1962 — Nelson Mandela Is Arrested Near Howick

On August 5, 1962, apartheid police flagged down a car on a road outside Howick and arrested the passenger posing as a chauffeur — Nelson Mandela, the "Black Pimpernel," who had evaded capture for seventeen months. Fresh from military training in Ethiopia and Morocco, he was charged with inciting strikes and leaving the country illegally.

His twenty-seven years in prison are counted from this day. A roadside stop meant to silence a fugitive instead created the world's most famous prisoner, whose long confinement kept his cause before the world. In time, that prisoner would become South Africa's first Black president.