Ku itariki ya 5 ukwezi kwa munani mu 1962, igipolisi cy’Afurika y’epfo cyataye muri yombi Nelson Mandela wayoboraga ishyaka ritemewe rya ANC, akaba ari nawe wari umuyobozi wa mbere mukuru w’ingabo zaryo, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK).
Yafatanywe n’indi mpirimbanyi, Cecil Williams, bafatirwa ahitwa Cedara, akajyi gato kari hafi y’uwitwa Howick, uri mu ntara ya Natal. Yafashwe amaze iminsi mike agarutse muri Afurika y’epfo nyuma y’amezi atandatu ari mu gihugu cya Maroko aho yari yaragiye kwihugura mu bya gisirikare.
Mbere yo gutaha, yari yagiye no mu nama All Africa People’s Conference yabereye muri Ethiopiya. Nelson Mandela akimara gufatwa, bamwe mu bagize umutwe w’ingabo, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) baketse ko yagambaniwe, ariko Nelson Mandela ntiyigeze abiha agaciro.
Mu myaka yakurikiyeho, uwitwa Donald Rickard, wari umudiplomate w’Amerika, yatangaje ko ikigo cy’Amerirka gishinzwe iperereza (CIA), cyatinyaga ko Nelson Mandela yaba akorana n’abagendera ku matwara ya gikomunisiti, CIA, yatungiye agatoki Leta y’Afurika y’epfo aho Nelson Mandela yari aherereye.
Yarafashwe, afungirwa muri gereza yitwa Marshall Square iri I Johannesburg, aregwa ibyaha byo guhamagararira abakozi kwigaragambya no kuva mu gihugu atabifitiye uburenganzira. Nelson Mandela yahisemo kwiburanira, kubera ko yashakaga kwifashisha urubanza rwe kugirango agaragaze ko ishyaka rya ANC ritemeraga na gato politiki ishingiye kw’ivangura amoko.
Abarwanashaka ba ANC bari benshi imbere y’inzu urubanza rwaberagamo, bigaragambya, biba ngombwa ko urubanza rusubikwa. Rwongeye gusubukurwa mu kwezi kwa cumi, Nelson Mandela yanze kugira uwo asaba kumubera umutangabuhamya, bityo ukwiregurwa kwe agutangamo ibitekerezo bye bya politiki.
Yahamwe n’icyaha, akatirwa gufungwa imyaka itanu. Asohoka mu rukiko yasanze abambari be bahanitse baririmba “Nkosi Sekelel iAfrika”