- Title: ISRAEL: DENNIS GOLDBERG RELEASED AFTER 20 YEARS IN PRISON IN SOUTH AFRICA.
- Date: 1st March 1985
- Summary: 1. CU Goldberg speaking and woman listening. (English SOT) 1.31 TRANSCRIPT: GOLDBERG: (SEQ 1): "I can give all sorts of reasons as to why I did give the undertaking that was demanded. But in the end, it's the emotional reason that is the important one -- I needed to be out of prison. I would like to be an active person and not a passive symbol. Nothing has happened in
- Embargoed: 16th March 1985 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: HERZLIYA, ISRAEL
- Country: Israel
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVAETOREFN8XJEZEASN1D0QV51JN
- Story Text: HERZLIYA, ISRAEL
Dennis Goldberg, South Africa's longest-serving white political prisoner, arrived in Israel after his sudden release from jail on February 28. Goldberg, a former militant member of the banned African National Congress (ANC) had spent the past 20 years in prison after being found guilty of sabotage and plotting revolution in 1964. His release follows his acceptance of the conditional amnesty announced by President P.W. Botha on December 31. Botha offered to free long-term political prisoners, including the ANC leader Nelson Mandela, if they renounced violence. According to the South African Prison Department, Goldberg was the first of 22 inmates to accept the offer. At a news conference at the family home in Herzliya, north of Tel Aviv, Goldberg said he gave the undertaking for mainly 'emotional' reasons, the need to be out of prison. But he appeared to be unrepentant, saying nothing had happened in South Africa since his imprisonment to make him believe he was wrong. He did, however, say he wanted to see a solution 'which was not fought out on the battlefield', and asserted that the only way a lasting solution could be found was for the majority black population in South Africa to have a proper say in government.
<strong>Source: REUTERS - TALI GODER</strong> - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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