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Footage of Mandela's first TV interview released

South Africa

Footage of a young vibrant Mandela believed to have been produced in 1956 has been released showing the late anti-apartheid leader voicing his stance on racism.

According to the Nelson Mandela foundation, the interview was conducted at the Old Synagogue in Pretoria before being broadcast on January 31, 1961 by a Netherlands television.

This contradicts former thoughts that the first television interview with Mandela was conducted in May 1961.

“From the very beginning, the African National Congress set itself the task of fighting against white supremacy. We have always regarded as wrong for one racial group to dominate another racial group. And from the very beginning the African National Congress has fought, without hesitation, against all forms of racial discrimination and we shall continue to do so until freedom is achieved,” the former president of South Africa, Nelson Mandela said during an interview believed to have been conducted in 1956.

Nelson Mandela also popularly known as Madiba, died in 2013 at the age of 95. He became South Africa’s first black president in 1994 after spending 27 years in jail.

Earlier in 1993, he won the Noble Peace prize for his efforts to fight against racial discrimination.

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