{"id":95787,"date":"2023-03-11T16:47:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-11T20:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=95787"},"modified":"2023-03-17T14:38:33","modified_gmt":"2023-03-17T18:38:33","slug":"victor-verster-prison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/victor-verster-prison\/","title":{"rendered":"Victor Verster Prison: Where Mandela Felt Deceptively \u201cFree\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>How was Victor Verster Prison better than the first two prisons where Mandela was held? When and why was he released?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nelson Mandela spent a total of 27 years in three prisons, enduring harsh conditions but never giving up the fight for racial equality and freedom. In his autobiography, <em>Long Walk to Freedom<\/em>, Mandela writes about the last of those prisons: Victor Verster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Continue reading to learn about Mandela&#8217;s time at Victor Verster Prison and his eventual release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-victor-verster-prison-1988-1990\">Victor Verster Prison: 1988-1990<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Mandela recalls that, in 1988, he contracted tuberculosis\u2014a potentially deadly lung infection\u2014due to the damp, dirty conditions in his new room. He was taken to a hospital for treatment. Once he\u2019d recovered, instead of returning to Pollsmoor Prison where he&#8217;d been since 1982, he was moved to a nearby facility called Victor Verster Prison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: Tuberculosis is a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thelancet.com\/journals\/lanpub\/article\/PIIS2468-2667(21)00049-9\/fulltext#:~:text=The%20study%20shows%20that%20incidence%20rates%20of%20tuberculosis%20are%20consistently%20much%20higher%20in%20prisons%20than%20in%20the%20general%20population\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">very common disease among incarcerated people<\/a> all over the world. Though Mandela blamed the dank cell for his disease, other possible explanations for its prevalence include <a href=\"https:\/\/journals.plos.org\/plosmedicine\/article?id=10.1371\/journal.pmed.0040115\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">malnutrition<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thelancet.com\/journals\/lanpub\/article\/PIIS2468-2667(21)00049-9\/fulltext#:~:text=Efforts%20to%20control%20M%20tuberculosis%20infection%20require%20particular%20attention%3B%20these%20measures%20are%20more%20difficult%20to%20implement%20as%20they%20require%20infrastructural%20changes%20or%20policy%20reforms%20to%20reduce%20overcrowding%20and%20to%20ensure%20that%20facilities%20are%20built%20with%20sufficient%20ventilation.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">overcrowding<\/a>\u2014conditions that either weaken the immune system or make exposure to tuberculosis more likely.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mandela says that Victor Verster Prison had an excellent reputation and was much more comfortable than even Pollsmoor. Instead of a cell, he had a cottage and the surrounding land all to himself; instead of having to follow a strict schedule, he could do as he pleased. In fact, Mandela says that the cottage felt deceptively \u201cfree\u201d\u2014he could do anything he wanted, except leave.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: Victor Verster Prison was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.deleeuwenhof.co.za\/drakenstein-correctional-centre\/#:~:text=Victor%20Verster%2C%20a%20farm%20prison%2C%20was%20often%20used%20as%20a%20stepping%20stone%20for%20releasing%20lower%2Drisk%20political%20prisoners.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">commonly the last stop for political prisoners<\/a> before the authorities released them. This, along with the relative privacy and freedom that Mandela\u2019s cottage provided, suggests that the government was planning to release him years before F.W. de Klerk actually gave the order to do so. However, it\u2019s also possible that Mandela was moved to Victor Verster due to his ongoing health issues, as this new prison was closer to doctors and healthcare facilities that could treat him.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mandela continued his efforts to arrange a meeting between ANC and NP leaders. In July of 1989, his efforts paid off and he had a brief meeting with State President Botha. Mandela says that, while their discussion didn\u2019t yield any major breakthroughs in ending the conflict, the meeting itself was significant; it was the first time that party leaders had come together for peaceful talks. He hoped that it would be the first step toward peace throughout South Africa.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: State President Botha didn\u2019t just uphold the status quo of apartheid\u2014he was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/quotes-pw-botha-43577\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">one of its staunchest supporters<\/a>, and he fought fiercely to protect <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/trevor-noah-apartheid\/\">apartheid<\/a> at the height of the South African resistance. Numerous quotes from Botha show he firmly believed that apartheid was natural and just; that Black people should be subservient to white people, and that Blacks were happy in their inferior positions unless they were brainwashed to feel otherwise.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As it turned out, that meeting would be the only time that Mandela spoke to Botha as state president\u2014Botha had suffered a stroke in February of 1989, and he stepped down from the presidency in August of that same year.&nbsp;(Shortform note: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/africa\/mandela-and-botha-the-crocodile-the-saint-744730.html#:~:text=Mandela%20really%20meant%20it.%20He%20has%20always%20spoken%20warmly%20of%20Botha%2C%20the%20man%20who%20was%20in%20effect%20his%20jailer%20for%2011%20of%20the%2027%20years%20he%20spent%20behind%20bars%3B\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Mandela had a great deal of respect for Botha<\/a>. He praised the former state president for taking the first steps toward equality and peace in South Africa, rather than focusing on the years that Botha spent viciously defending apartheid. When Botha died in 2006, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.independent.co.uk\/news\/world\/africa\/mandela-and-botha-the-crocodile-the-saint-744730.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Mandela delivered a moving and heartfelt speech<\/a> in his former jailer\u2019s honor.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Mandela\u2019s Release<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Mandela explains that Frederik Willem de Klerk, commonly known as F. W. de Klerk, became state president after Botha resigned. De Klerk\u2019s presidency proved to be a major turning point both for Mandela and for South Africa as a whole. <strong>At his order, Nelson Mandela was finally released from Victor Verster Prison on February 11, 1990.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: Victor Verster Prison\u2014renamed Groot Drakenstein Correctional Center in 2000\u2014now has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sahistory.org.za\/place\/victor-verster-prison\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">a bronze statue of Nelson Mandela<\/a> standing outside its gates. Though the prison is in a fairly remote location, meaning people would have to go out of their way to see the statue, the spot was chosen to commemorate Mandela\u2019s first moments of freedom.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How was Victor Verster Prison better than the first two prisons where Mandela was held? When and why was he released? Nelson Mandela spent a total of 27 years in three prisons, enduring harsh conditions but never giving up the fight for racial equality and freedom. In his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, Mandela writes about the last of those prisons: Victor Verster. Continue reading to learn about Mandela&#8217;s time at Victor Verster Prison and his eventual release.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":95791,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,33],"tags":[940],"class_list":["post-95787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history","category-people","tag-long-walk-to-freedom","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Victor Verster Prison: Where Mandela Felt Deceptively \u201cFree\u201d - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Nelson Mandela recalls the time he spent at Victor Verster Prison. 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