State TV Seizes Moment, Shows Mandela’s Release

This country’s television threw years of racial stereotyping to the winds Sunday with an unprecedented live broadcast of Nelson R. Mandela’s walk to freedom.

The 71-year-old leader, whose portrait could not even be legally printed in newspapers here until a few days ago, marched out of the gates of his prison and into the homes of millions of South African viewers.

The pictures were also beamed live all over the world.

Normally, the state-controlled television, introduced here only in 1976, leans heavily toward coverage of the ruling white Establishment, and until recently the black opposition was given little publicity.

“I never thought I would see this,” said a white viewer as the screen announced a live outside broadcast from the gates of Victor Verster Prison amid the vineyards of Paarl near Cape Town.

“There is a warm wind blowing in Paarl,” white commentator Clarence Keyter said as cameras panned over black, green and yellow African National Congress flags. “The sun is not just for the growing of grapes but the sun is shining on South Africa.

“This is a historic moment in the history of South Africa,” Keyter intoned as Mandela and his wife, Winnie, strode hand in hand out of the prison gates to shouts of ‘Viva!’ ”