
to resist such temptations.
You know, Mandela's reaction was,
"I've got life imprisonment.
"Why she must wait for me?
But she's still my wife.
"She's still supporting me.
She's still my comrade."
WINNIE MANDELA'S VOICE:
It needs quite a man
to retain your spirit behind bars.
Throughout the years,
visits to him have been
a tremendous source of inspiration.
We together are living
in a privileged position
in South Africa!
PW Botha was
a brilliant administrator.
I'm not ganging up
against black South Africans.
I'm ganging up against radicals
and saboteurs of South Africa.
But sometimes the diplomacy
fell a bit short.
I wouldn't have
instituted these steps
if I didn't believe
that we're going to succeed.
If necessary, we can
even take stronger steps.
PW Botha was the kind of guy who
if you tried to push him
into a corner,
he'd kick down the door
and all the furniture.
He didn't know about other methods
of consulting and negotiating.
He was very impulsive.
Do you foresee any circumstances
under which you would talk with
and release Nelson Mandela?
I'm only prepared to talk to people
who want constitutional change,
but not I'm not prepared to talk
to people who want
revolutionary change.
It was clear to both people
in South Africa
and globally that they were not
going to release Mandela,
and that leads the ANC
to adjust its strategy
to overthrow the government
in a more radical form.
The South African
security forces believe
there are at least
4000 guerrillas under training
in camps in Mozambique, Angola
and other front line states.
The guerrillas' song is about
1976, about June 16th.
As a result of the Soweto
uprising in 1976,
a lot of the students chose
to flee the country
and go into exile to join
the liberation movements abroad.
JAMES MANGE, ANC FIGHTER:
We were hurting as young people.
What we had seen was basically
an unevenly matched battlefield
and the only way of healing it
would be to get the gun,
go back and shoot.
I met Oliver Tambo in Angola.
(OLIVER TAMBO, LEADER OF ANC IN EXILE)
He just visited us in a camp.
I remember his first words were,
"The man behind the gun
"has to be special."
It was not about revenge.
It was not about what I felt
as an individual.
We had
a bigger destiny.
What can the outside world do?
Sanctions.
Sanctions are a weapon that
the international community can
and must use against
the racist regime.
OLIVER TAMBO'S SON:
The movement saw sanctions
as a peaceful way to resolve
the South African situation.
I remember one time I got into
a fight with a kid.
He called me a golliwog.
This one called me blackie.
This one called me nigger.
My mother would always
and my father,
when I'd tell them these stories,
would always say,
"Why do you bother with that?
"Apartheid is systemic.
"If we defeat apartheid there,
we'll defeat this racist here."
CHANTING
JERRY DAMMERS, MUSICIAN:
When I was about 15,
I suppose we fancied ourselves
as sort of international socialists,
and I was aware of
the anti-apartheid campaign
and Peter Hain's boycott of
the Springboks.
We will not win this campaign
by polite negotiation.
So we thought we'd go
on this demonstration.
The first demo I ever went on.
It was very clear, you know,
the kind of everyday racism
that I grew up with, you know,
became socially unacceptable.
Yeah, what was it?
If you're not part of the solution,
you're part of the problem,
you know, so
GILLIAN SLOVO: My parents
were amongst two of the people who,
along with Nelson Mandela,
were tried for treason.
And I think it became impossible
for them to stay in the country.
I was actually very relieved
to have left South Africa.
That's the issue we're going
to discuss, first of all.
Ruth First, one of three
authors of a recent book
Even in exile, my mother was a very
effective voice against apartheid.
But then one has to ask,
what is the meaning of
the British connection?
She's essentially engaged on
the wrong side.
She's engaged in propping
up this regime.
I do not think comprehensive
economic sanctions,
which would stop all trade to
and from South Africa,
- would help to bring about change.
- APPLAUSE
Of the post-war
British prime ministers,
only Margaret Thatcher
made any strong public effort
to impede efforts to end apartheid.
