Nelson Mandela biography, children, speech, awards, prison, Nobel Prize, cause of death

Nelson Mandela biography

Nelson Mandela's name is synonymous with freedom. It ranks equally with the names of Gandhi, Patrice Lumumba, and Angela Davis. After spending a quarter of his life in prison, he didn't waver in his beliefs and became the first black president of his country.

Early years

Nelson Mandela was born on July 18, 1918, on the east coast of South Africa, in the village of Mvezo neighboring Umtata. The politician's father, Gadla Mandela, was the head of the village and belonged to the youngest branch of the ruling Eastern Cape dynasty, speaking the Xhosa language. In the course of disagreements with the colonial government, the head of the family was deprived of his position and, together with his wives and children, resettled in the neighboring village.

Nelson was one of thirteen children, born to the chief's third wife and given the name Rolihlahla, meaning "troublemaker". The Methodist school teachers found it difficult to pronounce the children's African names, so each student received an English name. Little Rolihlahla received the name Nelson from his teacher.

In the 1930s, Jongintaba Dalindyebo, Gadla Mandela's associate and assistant, became the temporary ruler of the region. After Gadla's death in 1927, the Regent Jongintaba became Nelson's guardian and after the young man had undergone an initiation rite in 1939, he paid for his studies at the public university Fort Hare, one of the few universities in South Africa that accepted black students.

At university, Nelson studied with Jongintaba's son, studying the humanities. His dissatisfaction with the existing order took the form of protest after meeting fellow student Oliver Tambo. Young people took part in anti-government speeches, for which they were expelled from the university in 1940.

Formation of political views

When Jongintaba arranged a marriage for Nelson, the young man fled to Johannesburg and took a job as a watchman, but he soon reconciled with his guardian, who paid for his studies at Witwatersrand University. Jongintaba cherished the hope that Nelson would receive a law degree and become his associate, as Gadla Mandela was.

In Johannesburg, Nelson became a member of the ANC, a left-wing political organization. A year later, he left his studies and, together with Tambo, opened a law office to serve the black population.

The creation of bantustans—reservations for indigenous people that restricted the rights of South Africa's native populations—and the flourishing apartheid policy sparked mass protests but had no effect on government policies.

In ANC, Nelson and Oliver met the most prominent Congress activists: Joe Slovo, the son of Lithuanian immigrants, and Harry Schwartz, who came from a wealthy family of German Jews.

Nelson Mandela: Documentary

After the Afrikaner Party's victory—a party that fiercely supported apartheid policies that many modern scholars call a forced response to ongoing civil conflicts—ANC members began developing more decisive methods of resistance in the early 1960s. The activists began to organize rallies and demonstrations, strikes, demanding the resignation of the government.

In 1956, about 150 members of the ANC, including Nelson, were arrested on suspicion of preparing an armed overthrow of the government. The investigation into alleged criminal activity lasted almost four years, and the court ultimately acquitted all detainees.

Violence in response to violence

As a supporter of Gandhi's philosophy, Mandela opposed violence until the early 1960s, but the Sharpeville shooting fundamentally shifted his political approach.

In the spring of 1960, ANC activists organized a peaceful protest action against the introduction of the pass system. More than 6,000 people gathered at the police station one early March morning, offering to be arrested for not carrying their passes. Despite police initially trying to manage the crowd, which had grown to 10,000 people, the situation spiraled out of control when officers opened fire from armored vehicles, killing more than 50 protesters. The UN blamed the South African government, but the authorities cracked down harder, banning the ANC and forcing the opposition underground.

In response to the shooting of peaceful civilians, radicals Slovo and Schwartz created a militarized ANC branch with Nelson as its proposed leader. The group consisted of the most physically trained members of the ANC and envisaged guerrilla methods of struggle. For two years, the Spear of the Nation carried out about 200 sabotage attacks on government offices, post offices, banks, and public spaces in major towns and cities, resulting in hundreds of deaths. The ANC's tactics drew international condemnation, with Margaret Thatcher labeling Mandela the world's number one terrorist.

According to Zoomboola.com, in 1962, someone named David Motsamaya was arrested and sentenced to 5 years imprisonment for crossing the border illegally. But the investigation that led to arrests of ANC militants and raids on their training bases revealed that the "black bombers'" commander was hiding under the name Motsamaya. "The violence of the government gave rise to retaliatory violence," said Mandela during the trial in 1962.

In spring 1964, ANC militants and Nelson Mandela were convicted of sabotage and terrorist acts using tactical weapons against civilians and sentenced to death, though the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment that April.

Prisoner of conscience

From 1964 to 1982, the "black bomber" was held at the prison facility on Robben Island, where he worked as a cartographer—a role that allowed him to move freely around the island and even live in a staff cottage. Mandela was engaged in writing books and political manifestos, as well as in education. He was finally able to get a bachelor's degree in the field of jurisprudence.

