By DANNY SCHECHTER
Paltalk News Network Contributor
Twenty years ago during this very week, I was leading the production team of Globalvision’s inaugural TV series, South Africa Now. We were all consumed by the rumors that best known political prisoner in the world, Nelson Mandela, the leader and symbol of the African National Congress, was about to be released from prison in South Africa after 27 years.
It was exciting and nerve-wracking to contemplate what would come next — but with all the joy and anticipation, there was a fear too, fear that Mandela would be freed into an unfree society with power still in white hands dominated by their pro-apartheid generals and securocrats. No one was sure what would happen. Would he be going from one jail to another? Would he be assassinated? Would it even happen?
Back then, we were rushing to finish a South Africa Now PBS special slated to air in prime time on Sunday February 11th. PBS correspondent Charlayne Hunter Gault, later to become first NPR’s and then CNN’s bureau chief in South Africa, had agreed to anchor it, and we were busy putting the final touches on the show which we had titled WAITING FOR MANDELA.
It was all rush, rush. We wanted to be timely but we were covering all bases because we weren’t sure if he would be freed or not. On Friday, February 9th, we went into the studio at the old WNET–Channel 13 in New York to record our studio introductions. We finished our graphics. Charlayne prerecorded her open. She was great, We were ready to go. All that remained was for the special to be packaged and aired.
But then, late on Friday night (or was it Saturday morning?), we heard that South African President F.W. de Klerk was going to make a special announcement, a key speech to mark the opening of their Parliament. He was considered a liberal Afrikaner and had been part of a process or internal coup that ousted hard-line pro-apartheid president P.W. Botha known there as “the crocodile.”
What would he say? What would he do?
The next day we were glued to our TV sets and saw de Klerk shock the world. He announced that Mandela would be freed the next day, on Sunday. He was then in Victor Verster prison in South Africa’s wine country north of Capetown. It was happening!
Not only that. De Klerk announced that the ANC and the South African Communist Party and all other banned organizations would be, after decades, unbanned and allowed to participate in South African politics. This meant that the ANC leaders and their MK guerrilla fighters would be able to come home from so many years in the pain of exile.
The world was upside down. ANC people worldwide had to pinch themselves to see if they really heard what he said.
It was mind-blowing. We screamed. We cried. And then, we panicked. Our TV special was now out of date. The Waiting for Mandela was over. We had a little more that 24 hours to come up with a new TV hour with virtually no budget. We had won a hour of prime time TV. We couldn’t allow it to go to waste.
The world media was rushing to the scene. They had satellites, crews, reporters galore. What could we do that was different? We had been covering the situation there on a weekly basis and had all sorts of footage the networks didn’t. We had contacts and context. But we couldn’t go there because there wasn’t enough time. And besides, we were, in effect, banned there working with South Africans. (The ANC would be unbanned before us!)
We went to work, re-editing, tapping into a South African broadcasting company feed, and setting up the first televised exchange between the ANC and a government that refused to recognize the liberation movement.
We worked around the clock. Two editors collapsed in reworking the material under pressure. We just made air, as TV people say, by minutes. We believe our special was the best on TV.
The program was now called MANDELA: Free At Last. And we have tapes for anyone interested! I will have more on this important story for the world and our company tomorrow.
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I sent this reminiscence around to a few friends on Sunday Night and had some moving responses:
A member of Nelson Mandela’s family writes from South Africa:
“Great write up and interesting look into a great story of the passion that existed in the 90’s for South Africa’s current affairs. How the media has changed here we’ve been bombarded with Zuma and (his) personal life for the last couple of weeks so it will be refreshing to see how the media compares the last 20 years of South Africa and the current crop of ANC leadership to the past.”
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Olive Shisana writes from South Africa:
"What a piece! You really brought tears to my eyes remembering that day when we were glued to the TV screen in Washington DC, together with the Washington Post. We could not believe what was happening, as you say we pinched ourselves to test whether this was a dream or not! Thanks for reminding us of the events in the U.S."
Cheers,
Olive
Dr. Olive Shisana | Chief Executive Officer | Human Science Research Council
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Ken Keable, a veteran anti-apartheid activist and editor writes from London:
“A wonderful memory. Thanks Danny! I have a memory of being in Trafalgar Square with my Dad on that day with lots of other people, shouting “Free Nelson Mandela”. We were within sight of South Africa House, so they could hear us. Eventually someone at the microphone, who had been leading the shouting, announced that he had indeed been released (at least, I think that’s what happened). I can’t remember exactly what happened, but I can remember the atmosphere.”
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Share your memory of Nelson Mandela’s release. Write: dissector@mediachannel.org Kudos to the New York Times for running memories from human rights activists who were incarcerated at the time.