NEIL KINNOCK, LEADER OF LABOUR PARTY
Why do you want to stop many,
many black South Africans
from earning their living decently
and looking after their families?
She was generally unwilling
to listen,
which she regarded to be
a great strength and I thought
to be incompatible
with democratic leadership.
Good evening. Mrs Thatcher
was tonight given
the strongest possible backing
for her stand on South Africa
from her most powerful ally,
President Reagan.
APPLAUSE
The Prime Minister of Great Britain
has denounced punitive sanctions
as immoral and utterly repugnant.
Well, let me tell you why we
believe Mrs Thatcher is right.
The United States had a lot of
economic interest in South Africa.
They supported white minority rule.
They understood it,
and they supported it.
But fundamentally, at least
in the African-American community,
Reagan was recognised as a racist.
And so, it made absolutely, um
common sense
why he was so opposed
to sanctioning South Africa.
SKA MUSIC PLAYS
"RACIST FRIEND", THE SPECIAL AKA
If you have a racist friend ♪
Now is the time, now is the time
for your friendship to end ♪
We do not believe the way to help
the people of South Africa
is to cripple the economy.
REPORTER: Time after time,
the police charged first one way,
then another.
Quite a lot has been done in
the right direction.
Margaret Thatcher
SHE CHUCKLES
was Reagan in a dress.
APPLAUSE
JERRY: Well, Racist Friend was
because I did have a racist friend.
He was a great guy and
a good friend,
but I just could not understand
why he persisted with this racism,
and I just had to sort of
cut him off,
I suppose is the right word.
You can only take so much.
Just not acceptable.
It's a sad song in a way.
Not anything to celebrate.
They were old friends
in the days of slavery.
These are the issues
which confront black peoples
all over the world
with a new challenge.
Those two heads of state
were the best
that PW could expect
while he was still riding
the apartheid horse.
Since 1976, the guerrilla
campaign has escalated.
The first of the exiles
were returning to South Africa,
now fully trained guerrillas.
Until the philosophy
which hold one race ♪
Superior and another inferior ♪
Is finally ♪
And permanently discredited
and abandoned ♪
Well, everywhere is war,
me say war ♪
The ANC carried out its most
spectacular sabotage attack,
blowing up
the big Sasol oil refinery,
South Africa's much-prized
coal-to-oil complex.
Black South Africa thought this
was going to be the beginning
of the revolution, that the fact
that the ANC could do that,
and there were a whole
lot of actions
that this special ops unit
that my father led
did in South Africa that
threatened the apartheid regime
and the feeling amongst white
South Africans that they were safe.
War up north ♪
War down south ♪
This a war ♪
I was a commander,
so I was leading a unit.
We had different missions,
taking out a police station,
taking out a barracks,
taking out a railway.
Our aim is to remove
the obstacles that are going
to make us not to achieve
the people's freedom.
And until the ignoble
and unhappy regime ♪
That hold our brothers in Angola ♪
In Mozambique ♪
South Africa, yeah ♪
Bob Marley, he was speaking
about me.
HE CHUCKLES
- We Africans will fight ♪
- Yeah.
We find it necessary ♪
We know we shall win ♪
We are confident ♪
In the victory ♪
Of good over evil ♪
PIK BOTHA, S.AF. FOREIGN MINISTER:
They must realise
that what they can do to us,
we can do to them,
only much more efficiently
and effectively.
Unfortunately, the enemy
infiltrated the Liberation Army.
They caught they caught
over me. They caught me.
Some of us went through
the worst torture
you could actually go through.
Some of them break.
Some of us don't break.
People like James Mange,
after being arrested,
convicted, tortured,
found themselves landing up
on Robben Island.
JAMES MANGE: Well, I'm going
to Robben Island. OK.
Fresh breeze from the ocean
was nice,
but it was hard
unkind. Cruel.
Little did I know I was going
to be taken to the section
where Nelson Mandela is.
