5 January, 2012 – The Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory congratulates the African National Congress (ANC) on reaching the milestone of one hundred years since its founding in 1912.
Its contribution to the struggle for justice in South Africa over a century is inestimable.
Nelson Mandela joined the ANC in 1944 and rapidly rose to leadership positions. He became the organisation’s president in 1991, led it to victory in South Africa’s first democratic election in 1994, and was President of the country until his formal retirement from politics in 1999.
At an ANC rally on 2 August 2008 that marked Mr Mandela’s 90th birthday, he said: “I would be nothing without the ANC.”
Mr Mandela was convicted and sentenced three times for his ANC activities: in 1952 for nine months suspended for two years for his role in the Defiance Campaign; in 1962 for five years for leaving the country illegally and inciting a strike; and in 1964 for life for sabotage.
Archival records provide a fascinating and multi-layered representation of Mr Mandela’s and the ANC’s interwoven narratives. Two examples from the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory holdings:
In a 1994 notebook, Mr Mandela made notes for a speech in his capacity as President of the ANC. Please click on the image to view a larger size.
On the ANC’s 90th anniversary he wrote to then Secretary General Kgalema Motlanthe about having seen the celebrations on television. He joked that he saw “two well-known heavyweights from Luthuli House dancing sprightly with the crowd.”
View the letter here.