Mandela supports aid for former political prisoners

JOHANNESBURG – Former South African President Nelson Mandela has given his blessing to a campaign to raise money for ex-political prisoners of the apartheid regime, some of whom now live in poverty.

“If I still had the fund-raising pull that I once had, I would have gone full-out in this worthy pursuit,” a frail-looking Mandela said during a news conference at his Nelson Mandela Foundation in Johannesburg earlier this month. Mandela was joined by Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota and two other ex-political prisoners as well as representatives of mining giant Anglo American and a handful of other leading companies that are the targets of the fundraising effort.The 87-year-old Mandela, who spent 27 years as a political prisoner during the apartheid era, said the appeal was aimed at ensuring that those who had made sacrifices for South Africa’s democracy lived in some comfort as they grew old.While many of his comrades found positions within the ruling African National Congress government or in the private sector, others fell through the cracks of the new South Africa, ending up unemployed, homeless or sick.The ANC government distributed some R40 million in the form of demobilisation grants to former political prisoners shortly after taking power, but many recipients complained the funds were not enough to cover basic expenses let alone pay to treat AIDS and other diseases.NAMIBIA IN THE EQUATIONIn some cases, families did not have enough money to pay for proper burials.The mental and physical scars of torture, imprisonment and long periods of exile caused others to commit suicide or succumb to alcohol and drug addiction.”Most of us ironically returned to the same squalor we had sought to change,” said David Moisi, Chairman of the Ex-Political Prisoners Committee, which was formed in 1995 at a reunion of ex-political prisoners on Robben Island.The committee has traced an estimated 3 000 people it considers to be former political prisoners in South Africa and Namibia, which was ruled by the apartheid regime for decades.- Nampa-ReutersMandela was joined by Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota and two other ex-political prisoners as well as representatives of mining giant Anglo American and a handful of other leading companies that are the targets of the fundraising effort.The 87-year-old Mandela, who spent 27 years as a political prisoner during the apartheid era, said the appeal was aimed at ensuring that those who had made sacrifices for South Africa’s democracy lived in some comfort as they grew old.While many of his comrades found positions within the ruling African National Congress government or in the private sector, others fell through the cracks of the new South Africa, ending up unemployed, homeless or sick.The ANC government distributed some R40 million in the form of demobilisation grants to former political prisoners shortly after taking power, but many recipients complained the funds were not enough to cover basic expenses let alone pay to treat AIDS and other diseases.NAMIBIA IN THE EQUATION In some cases, families did not have enough money to pay for proper burials.The mental and physical scars of torture, imprisonment and long periods of exile caused others to commit suicide or succumb to alcohol and drug addiction.”Most of us ironically returned to the same squalor we had sought to change,” said David Moisi, Chairman of the Ex-Political Prisoners Committee, which was formed in 1995 at a reunion of ex-political prisoners on Robben Island.The committee has traced an estimated 3 000 people it considers to be former political prisoners in South Africa and Namibia, which was ruled by the apartheid regime for decades.- Nampa-Reuters