South Africa celebrates

Mandela was released in 1990 after spending 27 years in prison and went on to lead South Africa through the last stretch of a stunning, peaceful revolution from apartheid to democracy. His release was remembered as triumphant Thursday, but the moment was uncertain and anxious for South Africa, and it is a testimony to Mandela’s statesmanship that things went so well.

When Mandela was released we did not know what was going to happen,” said Nontuntuzelo Faku, who joined thousands of people who marked Thursday’s anniversary near Cape Town at what was known in 1990 as Victor Verster, the last prison where Mandela was held. Being at the prison 20 years later, Faku said, “makes me realize how far the country has come.”