Mandela Treated for Tuberculosis

Today in 1988, Nelson Mandela is beginning treatment for tuberculosis. In February 1985, President P. W. Botha offered Mandela conditional release. But Mandela spurned the offer and declared that he would be the last political prisoner to leave the jail. From then on, it was very clear who was holding the key of his cell.On Feb. 2, 1990, President F. W. de Klerk reversed the ban on the African National Congress. Mandela was released from Victor Verster Prison on Feb. 11, 1990.In response to criticism from the United States of his Oct. 22, 1997, state visit to Libya, Mandela defended Libya's call for an international tribunal on the Lockerbie crash suspects, which both the US and the United Kingdom were categorically rejecting at the time. Mandela added that he supported the calls by the Organization of African Unity for a neutral trial for the alleged bombers. Read full story