The British Library has helped to restore a rare recording of the former South African president, Mr Nelson Mandela, unheard for more than 30 years. The recording is of a three-hour speech Mr Mandela made at the Rivonia trial in 1964, before he was sentenced to life imprisonment.
The recording had been stored in the South African National Archives, but could only be played on a rare machine known as a dictabelt. The British Library had saved a dictabelt and offered its services after hearing an appeal from the South African Broadcasting Corporation which had "rediscovered" the trial tapes in the archives.
To mark the 11th anniversary yesterday of Mr Mandela's release from jail the British Library's National Archive has released the recordings on CD.
On April 20th, 1964, a young Mr Mandela said from the dock: "I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons will live together in harmony and with equal opportunities.
"It is an ideal for which I hope to live for and to see realised. But my lord, if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die."
Mr Mandela, along with 15 other leaders of the African National Congress (ANC), escaped the death penalty, but were sentenced to life imprisonment.
He began his sentence at Robben Island prison in June 1964 and was finally released on February 11th, 1990.
The trial attracted international attention and was a turning point in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa.
In the recording Mr Mandela is heard to say that he decided to help his people prepare for the prospect of guerrilla warfare because if war became "inevitable" they wanted to be ready.
He said: "We want to be allowed out after 11 o'clock at night, and not be confined to our rooms like little children.
"We want to be allowed to travel in our own country and to seek work where we want to, and not where the Labour Bureau tells us to.
"We want a just share in the whole of South Africa. We want security and a stake in society.
"Above all, my lord, we want equal political rights, because without them our disabilities will be permanent."
He added: "I know this sounds revolutionary to the whites in this country, because the majority of voters will be Africans. This makes the white man fear democracy.
"But this fear cannot be allowed to stand in the way of the only solution which will guarantee racial harmony and freedom for all."