All eyes were on the balcony where Mandela was to make his appearance. Familiar faces showed themselves to polite cheering, but people had not come to see Allan Boesak or Jesse Jackson. When Mandela and entourage finally arrived, some time before midnight, he appeared stiff and serious. He read from a prepared speech, carefully spelling out each word.

Many South Africans were not pleased on that balmy evening with what he had to say. Mandela reaffirmed his dedication to the cause of the struggle and the African National Congress, and called for disciplined mass action. This disappointed many whites and those in the business community who, somewhat stupidly, had not expected him to sound so militant. But he also declared that President FW de Klerk was a "man of integrity", legitimating the Afrikaner leader in the eyes of the black majority, and thereby validating negotiations with the regime as the route to liberation. This perplexed many of his young followers who were gearing up for the final assault on the apartheid state.

His voice becoming extraordinarily powerful, Mandela closed by repeating his pledge from the Rivonia dock, before he was taken off to life imprisonment on Robben Island, that he was prepared to die in the struggle against white and black domination.