Was Nelson Mandela a Terrorist?

Yes, he sure was in his young days.I'm not a right wing fundamentalist at all; in fact, I've been accused of being a 'radical, left wing communist' on these forums before.Ghandi was much, much more of a role-model: no violence allowed. From the beginning till the end.Edited by Pressie, : No reason given.

Sure.uMkhonto we Sizwe - WikipediaThen also look at the official reports.http://www.justice.gov.za/...port/finalreport/Volume%202.pdfThe overwhelming majority of political deaths were caused by MK; Nelson started MK. A very, very small percentage of political deaths were caused by the Government. That's the official figures by the TRC.Edited by Pressie, : No reason given.Edited by Pressie, : No reason given.

Sure can back it up with evidence.Max Coleman's book called 'Apartheid; a crime against humanity' provides the figures. You can buy the book at Just a moment...In it, the analyses of all deaths due to political violence from 1948 to 1994 in South Africa and Namibia are provided. Statistics were obtained form the TRC.From there:According to the HRC statistics, 21,000 people died in political violence in South Africa during apartheid - of whom 14,000 people died during the six-year transition process from 1988 to 1994.The book also lists the number of incidents, dates, and those involved. This includes SA Defence Force actions, for instance the 600 deaths at Kassinga in Angola during the war in 1978.Of those deaths, the vast majority, 92%, have been primarily due to Africans killing Africans -- such as the inter-tribal battles for territory: this book's detailed analyses of the period June 1990 to July 1993 indicates a total of 8580 (92%) of the 9,325 violent deaths during the period June 1990 to July 1993 were caused by Africans killing Africans, or as the news media often calls it, "Black on Black" violence - hostel killings, Inkatha Freedom Party versus ANC killlings, and taxi and turf war violence.The activities of the Civil Cooperation Bureau as outlined by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, were also included in these figures.The security forces caused 518 deaths (5.6%) throughout this period (1948 to 1994). This included Sharpeville (1960) and Soweto (1976). A much lower figure than the security forces under George W Bush managed to do in eight years. Edited by Pressie, : No reason given.Edited by Pressie, : No reason given.Edited by Pressie, : No reason given.

Exactly.In my case, rather than retribution against Britain for the Boer war, my grand parents rather preferred marrying some of them. My grand father (a Boer child who ended up in a Pommy concentration camp) found that my grand mother (a Pommy, spit, spit) was extraordinary cute. My father and me were results of that union. It happened the other way too; from my mother's side.Problem solved.Edited by Pressie, : No reason given.Edited by Pressie, : No reason given.

SureThat report was handed to the TRC (you can read his testimony to the TRC at http://www.justice.gov.za/trc/special%5Cchildren/coleman.htm).
You can also read the book itself at Page not found | South African History OnlineYou can look at figures such as Table 4, providing Deaths in Political unrest from 1984 to 1989, under the heading The Legal Veneer (total 5 600 deaths). You can read the notes under the table and do the maths yourself if you wish to. Luckily someone else has read it and done some maths for us: http://www.justice.gov.za/trc/media/1997/9705/s970527b.htmFrom there: Oh, by the way, I did not place those figures here to try and justify an evil regime (they oppressed me too); I wrote those figures to indicate that the ANC was no angel factory under Mandela either. If you want to see more about their transgressions, read the report from the TRC.Edited by Pressie, : No reason given.Edited by Pressie, : No reason given.Edited by Pressie, : No reason given.

AZPaul3 writes:

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I don't understand, Pressie. All those numbers:
The manuscript mentions, among its statistics:
- 80,000 detentions without trial for periods of up to three years, including the detention of about 10,000 women and at least 15000 children under the age of 18;
- 73 deaths in detention recorded by the HRC as deaths while in the hands of the security police;
- 37 names of those who died while in custody of the uniformed police under politically-related circumstances;
- 3000 people served banning or restriction orders in terms of security legislation;
- 15000 people charged under security legislation since 1950 in political trials, and the 49 names of those who paid the ultimate price of political execution;
- 7000 political deaths between 1948 and 1989 and 46 massacres in that period, as well as 14 000 lives lost and 22000 injuries in the period 1990 to the elections in 1994; and
- abductions (30), disappearances (38) and internal assassinations (150).
Hit squad and vigilante group activities in covert repression are also documented. Were at the hands of the state. Nothing in there about ANC.

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You should look at those figures from that book (used by the TRC). For example, of the 14 000 political deaths between 1990 and 1994 (this includes the state, ANC, Azapo, etc. causing it) around 7000 were directly caused by the actions of the ANC. Less than a thousand were directly caused by the actions of the Apartheid state. The ANC was not an angel factory at all.

DevilsAdvocate writes: Not only to the ANC. To a lot of those 'liberation' movements. In the end, vigilante deaths were almost exclusively caused by the ANC and the Inkhata Freedom Party. Those two.These guys intimidate the other guys with necklacing; the other guys intimidate with guns. And vice versa. In the press these all were attributed to the 'Government'.Edited by Pressie, : No reason given.Edited by Pressie, : No reason given.Edited by Pressie, : No reason given.