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He was one of the most visionary and influential political figures the world has ever seen
This Wednesday marks what would have been the centennial of the birth of Nelson Mandela
but despite his death he Five years ago, the changes he made will be felt for generations to come.
Among the many whose lives were changed forever, Mandela's former cell mate, Archie Sibeko, known as Zola
Both were angry young people, behind the bars and ready to take up arms to win the freedom of their oppressed.
Last time, 62 years later, they met in a hotel room in London – two inflamed old men. the anti-apartheid campaign in South Africa and set the world on fire.
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In an exclusive interview with the Sunday Mirror, Archie & # 39; sw Joyce tells how Mandela inspired her late husband to engage in this fight.
Recalling their last meeting as Mandela celebrated her 90th birthday, Joyce said, "They were two retirees sitting in a hotel exchanging stories of their lives. Mandela was no longer the strong, tall figure who shared a cell with my husband. Zola was 80 years old. It was incredible to think that these two men were helping to make such a difference.
"They never imagined that there would be freedom in their lives."
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After 27 years in prison, Mandela became the first black president of South Africa in 1994, his election ending the 39 one of the greatest injustices of the twentieth century. This is not a battle fought alone, but a five-decade war led by unions and rulers like Archie, who put their lives on the line.
Archie's is an incredible story of the world. lasting love, not only for his compatriots, but also for a white British woman who had the courage to stand by her side.
He was 28 when he and 156 other activists were arrested during dawn raids for standing up against apartheid in December 1956.
A prominent congressman In Cape Town, Archie was among those sentenced to long prison terms, alongside Mandela, during the Treason Trials
For more than a year, activists have been charged with false accusations.
Joyce, 87, said, "Reuniting these activists was one of the biggest mistakes made by the government
". galvanize and create anti-apartheid policies. At that time, blacks could not travel long distances to meet other like-minded politicians because they had to produce documents wherever they went.
"This year was a chance for the ANC and union leaders to form a coalition. was in the foreground.
"They had tried to campaign and to adopt peaceful approaches – nothing worked – it was Mandela who convinced them that a new approach was needed – that if Blacks were shot in the white police, it was time to arm. "
Archie tells Joyce how Mandela mobilized men with pbadionate speeches and how the president of the ANC, Albert Lutuli, instilled discipline in prison walls
Joyce says: "They get up early, dress and sing the South African national anthem.
" Every day, they exercised to keep their strength. Zola was very impressed by Mandela. "He was more combative than most others and he had to work to convince his elders that more needed to be done."
In 1961, after the collapse of the trials, the two men were again free. Archie enlisted in 1963 for a military training near Moscow. The following year, Mandela was jailed for life on the infamous Robben Island
Archie was running his arms in South Africa when he met Joyce in 1967, through the intermediary of the government. activist friends in Zambia – where she was doing research for the University of Manchester. Recalling their first meeting, Joyce smiled: "He was an awesome and handsome man who spoke pbadionately about his cause.
" He had been able to leave South Africa, but it was harder to get back .
(1965: 922) MK, or Umkhonto we Sizwe – Spear of the Nation – was the ANC's armed wing .
Joyce said, "When our friends asked if he could stay with us, we were in agreement.I knew what he was doing was dangerous, but he was fully engaged in the movement. "
Despite being with her husband, Joyce fell in love – to which her husband turned a blind eye. When they returned home, she said, "I would not have asked Zola to come with me, he was not a free agent, he was married to the cause."
Joyce's marriage has collapsed. London to work for the ANC. Archie has traveled the world urging governments to boycott South Africa.
At her home in Tyne and Wear, Joyce mourns her death last March, at the age of 90. him Zola Zembe or Ntambo, the fake names that he used. When Mandela was released in 1990, Archie was able to return home. Joyce said, "I had my career and my family here, but Zola wanted to go."
Archie was traveling between the offices of the Johannesburg Rail Union, of which he was president, and the ANC at Cape Town, where he was vice-president. -chair.
He returned to Joyce in Manchester and the couple moved further north to get closer to his daughter Helen.
Joyce says that Archie had never intended to be an activist. He first experienced racial division when he traveled to buy tools to help his widowed mother farm her land. He was forced to travel in cattle cars for 800 miles.
He went to get office work but the doors were closed to him because of his color – until he called a union office
Joyce said: he in a cup of tea and he was surprised when he was served by a white woman. "
It was a seminal moment." Joyce adds, "The legacy he and men like Mandela have left is incredible."
- Learn more about Archie's life in his book, Freedom in our Lifetime, which costs £ 10. For copies, email Joyce at [email protected]
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