Nelson Mandela

**Admin** Tue Jan 26, 2010 11:47 am

20th anniversary of Mandela’s release from jail
26 January 2010

Thursday 11 February 2010 marks the 20th anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s release from jail after he had been in prison for 27-and-a-half years.

And it was on 2 February 1990 that former President FW de Klerk had announced the release and the unbanning of all outlawed organisations including the ANC in his State of the Nation speech.

The Opening of Parliament this year has been scheduled to coincide with the 20th anniversary of Madiba’s release and President Zuma will honour him in his State of the Nation address.

On the 15th anniversary of his release, Mandela urged South Africans to keep building on our hard-won democracy. And he called on us never to forget the generations before us who made our freedom possible through many years of struggle.

Mandela’s words then were: “For our country, the anniversary invites us to consider how far we have come since those momentous days. Then we were the polecats of the world. Today we are a respected member of the international community of nations. Then we were on the brink of chaos. Today we have a growing democracy”.

Achmat Dangor, chief executive of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, said events to commemorate these historic times will include:

* "Mandela”, an exhibition, which will be opened on 10 February at the Slave Lodge, the Iziko National Museum in Cape Town. The speakers will be Ahmed Kathrada, Cyril Ramaphosa and Professor GJ Gerwel. A version of this exhibition is currently on show at the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg.

* A public seminar hosted by Iziko on 6 February, with Ahmed Kathrada, Dr Mamphela Ramphele, Dave Steward and Advocate George Bizos in Cape Town.

* The creation of a new website featuring video footage of Mandela’s release and events around it.

* STEPS (Steps for Social Transformation and Empowerment Project) to create the "Free at Last" Film Festival which will be presented in Cape Town and Johannesburg. Entrance to films will be free, the intention being to ensure wide access.