By Lafayette A. Barnes

Washington  Informer

After nearly 40 years, the U.S. Congress has passed legislation to lift the terrorist ban on Nelson Mandela and his political party, the African National Congress (ANC). In the 1970s, the U.S. government placed the members and representatives of the ANC, including its leaders like Mandela, Walter Sisulu, and Govan Mbeki - the father of South African President Thabo Mbeki - on the U.S. Terrorist Watch List.

These South African freedom fighters were placed on the U.S. Terrorist List at the urging of the old Apartheid regime, which had declared the ANC a terrorist organization because of its war of liberation to free oppressed South Africans from the racist system of apartheid.

Consequently, all ANC members and representatives were required to obtain a waiver from the U.S. Department of State to obtain a travel visa to enter the United States. This practice has continued under seven U.S. Presidents, including Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter, George Bush, and Bill Clinton. In 1990, the South African government lifted its terrorist ban on the ANC and released Mandela from nearly 27 years of imprisonment while the United States government did nothing, until now.

The 110th U.S. Congress, under the leadership of Representative Howard Bernard (D-Ca.), Representative Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), Representative Barbara Lee (D-Ca.), Sen. John Kerry (D-Ma.) and co-sponsors introduced identical bills in both houses to remove the ANC from treatment as a terrorist organization. The House passed its bill on May 8, with Senate approval coming on June 26.

"The decision is testimony to the relations and goodwill that exists between our two countries and to the capacity of our two countries to overcome any difficulty in our relationship in view of the fact that there are always open lines of communication between our principles and between the Embassy and the State Department and U.S. Congress," said South African Ambassador Welile Nhlapo.

Sen. Kerry applauded the bill's passage.

"In recognition of his 90th birthday this summer, Nelson Mandela is again honored as one of the world's strongest voices for human dignity and courage in the face of oppression. Today, the United States moved closer at last to removing the great shame of dishonoring this great leader by including him on our government's terror watch list," Kerry said.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) estimates that nearly a million names are on the U.S. Terrorist Watch List.

Mel Foote, president and CEO of the Constituency for Africa called Mandela's place on the terrorist watch list "an embarrassment," and questioned what efforts were made to correct the process.

Thus, after nearly four decades and seven U.S. presidential administrations, the United States government will end this practice that treated Mandela and some many other South Africans like terrorists. The legislation now goes to the White House where President George Bush is expected to sign it into law before the Independence Day holiday.

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