Introduction
Rolihlahla Mandela was
born into the Madiba clan in the
village of Mvezo , Transkei,
on 18 July 1918. His
mother was Nonqaphi Nosekeni and his father
was Nkosi
Mphakanyiswa Gadla Mandela, principal
counsellor to the Acting King of the
Thembu people,
Jongintaba Dalindyebo. In 1930, when he was
12 years old, his
father died and the young
Rolihlahla became a ward of Jongintaba at the
Great
Place in Mqhekezweni 1 .
valour during the wars of resistance, he dreamed
also
of making his own contribution to the freedom struggle
of his people.He attended primary
school in Qunu
where his teacher, Miss Mdingane, gave him
the
name Nelson, in accordance with the
custom of giving all schoolchildren
“Christian” names.
He completed his Junior
Certificate at Clarkebury
Boarding Institute and went on to Healdtown, a
Wesleyan secondary school of some repute, where
he matriculated.
Mandela began his studies
for a Bachelor of Arts
degree at the University College of Fort Hare but did
not
complete the degree there as he was expelled for joining in
a student
protest.
King was furious and said if he didn’t return to
Fort Hare
he would arrange wives for him and his cousin Justice.
They ran away
to Johannesburg instead, arriving there
in 1941. There he worked as a mine
security officer and
after meeting Walter Sisulu, an estate agent, he was
introduced to Lazer Sidelsky. He then did his articles
through a firm of
attorneys – Witkin, Eidelman and
Sidelsky.
back to Fort Hare for his
graduation in 1943.
Meanwhile, he began
studying for an LLB at the
University of the Witwatersrand. By his own
admission he
was a poor student and left the university in 1952 without
graduating. He only started studying again through the
University of London
after his imprisonment in 1962 but
also did not complete that degree.
he obtained
an LLB through the University of South Africa.
He graduated in absentia at a
ceremony in Cape Town.
Entering politics
Mandela, while
increasingly politically involved from 1942,
only joined the African National
Congress in 1944 when he
helped to form the ANC Youth League (ANCYL).
a nurse. They had two sons, Madiba Thembekile
"Thembi" and Makgatho, and two daughters both
called Makaziwe, the
first of whom died in infancy.
He and his wife divorced in 1958.
through its efforts, the ANC adopted a more radical
mass-based policy, the Programme of Action, in 1949.
Nelson Mandela on the
roof of Kholvad House in 1953. Image courtesy of the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation
In 1952 he was chosen as
the National Volunteer-in-Chief
of the Defiance Campaign with Maulvi Cachalia
as his
deputy. This campaign of civil disobedience against six
unjust laws was
a joint programme between the ANC and
the South African Indian Congress. He and
19 others
were charged under the Suppression of Communism
Act for their part in
the campaign and sentenced to
nine months of hard labour, suspended for two
years.
Mandela to practise law, and in August 1952 he and
Oliver Tambo established South Africa’s first black
law firm, Mandela &
Tambo.
At the end of 1952 he was
banned for the first time.
As a restricted person he was only permitted to
watch
in secret as the Freedom Charter was adopted in
Kliptown on 26 June 1955.
on 5 December 1955, which led to the 1956 Treason
Trial.
Men and women of all races found themselves in the
dock in the marathon
trial that only ended when the
last 28 accused, including Mandela, were acquitted
on 29 March 1961.
in a protest in
Sharpeville against the pass laws.
This led to the country’s first state of
emergency and
the banning of the ANC and the Pan Africanist Congress
(PAC) on 8
April. Mandela and his colleagues in the
Treason Trial were among thousands
detained during
the state of emergency.
During the trial Mandela
married a social worker,
Winnie Madikizela, on 14 June 1958. They had two
daughters, Zenani and Zindziswa. The couple divorced
in 1996.Days before the end of
the Treason Trial,
Mandela travelled to Pietermaritzburg to speak at the
All-in
Africa Conference, which resolved that he should
write to Prime Minister
Verwoerd requesting a national
convention on a non-racial constitution, and to
warn that
should he not agree there would be a national strike
against South
Africa becoming a republic. After
he and his colleagues were acquitted in the
Treason
Trial, Mandela went underground and began planning
a national strike
for 29, 30 and 31 March.
In the face of massive
mobilisation of state security the
strike was called off early. In June 1961 he
was asked
to lead the armed struggle and helped to establish
Umkhonto weSizwe
(Spear of the Nation), which launched
on 16 December 1961 with a series of
explosions.
Madiba travelled with his
Ethiopian passport. © National Archives of South Africa
On 11 January 1962, using the adopted
name David Motsamayi, Mandela secretly
left South Africa.
He travelled
around Africa and visited England to
gain support for the
armed struggle. He received military training in Morocco and
Ethiopia and
returned to South Africa in July 1962. He was arrested in
a
police roadblock outside Howick on 5 August while returning
from
KwaZulu-Natal, where he had briefed ANC President Chief Albert
Luthuli
about his trip.He was charged with leaving the country
withouta permit and inciting
workers to strike.
