6 Underground

Chapter 6 Underground Pictures of Sharpeville spread around the world. This was what apartheid looked like. Outside South Africa the killings were condemned. The United Nations blamed the South African government for what happened. Foreign businesses pulled their investment money out of South Africa. The government declared a state of emergency. Now the police could arrest anyone suspected of acting against the government—no proof needed. All public meetings were now illegal. Sharpeville had a big effect on Nelson and the rest

of the ANC. Nelson and Oliver Tambo had spoken in 1959 about what they should do in the event of a crisis like this. They thought one of them should leave South Africa to gain support for their cause around the world. But strong ANC leaders were also needed at home. They decided that Tambo should be the one to leave South Africa. Nelson would stay. The next day police arrived at the Mandelas' door. In front of a pregnant Winnie and little Zenani, Nelson was arrested.

He stayed in jail for five months without being charged with a crime. His second daughter, Zindziswa (called Zindzi), was born in December 1960. Eventually, he was accused of the most serious crime possible—trying to overthrow the government. On March 29, 1961, one year after the terrible Sharpeville murders, Nelson Mandela and the other defendants from the Treason Trial were finally found not guilty. The main judge on the three-judge panel

said that although they had broken the law, he could find no proof that they were trying to overthrow the government. During that same month, a civil-rights conference was held in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. Nelson now planned to go underground. Leaving his family, he hid out with friends, slept during the day, and went out only at night. He met secretly with reporters. In interviews, he explained that Sharpeville had changed the way he thought about protest. He said, "In my

mind, we are closing a chapter on this question of a nonviolent policy." Black South Africans had tried nonviolence to end apartheid. But events like Sharpeville showed that it didn't work. The South African government had no problem killing peaceful protesters. Nelson and the ANC changed tactics. There was a need for armed resistance, so a new group was formed. It was called Umkhonto we Sizwe (oom-KOHN-toh-way-SEEZ-way), or Spear of the Nation. Nelson was its commander in chief. Although the new group did not want to kill people, it was ready to destroy power plants, railways, and telephone lines. By disrupting the running of the country, the Spear hoped to force the white government to end apartheid. Nelson hid out on the Liliesleaf Farm in Rivonia with other ANC leaders like Walter Sisulu. To avoid arrest, he wore disguises. One day he was an errand boy, the next a chef. He dressed in the dusty overalls of a gardener or the beads and painted face of a tribal healer. He had many narrow escapes. One time he was spotted by a black guard—but the man simply gave him the ANC "thumbs-up" signal and turned the other way. Whoever the guard was, he wanted Nelson to

stay free. The government hated Nelson for outsmarting them. Then Nelson's luck ran out. On August 5, 1962, the police stopped a car. In the passenger seat was a black man dressed as a chauffeur. It was Nelson. He tried to convince the policemen that his name was David Motsamayi. But the police didn't believe it. He was arrested. Somehow the police had known that Nelson's car was going to come through that spot on that day. No one knows who betrayed him. Nelson was sentenced to five years in prison with hard labor. As the police took him away the crowd shouted, "Tshotsholoza, Mandela!" ("Struggle on, Mandela!")