Nelson Mandela appears with his guide and translator, Nouerddine Djoudi (on his right). Djoudi was an Algerian officer who served as Madiba's translator in the camps. He was later Ambassador to SA.
He trained with guerrilla fighters in North Africa. He helped found South Africa's armed resistance movement. And in nearly three decades of struggle, he never once fired a shot in anger.
During Mandela Month, IOL Platforms delves into our Madiba Archives.
In 1962, Nelson Mandela slipped out of South Africa on a forged passport and spent seven months learning to fight a war he would never actually wage.
By the time he crossed into Bechuanaland in January that year, using the alias David Motsamayi, Mandela was already the country's most wanted man. The African National Congress had been banned. Its new armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe, needed money, training and international backing. Mandela's job was to go and get it.
