South African History Online

13 April 1992

The relationship between myself and my wife, Comrade Nomzamo Winnie Mandela,
has become the subject of much media speculation. I am issuing this statement to
clarify the position and in the hope that it will bring an end to further
conjecture.

Comrade Nomzamo and myself contracted our marriage at a critical time in the
struggle for liberation in our country. Owing to the pressures of our shared
commitment to the ANC and the struggle to end apartheid, we were unable to enjoy
a normal family life. Despite these pressures our love for each other and our
devotion to our marriage grew and intensified.

I was compelled to go underground as of April 1961, living the life of a
fugitive until my arrest by the South African Security Police in 1962. That
was a decision arrived at consciously by myself and Comrade Nomzamo in the full
knowledge that it spelt the end of life as family for the foreseeable future.
After my conviction in November 1962 I was incarcerated for twenty seven years
until my release on February 11th, 1990.

During both my trials, the first in 1962 and during the Rivonia trial of
1964, Comrade Nomzamo was a key figure in mobilising solidarity and support for
myself and the other Rivonia trialists alongside other members of the ANC and
its allies. During the two decades I spent on Robben Island she was an
indispensable pillar of support and comfort to myself personally. She also
became the international focus of the campaign in solidarity with the all South
African political prisoners. As such, she earned the ire of the National Party
government which lost no opportunity to harass, persecute, arrest, detain and
charge her. This culminated in her banishment from Johannesburg to Brandfort in
the OFS.

Comrade Nomzamo accepted the onerous burden of raising our children on her
own. She was more fortunate than other single mothers in that she enjoyed the
moral and material support of both the South African and the international
community. She endured the persecutions heaped upon her by the government with
exemplary fortitude and never wavered from her commitment to the struggle for
freedom. Her tenacity reinforced my personal respect, love and growing
affection. It also attracted the admiration of the world at large. My love for
her remains undiminished.

However, in view of the tensions that have arisen owing to differences
between ourselves on a number of issues in recent months, we have mutually
agreed that a separation would be best for each of us. My action was not
prompted by the current allegations being made against her in the media. I
deeply regret the role that the media has assumed in this regard and would once
again urge that the issue of her guilt or innocence be left to the judicial
system to determine. Comrade Nomzamo has and can continue to rely on my
unstinting support during these trying moments in her life.

I shall personally never regret the life Comrade Nomzamo and I tried to share
together.

Circumstances beyond our control however dictated that it should be
otherwise. I part from my wife with no recriminations. I embrace with all the
love and affection I have nursed for her inside and outside prison from the
moment I first met her.

Nelson R. Mandela.
13th April 1992.