From my window, I could see into
Nelson Mandela's cell.
- Um
- HE CHUCKLES
Uh
He wanted
to know how I was feeling.
A lot of people, you know,
have this misperception
that all of us come traumatised
and are dysfunctional.
You are this
So he just wanted to ascertain
if I'm OK, what help do I need?
And so on. And
I just said to him,
"No, I'm fine. No."
He said, "No, but you can't be fine
coming from a place like that."
I said, "Why can't I be fine?
I'm OK."
The impact of the arrival of
the Soweto '76 generation
on Robben Island was electric.
Mandela was totally shaken by
the degree of militancy
of the students wanting a much
more aggressive approach
to getting rid of apartheid.
My generation wanted more. Now.
Total
takeover.
We're just going to take over
the country.
That's it.
Mandela was open to listening to
the anger and absorbing the anger
before he tried to direct it
in a way that would strengthen
the overall movement
rather than be
a separate group of militants.
He'd call me and we'd sit
in his cell there.
We talked
for hours.
THE SABOTAGE TRIALISTS
NELSON MANDELA'S VOICE: The
calibre of the men who were on the island,
it was fantastic.
ANDREW MLANGENI.
Men with whom you could sit down
and at the end of a conversation,
WALTER SISULU.
you feel that you have been enriched.
GOVAN MBEKI. ELIAS MOTSOALEDI.
Your roots in your own country
have been deepened.
RAYMOND MHLABA. AHMED KATHRADA.
We made Robben Island into
a very special place.
We didn't allow ourselves
to sink
into what prison does.
He had a greatness about him.
Now, we had this special bond.
You know, we had
this special relationship.
Mandela began seducing some of
the warders and convinced them
that what he was doing was
actually right.
What they were
doing was preventing him
from succeeding with
the rest of his project.
CHRISTO BRAND:
Mandela was a person you can trust.
He was a person who will help you.
I was in a motorcycle accident
and I could have not paid
for the lawyers.
So I go to Mandela with my letters
and he said to me,
"This is small fry, Mr Brand.
"Let them draft the letters."
We won the case
and the case was settled.
So Mandela was also my lawyer.
There is a philosophy
in southern Africa called ubuntu,
which means "I am because you are."
It's the relationship
that actually gives us
our existence.
He was the actual
embodiment of ubuntu.
This was very problematic
for the apartheid government, yeah.
In 1982,
the government decided to move
some of the Rivonia defendants
to a mainland prison called
Pollsmoor outside Cape Town.
They were trying to
divide the movement.
CHRISTO BRAND:
I was already on Pollsmoor.
We come and fetch these prisoners.
The first prisoner get out
was Walter Sisulu,
Andrew Mlangeni, Raymond Mhlaba
and Nelson Mandela.
I asked the officer,
"Why you transferred
"these four prisoners away
from Robben Island?
Are you prepare them for release?"
They said,
"We can't release these guys.
"They're too dangerous.
We transfer them because become
too powerful on the Robben Island."
Mandela tried to change
Robben Island
in a mindset of the prisoners.
The move was seen as
a response to try and suppress
this whole rising of the leadership
position of Mandela.
The government, they were
overpowering resistance of apartheid,
both domestically and
internationally.
In 1982, the London offices
of the ANC were bombed.
Many saw it as a warning.
The bomb contained enough explosives
to kill or cause serious injury.
The investigation
is being carried out by
Scotland Yard's
anti-terrorist squad.
I remember going there afterwards.
The police had cordoned off
a whole section of it.
JOURNALIST:
Do you fear for your own life?
OLIVER TAMBO:
No. No, not at all.
REPORTER: The offices in which
we're sitting have been bombed.
Does your wife worry about you?
Well, I'm sure she does.
She does. Every every wife would.
I was always conscious of the fact
that I might lose my father
at some point, and he would
tell me that, you know.
