THE LAST time Nelson Mandela stood in the dock before a white judge and fought for his freedom, he lost yesterday he found himself in another courtroom situation and this time he won.
In what the media here called the "divorce of the decade," Justice Frikkie Eloff formally ended the 77 year old South African President's 38 year marriage to Nomzamo Winnie Madikizele Mandela, who is 61.
But the tense two days Mr Mandela spent in the Rand Supreme Court appeared as harrowing and exhausting for him as the 11 month trial in 1964 when he faced charges of sabotage and conspiracy.
The lanky President in a sombre grey suit stood in the dock for two hours yesterday as his wife's advocate, Mr Ishmael Semenya, fired questions about their relationship. Mr Mandela sometimes appeared at a loss to answer Mr Semenya's questions about events in the 1960s and 1970s, saying he had forgotten or that they had happened during his 27 years in jail.
The President cheerfully greeted journalists, court officials and his wife's legal team at the beginning of the hearing on Monday, and again when it resumed yesterday but throughout the proceedings studiously avoided eye contact with Mrs Mandela.
During breaks, he engaged in light hearted banter with the large contingent of South African and foreign journalists.
Each time the hearing resumed, Mr Mandela's stern expression returned and after Justice Eloff announced the judgment, he still showed little outward sign of victory and merely closed his eyes briefly.
After shaking hands with the members of his legal team, Mr Wim Trengove and the veteran human rights lawyer, Mr George Bizos, Mr Mandela disappeared before the media could question him.
Mrs Mandela smiled and chatted with friends in the gallery during the breaks.
Despite the numerous legal and political scandals she has been embroiled in since her husband's release from prison, Mrs Mandela still has many grassroots supporters and some of them gathered outside the court buildings ill central Johannesburg on both days of the hearing to cheer her on.
"We must fight for Winnie, one woman on the steps of the granite building told journalists.
Another woman appealed to the President through a television camera "Don't listen to the rumours [about Mrs Mandela's adultery] they were spread by the apartheid government because they wanted you to divorce your wife.
One supporter claimed that Mr Mandela had sought the divorce because he wanted to marry Ms Graca Machel, the widow of the former Mozambican president, Samora Machel.
Mrs Mandela will be back in the same court today for what is expected to be a protracted legal wrangle over a financial settlement to her marriage.