Mr Mandela appeared at the gates of Victor-Verster Prison in Paarl with his wife Winnie. Holding her hand and dressed in a light brown suit and tie he smiled at the ecstatic crowds and punched the air in a victory salute before taking a silver BMW sedan to Cape Town, 40 miles away.
People danced in the streets across the country and thousands clamoured to see him at a rally in Cape Town.
Mr Mandela, the deputy-president of the ANC, appeared on the balcony of Cape Town's City Hall to speak to the 50,000 people assembled outside at 2000 local time. He acknowledged Mr de Klerk was a man of integrity, but said: "Our struggle has reached a decisive moment. Our march to freedom is irreversible."
"Now is the time to intensify the struggle on all fronts. To relax now would be a mistake which future generations would not forgive," he continued. As he addressed the crowd South African state television broadcast a profile of Mr Mandela - including a BBC interview from 1961 - which was the first time he had been shown speaking on TV.
Since the 1980s he has refused numerous offers for early release from the government in Pretoria because of the conditions attached.[/english]
لنترجم معا ونتعاون .. مقطع تلو الآخر ...