I myself expect I will be killed
by the regime or its agents.
That was just part of
the course of struggle.
The apartheid government
were spreading their tentacles,
trying to target the opposition,
and I think part of what they were
trying to do was to
demoralise the opposition.
VOICE OF NELSON MANDELA:
Ever since the ANC was formed in 1912,
we have had waves
after waves of violence
from the government
and many people have been killed.
17 AUGUST 1982
RUTH FIRST MURDERED
They put the bomb
that killed my mother
where she was working in Mozambique.
The horror of
what had been done to us
And faced us with how pathetic
these people had been,
who had taken not just
our mother away from us,
but our mother away from
South Africa.
They stopped her from ever seeing
the country that she had fought
so hard for.
SLOW, POIGNANT,
HARMONIC VOICES
They were trying to stop
the opposition,
but people were not going
to be quiet again,
were not going to tolerate
what was going on.
- South Africa was becoming so
- MUSIC ENDS
obviously
wrong.
The media was able to show
what was going on
and helped to raise
the consciousness
of the United States.
But real change,
it was taking too long.
And so, three black leaders,
including Mary Frances Berry,
went into the South African embassy
to request a discussion
with the ambassador.
We said, "We want you to
call Pretoria and tell them
"to free all the political prisoners,
free Nelson Mandela,
and then we want you to move
to end apartheid."
And he laughed at us.
And then Randall said,
"Well, if you don't,
we're not leaving the embassy."
SIRENS
By the time we came out and
got in the paddy wagon,
there was press all over the place.
What we got from the administration
is a sort of weak, tepid,
vapid response,
as if they sympathise with those
who oppress the blacks
in South Africa.
CHANTING: No arms, no aid, no guns!
Told the press that we would have
protests every day
at five o'clock
outside the embassy.
No business with South Africa!
BOTH: No business!
No business with South Africa!
Representatives from
every segment of society
came out to protest.
We had singers, movie stars
Rosa Parks came.
Politicians.
OK, where are we off to?
You name it, everybody was
begging to get arrested!
REPORTER: Singer Stevie Wonder
was among 48 people
taken into custody yesterday.
Terming apartheid
a "barbaric" policy,
Wonder told reporters
that his arrest
is an expression of love
to the people of South Africa.
APPLAUSE
STEVIE WONDER, AT THE UN:
What kind of system is it
that can only survive
by the violent power of
those in charge?
You know that this can never,
has never
and will never be right.
APPLAUSE
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Thank you all very much
for being here.
We know that this is
for Nelson Mandela.
JERRY DAMMERS, THE SPECIAL AKA:
There was a concert for
Nelson Mandela's 65th birthday
at Alexandra Palace,
and I was like,
"Who's Nelson Mandela?"
I didn't I'd never heard of him.
The 18th of July,
Nelson Mandela
will be celebrating
his 65th birthday
in Pollsmoor Prison, Cape Town.
Julian Bahula had a song
about Mandela,
and I learnt
a bit more about him.
I was working on a song,
but I didn't have any words for it.
I just wanted to come up
with a very
simple phrase that just
said it straight away.
It just popped into my head.
Yeah, I don't know.
Free Nelson Mandela ♪
Three notes, you know,
that anybody could sing, really.
SKA MUSIC PLAYS
Catchy.
Free Nelson Mandela ♪
Twenty-one years in captivity ♪
Shoes too small to fit his feet ♪
His body abused
but his mind is still free ♪
Are you so blind
that you cannot see? ♪
I said
Free Nelson Mandela ♪
Top Of The Pops had an audience
of 20 million people at that time.
Everybody tuned in.
It just took the message out
to a huge audience.
I said
Free Nelson Mandela ♪
And, yeah, it was amazing.
It just took off round the world.
You know, it was number one
- in New Zealand.
- Free Nelson Mandela ♪
Jerry Dammers comes with
this song that swept the world.
Free Nelson Mandela ♪
Became the anthem of our struggle.
