By September over 72,000 people had signed the petition calling for the release of Nelson Mandela and all other political prisoners which has been circulating inside South Africa since March. The campaign for the release of Mandela and all other political prisoners was initiated in March when the Sunday Post called on its readers to sign the petition. As described in FOCUS 28, the campaign has received widespread support in South Africa from many individuals and organisations, and the collection of signatures for the petition at meetings was frequently reported.
Because it carried the petition, the April issue of Race Relations News was banned. In September, however, an appeal against the banning was upheld by the Publications Appeal Board.
The Directorate of Publications, in giving its reasons for the ban, had said that to plead for the release of Nelson Mandela was to promote the aims of the banned African National Congress. But the Appeal Board said the Free Mandela Campaign was a legal campaign and also that the form in which the petition was couched could not be construed as incitement.
Since its initiation inside South Africa, the campaign has received growing international support. In June the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution called for the release of all political prisoners, including Nelson Mandela and others 'with whom it must enter in any meaningful discussion on the future of the country'. In July all the Commonwealth countries, in a statement issued by the Commonwealth Secretariat, called for Mandela's immediate and unconditional release.
In Britain expression of support for the campaign has come from a number of sources. Nelson Mandela, along with Herman Toivo ja Toivo, was invited to the British Labour Party Conference in October. A letter signed by leading figures from several British Churches and calling for Mandela's release appeared in the Times. In October the same newspaper carried an advertisement with over four hundred signatures. The signatories, leading figures from every walk of life, paid for the advertisement which was placed in the newspaper by British Defence and Aid, an affiliate of the International Defence and Aid Fund.
