For 22 years, no SA newspaper published photos of Nelson Mandela

Thousands of photographs of Nelson Mandela have been published, posted online, shared and ’liked’ in the past few hours. But did you know that back in the 1970s, it was illegal in South Africa to print a photograph of the leader, to photograph him or to reprint an earlier photograph? According to this report in South African weekly Mail & Guardian, in the 1980s, there were many South Africans who did not even know what the country’s most famous political prisoner looked like. [caption id=“attachment_1270975” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Screengrab of the first photo of Mandela in 22 years[/caption] The website of the Mail & Guardian reproduces from its archives the front page of the June 6, 1986 edition of The Weekly Mail, which carried ‘The first legal photo of Nelson Mandela in 22 years’, and an accompanying news report. The accompanying photograph was taken before Mandela was imprisoned, the newspaper said in the 1986 edition, adding that the photograph was reproduced by the Bur eau of Information in a propaganda booklet. “It is the first time since 1964 that it has been legal in this country to publish a photograph of South Africa’s most famous political prisoner, the leader of the banned African National Congress and by most accounts the most popular leader among blacks. It is only legal because permission was given by the Department of Prisons. All other pictures, drawings or representations of the man are still illegal,” the report had said. Convicted of treason and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1964, Mandela was in Robben Island prison when the photo was published. According to this report in Huffington Post,  after his conviction for sabotaging government functioning, it was forbidden to quote him or to publish his photo, yet he and other jailed members of his banned African National Congress were able to smuggle out messages of guidance to the anti-apartheid crusade.