Hewas convicted and sentenced to fiveyears' imprisonment,
which he began
servingat the Pretoria Local Prison. On 27 May
1963 he
was transferred to Robben
Island and returnedto Pretoria on 12 June. Within a
month
policeraided Liliesleaf, a secret hide-out in
Rivonia
used by ANC and Communist Party
activists, and
On 9 October 1963 Mandela joined 10 others on trial for
sabotage inwhat became known as the Rivonia Trial.
While facing the death
penalty hiswords to the court at
the end of his famous "Speech from the
Dock"
on 20 April 1964
became immortalised:
Walter Sisulu,
AhmedKathrada, Govan Mbeki,
Raymond Mhlaba, Denis Goldberg, Elias
Motsoaledi
and Andrew Mlangeni, were convicted and the
next day were sentenced
tolife imprisonment. Goldberg
was sent to Pretoria Prison because he
was, while the others
went to Robben Island.
Mandela’s mother died in 1968 and his eldest son,
Thembi, in 1969.
He was not allowed to attend their
funerals.On 31 March 1982 Mandela
was transferred
to Pollsmoor Prison in Cape Town with Sisulu, Mhlaba
and
Mlangeni. Kathrada joined them in October. When
he returned to the prison in
November 1985 after
prostate surgery, Mandela was held alone. Justice
Minister
Kobie Coetsee visited him in hospital.
Later Mandela initiated talks about an
ultimate
meeting between the apartheid government
and the ANC.
he was diagnosed
with tuberculosis. After more than
three months in two hospitals he was
transferredon
7 December 1988 to a house at Victor Verster Prison
near Paarl
where hespent his last 14 months of
imprisonment. He was released
from its
gates on Sunday 11 February 1990,
nine days after the unbanning of the ANC and
the
PAC and nearly four months after the release of
his remaining
Rivonia comrades. Throughout his
imprisonment he had rejected at least three conditional
offers of release.Mandela immersed himself
in official
talks to endminority rule and in 1991 was elected ANC
President to replace his
ailing friend, Oliver Tambo.
In 1993 he and President FW de Klerk jointly won
the Nobel
Peace Prize and on 27 April 1994 he voted for the
first time in his
life.
President
Africa’s first
democratically elected President. On his 80th
birthday in 1998 he married
Graça Machel, his third wife.
True to his promise,
Mandela stepped down in 1999
after one term as President. He continued to work
with the
Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund he set up in 1995
and established the
Nelson Mandela Foundation and
The Mandela Rhodes Foundation.In April 2007
his
grandson, Mandla Mandela, was installed as
head of the Mvezo Traditional Council at a
ceremony at the Mvezo Great Place.
Nelson Mandela never
wavered in his devotion to
democracy, equality and learning. Despite terrible
provocation,he never answered racism with racism.
His life is an inspiration to all who are oppressed and deprived;
and to all who are opposed to oppression
and deprivation.
He died at his home in
Johannesburg on 5 December 2013.
village of Mvezo , Transkei, on 18 July 1918. His
mother was Nonqaphi Nosekeni and his father
was Nkosi Mphakanyiswa Gadla Mandela, principal
counsellor to the Acting King of the Thembu people,
Jongintaba Dalindyebo. In 1930, when he was
12 years old, his father died and the young
Rolihlahla became a ward of Jongintaba at the
Great Place in Mqhekezweni 1 .
valour during the wars of resistance, he dreamed
also of making his own contribution to the freedom struggle
of his people.He attended primary school in Qunu
where his teacher, Miss Mdingane, gave him
the name Nelson, in accordance with the
custom of giving all schoolchildren “Christian” names.
He completed his Junior Certificate at Clarkebury
Boarding Institute and went on to Healdtown, a
Wesleyan secondary school of some repute, where
he matriculated.
degree at the University College of Fort Hare but did not
complete the degree there as he was expelled for joining in
a student protest.
King was furious and said if he didn’t return to Fort Hare
he would arrange wives for him and his cousin Justice.
They ran away to Johannesburg instead, arriving there
in 1941. There he worked as a mine security officer and
after meeting Walter Sisulu, an estate agent, he was
introduced to Lazer Sidelsky. He then did his articles
through a firm of attorneys – Witkin, Eidelman and
Sidelsky.
back to Fort Hare for his graduation in 1943.
University of the Witwatersrand. By his own admission he
was a poor student and left the university in 1952 without
graduating. He only started studying again through the
University of London after his imprisonment in 1962 but
also did not complete that degree.
he obtained an LLB through the University of South Africa.
He graduated in absentia at a ceremony in Cape Town.
only joined the African National Congress in 1944 when he
helped to form the ANC Youth League (ANCYL).
a nurse. They had two sons, Madiba Thembekile
"Thembi" and Makgatho, and two daughters both
called Makaziwe, the first of whom died in infancy.
