Mandela on the roof of Kholvad House, Johannesburg in 1953, where both Ismail Meer and Ahmed Kathrada lived during the late 1940s and early 1950s, and which became an informal meeting place for anti-apartheid activists.
A contact sheet of Nelson and Winnie on their wedding day in June 1958.
Mandela’s Robben Island cell as it has been recreated by the Robben Island Museum. When Mandela lay down, his head touched one wall, and his feet almost the other.
This photograph of Mandela’s Robben Island cell was taken in 1977 when the apartheid government organised a visit to the Island by media to showcase how ‘well’ the political prisoners were being treated. Over the years the prisoners struggled for better prison conditions and by 1977 Mandela was allowed to have books related to his study.
Letter from Mandela to the commanding officer of Robben Island requesting permission to borrow money from fellow inmate Ahmed Kathrada to cover examination entry fees. A note in another hand, reads: “I have no objection to the wiring of the R16.00 but I am not prepared that prisoners can borrow money from each other” (see page 26).
Pages from a letter from Mandela to daughters Zindzi and Zenani dated 23 June 1969, after learning that Winnie had been arrested (see pages 95–7).
In April 1977 the government invited South African journalists to Robben Island to dispel rumours about harsh treatment of political prisoners. Photographs were taken of Mandela and his comrades as part of a manufactured spectacle for the media.
Page from a letter written by prisoners to the head of the prison complaining about the journalists’ visit of 1977 and the inherent abuse of their rights. Note the comments in the margin: “Rubbish!” and “The same for other prisoners” (see pages 340–4).
Robben Island prisoners were made to sit in rows in the prison courtyard and smash stones into gravel.
Members of the team appointed by Minister of Justice Kobie Coetsee to hold meetings with Mandela while he was in prison: l–r General Willemse, commissioner of prisons; Mandela; Dr Niël Barnard, head of the National Intelligence Service; Kobie Coetsee, and Fanie van der Merwe, director-general of justice.