Free Nelson Man ♪
HE SINGS: Nelson Mandela. ♪
HE CHUCKLES
I know that song.
HE SINGS: Free Nelson Mandela. ♪
Winnie and I played it
on and on all the time.
For us, it was not just
a song, but a wish.
REPORTER: The song says
Free Nelson Mandela
and is officially banned here.
The rally was called to say
the same thing
and was surprisingly
given official permission.
Mandela cannot be quoted.
His picture may not be published,
but everybody knew who the masked
man on all the posters was.
FRANK CHIKANE, UNITED DEMOCRATIC FRONT:
His name was never forgotten, no.
- Long live the people's struggle.
- CROWD REPEATS
- Long live Nelson Mandela.
- CROWD CHEERS
Since the student uprisings,
there was a spirit of resistance
in the country, defiance.
People were arrested,
but they couldn't arrest all of us.
The ANC's calls for
political organisation
inside the country
have been answered by
a new umbrella organisation,
the United Democratic Front.
OLIVER TAMBO, LEADER OF THE ANC
IN EXILE: The time has come
that the rest
of the black masses of our country,
all 25 million of us,
should join in one determined
offensive to make
all of our country ungovernable.
The government regards the UDF
as nothing more than a mouthpiece
for the banned ANC.
But the UDF has grown into
an organisation
whose voice is now heard
in every black township
throughout South Africa.
Mass mobilisation was critical.
UDF became the major movement
in the country.
Destroy white South Africa,
and this country will drift
into faction strife,
chaos and poverty.
If they carry on like that,
the army will just be called
in and they will
There'll be one big wipe out.
CHIKANE: You knew
that we were going to win,
but we were not sure
we'll be alive.
The system wasn't going
to stop us now.
From the position of
the South African authorities,
when you're facing an
enemy that's prepared
to risk their lives to
change the system
you've got to do something else.
You've got to change your
strategy.
PW BOTHA: I am prepared
to release Mr Mandela
if he would say
that he rejects violence
as a means to reach
and to achieve political ends.
You know, they bugged me
with a microphone,
and I must go to Mandela
to see his remarks, you know.
And when I walked in,
I said, "Oh, morning, Mandela."
HE GREETS IN AFRIKAANS
And I show him the microphones
like this with the hand.
Then they realise something
is wrong now.
I said, "Mandela, why didn't you
take the offer of PW Botha?
"You're a stupid man to sit
in this prison.
"Remember you're an old man.
"If you take the offer of
the government,
"you can be released and you can
"enjoy your life
with your grandchildren
"as a retired person."
"Look at me," he said, "Mr Brand,
"I rather died
in prison than to be free,
"and my comrades are not free."
It's a bit heartless
to keep saying the ANC
must abandon its violence
because that is saying
that the regime is not valid.
Even at a time when daily,
we are seeing the regime
shooting down children.
A crowd of some 7000 packed into
one of Soweto's sports stadiums,
anxious to hear
Nelson Mandela's response
to President Botha's offer
to free him,
provided he renounces violence.
Mandela, for all these years
in prison,
had never himself spoken out
publicly to the people
so when Zindzi took the podium
and delivered that message,
it was electrifying, you know.
My father says,
"I cannot and will not
"give any an undertaking
"at a time when I and you,
the people, are not free.
"Your freedom and mine
cannot be separated."
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
We knew who Nelson Mandela was,
so it wasn't unexpected
that he would
reaffirm his commitment to
the struggle.
"I will return. Amandla!"
CROWD: Amandla!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
GUNSHOTS
The government hoped it would end.
They wanted the people off
the streets.
They wanted the children
back in school.
TRUCK HORN SOUNDS
They wanted an end to
the day-by-day violence that's left
the country's black townships
virtually ungovernable.
This state of affairs can no
longer be tolerated.
GUNSHO
The state of emergency
was to quell
to suppress any protest.