He and his wife divorced in 1958.
through its efforts, the ANC adopted a more radical
mass-based policy, the Programme of Action, in 1949.
of the Defiance Campaign with Maulvi Cachalia as his
deputy. This campaign of civil disobedience against six
unjust laws was a joint programme between the ANC and
the South African Indian Congress. He and 19 others
were charged under the Suppression of Communism
Act for their part in the campaign and sentenced to
nine months of hard labour, suspended for two years.
Mandela to practise law, and in August 1952 he and
Oliver Tambo established South Africa’s first black
law firm, Mandela & Tambo.
As a restricted person he was only permitted to watch
in secret as the Freedom Charter was adopted in
Kliptown on 26 June 1955.
on 5 December 1955, which led to the 1956 Treason Trial.
Men and women of all races found themselves in the
dock in the marathon trial that only ended when the
last 28 accused, including Mandela, were acquitted
on 29 March 1961.
in a protest in Sharpeville against the pass laws.
This led to the country’s first state of emergency and
the banning of the ANC and the Pan Africanist Congress
(PAC) on 8 April. Mandela and his colleagues in the
Treason Trial were among thousands detained during
the state of emergency.
During the trial Mandela married a social worker,
Winnie Madikizela, on 14 June 1958. They had two
daughters, Zenani and Zindziswa. The couple divorced
in 1996.Days before the end of the Treason Trial,
Mandela travelled to Pietermaritzburg to speak at the
All-in Africa Conference, which resolved that he should
write to Prime Minister Verwoerd requesting a national
convention on a non-racial constitution, and to warn that
should he not agree there would be a national strike
against South Africa becoming a republic. After
he and his colleagues were acquitted in the Treason
Trial, Mandela went underground and began planning
a national strike for 29, 30 and 31 March.
strike was called off early. In June 1961 he was asked
to lead the armed struggle and helped to establish
Umkhonto weSizwe (Spear of the Nation), which launched
on 16 December 1961 with a series of explosions.
On 11 January 1962, using the adopted
name David Motsamayi, Mandela secretly
left South Africa.
He travelled
around Africa and visited England to
gain support for the
armed struggle. He received military training in Morocco and
Ethiopia and
returned to South Africa in July 1962. He was arrested in
a
police roadblock outside Howick on 5 August while returning
from
KwaZulu-Natal, where he had briefed ANC President Chief Albert
Luthuli
about his trip.He was charged with leaving the country
withouta permit and inciting
workers to strike.
Hewas convicted and sentenced to fiveyears' imprisonment,
which he began
servingat the Pretoria Local Prison. On 27 May
1963 he
was transferred to Robben
Island and returnedto Pretoria on 12 June. Within a
month
policeraided Liliesleaf, a secret hide-out in
Rivonia
used by ANC and Communist Party
activists, and
several of his comrades were arrested.
sabotage inwhat became known as the Rivonia Trial.
While facing the death penalty hiswords to the court at
the end of his famous "Speech from the Dock"
Walter Sisulu, AhmedKathrada, Govan Mbeki,
Raymond Mhlaba, Denis Goldberg, Elias Motsoaledi
next day were sentenced tolife imprisonment. Goldberg
was sent to Pretoria Prison because he
Thembi, in 1969. He was not allowed to attend their
funerals.On 31 March 1982 Mandela was transferred
to Pollsmoor Prison in Cape Town with Sisulu, Mhlaba
and Mlangeni. Kathrada joined them in October. When
he returned to the prison in November 1985 after
prostate surgery, Mandela was held alone. Justice
Minister Kobie Coetsee visited him in hospital.
Later Mandela initiated talks about an ultimate
meeting between the apartheid government
he was diagnosed with tuberculosis. After more than
three months in two hospitals he was transferredon
7 December 1988 to a house at Victor Verster Prison
near Paarl where hespent his last 14 months of
imprisonment. He was released
nine days after the unbanning of the ANC and the
his remaining Rivonia comrades. Throughout his
imprisonment he had rejected at least three conditional
offers of release.Mandela immersed himself in official
talks to endminority rule and in 1991 was elected ANC
President to replace his ailing friend, Oliver Tambo.
In 1993 he and President FW de Klerk jointly won the Nobel
Peace Prize and on 27 April 1994 he voted for the
first time in his life.
Africa’s first democratically elected President. On his 80th
birthday in 1998 he married Graça Machel, his third wife.
after one term as President. He continued to work with the
Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund he set up in 1995
and established the Nelson Mandela Foundation and
The Mandela Rhodes Foundation.In April 2007
his grandson, Mandla Mandela, was installed as
head of the Mvezo Traditional Council at a
ceremony at the Mvezo Great Place.
democracy, equality and learning. Despite terrible
provocation,he never answered racism with racism.
His life is an inspiration to all who are oppressed and deprived;
and to all who are opposed to oppression and deprivation.
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