Lest we forget…
11 February 1990.
Heady days they were. What with De Klerk’s sudden capitulation and the unbanning of the anti-apartheid movement. They were moments to cherish; it was history being made, and were we part of that history – as journalists were we recording it, we were documenting apartheid as it fell like a wall in a heap of dust.
![News of Mandela's release made headlines around the world [Photo: Shafiq Morton]](https://voiceofthecape.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Mandela-Release-ANC-unbanned-2-e1455182668483.jpg)
[Photo: Shafiq Morton]
![The infamous Mandela salute [Photo: Shafiq Morton]](https://voiceofthecape.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Mandela-Freedom-SaluteRGB-2-e1455182838320.jpg)
[Photo: Shafiq Morton]
We were on the beat long before the wire-services and the networks descended en-masse upon South Africa, crudely expecting a civil war and racial mayhem in another African country. Yes, 1990 was about hope – and as ex-Robben Island prisoner and ANC stalwart, Ahmad Kathrada, once told me in an interview – it was about dignity.
All I can say 26 years later is: lest we forget.
![Mandela and ANC leaders at Archbishop Desmond Tutu's home after his release [Photo: Shafiq Morton]](https://voiceofthecape.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Mandela-Bishopscourt-2-e1455182967734.jpg)
[Photo: Shafiq Morton]
![Mandela meets Muslims in Bokaap on his first visit after his release [Photo: Shafiq Morton]](https://voiceofthecape.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Mandela-Bo-KaapRGB-2-e1455183107282.jpg)
[Photo: Shafiq Morton]
VOC (Shafiq Morton)