When you declare a state
of emergency,
you unleash every power of
the state to deal with the people.
You can't talk to people with
stones in their hands.
It was extremely difficult.
Many people died.
Thousands detained, tortured, disappeared.
I was being detained almost
every six months.
It was a moment to stop us,
and they failed.
Winnie Mandela caught the first
sight of her firebombed house
from the air.
On the ground,
it looked far worse,
and she had no doubt as to
who was responsible.
It is the South African government
through the police,
through the security branch.
Winnie was reaching the end
of her tether.
REPORTER: Are you going to
keep right on struggling?
The struggle goes on.
There has never been any doubt
about that.
Her dark side
was the manifestation
of the dark side of apartheid
that was forced on her.
She didn't fully realise
how much it had affected her.
I used to say she had
a Dr Jekyll-and-Hyde
split personality about her.
Once in a while,
it would get to her
CAR SKIDS
Go!
and she'd be a Mr Hyde.
You are under arrest.
- Come along.
- Don't drag me! I'm coming!
- Don't drag me! Don't drag me!
- All right, OK. She'll be coming.
I know what "arrest" means!
I had a young black South African
journalist working for me,
and he had a very close
relationship with Winnie.
He always knew there was going
to be some sort of incident
because she was becoming
very radical in her resistance.
I do remember the image of her
with her very strong
and uncompromising defence
of Mandela and of the ANC.
Pretoria has failed
to rule our country.
She felt that anything
that could put pressure
on the apartheid white regime
to release Mandela,
to free her people
was her responsibility,
and she did that with a passion.
We are here today to tell you
that that day is not far
when we shall lead you to freedom.
- Amandla!
- CROWD: Amandla!
VOICE OF NELSON MANDELA:
That lady made a massive contribution
towards the struggle.
There was one time
when she became almost a pillar
of the organisation
inside the country.
Mrs Thatcher's stand against
sanctions
is expected to leave
her virtually isolated
at the Commonwealth Conference
in the Bahamas.
In the Commonwealth,
South Africa's only friend
and defender was Margaret Thatcher.
I do not think that violence
or comprehensive sanctions
will bring the dismantlement
of apartheid any nearer.
When I questioned her about it,
she said she felt sorry
for the other 49,
cos they were in the wrong.
And here at home, a Gallup poll
published today seems
to show that the Prime Minister's
statements on
South Africa indicate that
she may be
out of step with public opinion.
JERRY: The Tory party were very much
in cahoots with
the South African government.
It was disgraceful.
Some of us didn't want to be
associated with that
and wanted to be on the right
side of history,
if you like.
So we started organising
Artists Against Apartheid.
DALI TAMBO:
I'd like to welcome you to
the launch of
Artists Against Apartheid.
I really saw us as the cultural wing
of the anti-apartheid movement.
We are here calling on musicians,
calling on comedians
to do whatever they do best
against apartheid
and to use culture
as their weapon against apartheid.
It was the beginning of
what turned out to be quite
a momentous movement.
There's nothing at all vague
about our next guests' attitudes.
In their time,
Jerry Dammers and Paul Weller
have been two of
rock's angriest young men.
They now feel so strongly
about South Africa's regime
that they're going to be campaigning
against it on Saturday.
They're both involved
in the free concert on
Clapham Common,
which will end Saturday's
major anti-apartheid march.
You know, all these artists
just want to show that they support
the anti-apartheid movement.
One, two and you know what to do!
HE STRUMS GUITAR
But, you know, we don't want
people just to go to the concert.
We want as many people to go
on the march first.
Hey! ♪
It was a march which then concluded
with this massive concert
in Clapham Common.
Marching the streets
with committed people.
It was serious solidarity.
It turned out to be the biggest
anti-apartheid demonstration
anywhere in the world
up to that point.
It was such a huge crowd.
