ON THIS DAY

1990

South African president FW de Klerk announces Nelson Mandela will become a free man the following day. The anti-apartheid campaigner and political leader had served 27 years in prison for conspiring to overthrow South Africa’s ruling regime. De Klerk described Mandela as “an elderly man; he’s a dignified man and he is an interesting man”. Mandela went on to serve as South African president from 1994-1999 — during which time he visited New Zealand — and died in 2013, aged 95.