The South African government repeatedly offered the prisoner his freedom in exchange for renouncing his political beliefs and violent methods of resistance, but the "prisoner of conscience" refused.

By the late 1970s, the movement to free Mandela had reached global proportions, fueled by the strategic efforts of Slovo and Schwartz, who spread reports that he was held in solitary confinement, forced into slave labor for most of each day, and given half the food rations of white prisoners.

In spring 1982, Mandela—by then the world's most famous political prisoner—was transferred to Cape Town prison and soon underwent surgery after being diagnosed with a prostate tumor.

Nelson Mandela Gives Speech After Release From Prison on Feb. 11, 1990 | NowThis

ANC leaders used Mandela's declining health as part of their campaign for his release, but even this didn't secure their leader's freedom. The breakthrough came four years later. In 1988, President de Klerk signed a decree legalizing anti-apartheid parties, including the ANC, and on February 11, 1990, media worldwide broadcast Nelson Mandela's release after 27 years behind bars.

President of South Africa

In 1991, Mandela was elected President of the African National Congress. Mandela's speeches during this period contained veiled calls for continued resistance and were largely directed at the government. Many world leaders reacted negatively to the freedom fighter's release, but President de Klerk managed to maintain a delicate balance of power that stabilized the country's internal situation and ultimately led to both Mandela and de Klerk sharing the Nobel Peace Prize.

In 1994, Nelson Mandela became the president

In the March 1994 parliamentary elections, the ANC won decisively with over 62% of the vote, and a month later, Mandela became president. During his presidency, he enacted groundbreaking legislation that restored equality between black and white South Africans. These reforms also boosted the welfare of South African citizens and advanced healthcare and education.

Nobel Peace Prize Award Ceremony 1993

Mandela's old associate Slovo was appointed Minister of Housing, and Mr. Schwartz was given the position of South African ambassador to the United States of America.

South African President ‒ Nelson Mandela

After leaving office in 1999, Mandela lectured at universities, led various social and political organizations, and devoted himself to charity work addressing poverty and the AIDS crisis.

Nelson Mandela's personal life

Mandela's first wife was Evelyn Mase, and their marriage lasted from 1944 to 1958. Evelyn and Mandela had four children: Madiba, the eldest son died during Mandela's imprisonment, his second son, Makgatho died of AIDS in 2005, and the daughter Makaziwe died in infancy. Pumla Makaziwe Mandela, born in 1954, served as secretary and biographer of her father until his death.

Mandela's second wife was his ANC associate, Winnie Madikizela, who gave birth to her daughters Zenani and Zindzi. Mandela met twenty-year-old Winnie in Johannesburg, where she had come from Bizana to attend university, but instead became a member of the ANC. During his imprisonment, Winnie supported her husband, who, after becoming president, appointed her to an executive position in Congress, but soon had to dismiss her after learning of Winnie's adultery and her crimes.

Nelson Mandela and Winnie Madikizela with daughter, Zenani Mandela-Dlamini

In the early 80s, Winnie organized a football club for teenagers from poor families, but the sport was only a cover, and instead of football, the instructors hired by Winnie taught combat techniques to the children and cultivated in them hatred towards whites. At trial, prosecutors couldn't prove Winnie's gang participated in the killings of whites, and the woman remained free. In 1991, she was convicted of killing a teenager, but spent in prison only a year and a half: the blame for the crime was taken by another person who was also an ANC activist.

President Nelson Mandela Inauguration Speech May 10, 1994

In 1999, Winnie secured a seat in parliament, but in 2003, she was fired with a scandal and convicted of fraud, corrupt practices, and embezzlement of public funds.

At age eighty, Mandela married for the third time, wedding the widow of Mozambique's president. The marriage to Graca Machel lasted from 1998 until the end of the life of the South African president.

Death

The great leader died on December 5, 2013. After the funeral that took place in the village where Mandela spent his childhood, a will was announced, according to which the leader's money in the amount of almost $ 5 million, his real estate and income from published books were distributed among the heirs, and part of his fortune was transferred to charitable foundations and educational institutions.

Miguel Jose Alexander

I had no idea what was going on in South Africa until I got acquainted with the biography of Mandela.

2021-03-31 18:12:20
Jonathan Jones

This is how, through thorns to the stars, Mandela achieved people`s love and respect not only within South Africa, but throughout the world.

2021-03-27 13:41:33
Renee Martin

I was struck by the documentary about Nelson Mandela. Brave, wise, strong leader.

2021-03-26 22:03:49
Martha Tran

Oh, this cruel world of racism... How many people got in their lives hardships and sorrows because of the rejection of skin color!

2021-02-28 08:33:38
Melvin Thompson

Mandela is a great man. I would even say the greatest. It`s a pity that he is no longer with us...

2021-02-04 19:17:30