I said what's the word? ♪
Tell me, brother, have you heard? ♪
About Johannesburg? ♪
I personally put that bill together
and invited the artists,
with Paul Weller,
Sting, Billy Bragg, Gary Kemp,
Big Audio Dynamite,
Sade, Peter Gabriel, Hugh Masekela.
I was very adamant
that there should be plenty
of black artists involved.
You know, the real clincher was
Gil Scott-Heron singing
Johannesburg,
which was probably the first
well-known protest song
about South Africa.
Yes, I, I hate it
when the blood starts flowing ♪
But I'm glad to see
resistance growing ♪
- Somebody tell me what's the word?
- CROWD: Johannesburg ♪
- What's the word?
- Johannes ♪
The great thing was it was a really
mixed crowd, black and white.
Johannesburg
New York like Johannesburg ♪
Freedom ain't nothing
but a word ♪
This is integrated London,
you know.
SONG ENDS
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
The problem that we have
gathered here about
the problem of racism
is a problem not only to be
found in South Africa,
but to be found also
in 10 Downing Street.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
It's the sort of thing
that continues to grow
as people's consciousness
continues to grow,
as government pressure
continues to grow.
It's a part of making sure
that people know who stands where.
It's a part of
identifying yourself with
with with being on
the right side for a change.
If you have a feeling inside
and you care about people,
then you automatically do
those things that apply to that,
and I think being here is
just an expression of
what I've always
what I've always felt.
SLOW-PACED SOUL MUSIC
VOICE OF SADE:
You know, to stand on the same
stage as Gil Scott-Heron,
who showed us that music
could be revolutionary.
You know, not just making you feel,
but make you think and change
the way you see the world.
To be part of that incredible event,
it was a big thing
for a small young girl to do.
SHE LAUGHS
This is for the dignity
for the good people of South
Africa who just want to share
what is theirs.
Why can't we live together?
Tell me why, tell me why,
tell me why ♪
Mmm, why can't we live together? ♪
Tell me why, tell me why ♪
Nelson Mandela was more
than just a man.
He was a superb,
incredible human being
who devoted his entire life.
He gave us everything,
his hours, his minutes, his days
to make people understand
that we're all human
and that we all belong
and we all deserve respect.
He could not have gone further,
could not have given more,
so what each of us did on that stage
that day was a little nothing.
Everybody wants to live together ♪
Why can't we be together? ♪
Good evening.
The headlines at six o'clock.
The South African
government has further
tightened its grip on
the opponents of apartheid.
The state of emergency has
been extended to a third year.
President Botha says
it's because ordinary laws
cannot maintain public order.
There's been condemnation
of South Africa
from all over the world,
but Mrs Thatcher tonight refused
to lend her support to
tough sanctions.
- Everybody wants to be ♪
- MALEFANE: The country had become
increasingly volatile
and Winnie hankered
after returning home
to Soweto to her people.
So she refused to return
to Brandfort and dare
the police to arrest her.
For the second time
in just over a week,
South African black activist
Winnie Mandela is free on bail.
I am going to my house where
I was forcibly removed from.
REPORTER: Do you think you'll be
re-arrested, Mrs Mandela,
by returning to your home
in Soweto?
It makes no difference to me.
I said no matter,
no matter what colour, yeah ♪
You are still my brother ♪
Everybody wants to live together ♪
Why can't we be together? ♪
- Together. ♪
- CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
DALI TAMBO,
ARTISTS AGAINST APARTHEID:
And we were hoping very much
that with things like this,
that this will encourage
the British public in general
to opt for the peaceful solution
to South Africa,
which is sanctions.
JERRY: When we sang
Free Nelson Mandela
in front of that crowd,
it was just an incredible moment.
Free Nelson Mandela ♪
Seeing so many people come
together around that song
- Free Nelson Mandela ♪
- it was probably my proudest
moment in my life, you know?
It was an apex moment for us,
feeling that this is
a struggle we're going to win.
- Thank you.
- CHEERING AND APPLAUSE