Old Newscast: Nelson Mandela Is Released From Prison, 1990 (Part 1)

Newscast

BBC

Politics, News

4.4 • 6.4K Ratings

🗓️ 26 July 2025

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Over the summer holidays, we’ve brought back Old Newscast - where we pick big news days in history and look at what happened and the consequences. In this episode, that day is 11 February, when Nelson Mandela was released from prison after 27 years. Former Southern Africa correspondent Fergal Keane joins, with his former producer and BBC Africa bureaux editor Milton Nkosi. Tomorrow we’ll look at the consequences of Mandela’s release. You can now listen to Newscast on a smart speaker. If you want to listen, just say "Ask BBC Sounds to play Newscast”. It works on most smart speakers. You can join our Newscast online community here: https://tinyurl.com/newscastcommunityhere Get in touch with Newscast by emailing [email protected] or send us a whatsapp on +44 0330 123 9480. New episodes released every day. If you're in the UK, for more News and Current Affairs podcasts from the BBC, listen on BBC Sounds: https://bit.ly/3ENLcS1 Newscast brings you daily analysis of the latest political news stories from the BBC. It was presented by Adam Fleming. It was made by Chris Flynn with Lucy Gape. The technical producer was Dafydd Evans. The assistant editor is Chris Gray. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.

Transcript

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0:00.0	American politics can sometimes feel like a different language.
0:05.0	But our podcast can help you translate.
0:07.3	Make sense of what's happening in the US, with new podcast episodes arriving throughout the week.
0:12.1	AmeriCast, listen on BBC Sounds.
0:15.2	Hello, you're about to listen to old newscast.
0:17.8	This is our new style of podcast where we take a big moment from recent history
0:22.7	and give it the newscast treatment, almost as if it's happening in the news now. And then we do a
0:28.7	second episode where we look at the ripples that came out of that moment and what the consequences
0:33.7	were further down the line. And part one of each series will be available on
0:38.0	Saturdays wherever you get your podcasts, with part two available on Sundays, only on BBC Sounds.
0:46.6	BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. Hello, during the summer, Laura Kay's Sunday show is not on air, but we didn't want to leave you in a newscast lurch at the weekend. So we've recorded some more episodes of old newscast in response to audience feedback, saying you like the previous episodes. So over the next few weekends, we're going to give you some of the most consequential news days, the newscast treatment.
1:13.9	Basically, the classic episodes of newscasts you get normally, but looking at big momentous days from the past.
1:21.0	Today, we are going to look at the 11th of February 1990.
1:26.5	That is the day Nelson Mandela was released from prison after 27 years
1:32.2	behind bars. Initially, he'd been jailed for using sabotage to resist South Africa's racist apartheid
1:40.1	laws. But this was the moment that he was finally free. And we will be talking through that
1:46.1	moment. And the many important moments that came afterwards were some of the BBC's best brains
1:51.1	who experienced it all. That's on this episode of old newscast. Newscast from the BBC.
1:57.7	After 27 years in South African jails, Nelson Mandela is a free man.
2:02.6	Thousands of South Africans black and white pinning their hopes on a hero.
2:07.6	I greet you all in the name of peace.
2:10.6	Your freedom and mind cannot be saturated.
	...

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