NELSON MADIBA MANDELA

His ExcellencyNelson Mandela in johannesburg, on 13 May 2008President of South AfricaIn office10 May 1994 – 14 June 1999DeputyThabo MbekiF. W. de KlerkPreceded byF. W. de KlerkSucceeded byThabo MbekiPersonal detailsBornRolihlahla Mandela18 July 1918Mvezo,Cape ProvinceUnion of South AfricaDied5 December 2013(aged 95)Johannesburg, South AfricaResting placeMandela GraveyardQunu,Eastern Cape31°48′17.15″S28°36′48.7″E/31.8047639°S 28.613528°ENationalitySouth AfricanPolitical partyAfrican National CongressOther politicalaffiliationsSouth African Communist PartySpouse(s)Evelyn Ntoko Mase(m. 1944–1957; divorced)Winnie Madikizela(m. 1958–1996; divorced)Graça Machel(m. 1998–2013; his death)Children*.Thembekile Mandela*.Makaziwe Mandela*.Makgatho Mandela*.Makaziwe Mandela*.Zenani Mandela*.Zindziswa MandelaAlma materUniversity of Fort HareUoL External ProgrammeUniversity of South AfricaUniversity of the WitwatersrandOccupation*.Social Activist*.PoliticianProfessionLawyerReligionMethodist[1][2]Known forAnti-Apartheid MovementAwards*.Bharat Ratna(1990)*.Nobel Peace Prize(1993)*.Order of Lenin*.Presidential Medal of FreedomNotable work(s)Long Walk to FreedomSignatureWebsitewww.nelsonmandela.orgNickname(s)MadibaTataDalibhunga (initiation name)[3]Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela(/mænˈdɛlə/;[4]Xhosapronunciation:[xoˈliːɬaɬa manˈdeːla]; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South Africananti-apartheid revolutionary,politician, andphilanthropistwho served asPresident of South Africafrom 1994 to 1999. He was South Africa's first black chief executive,and the first elected in afully representativedemocratic election.His governmentfocused ondismantling the legacy ofapartheidthrough tackling institutionalised racism, poverty and inequality, and fostering racial reconciliation. Politically anAfrican nationalist and democratic socialist, he served asPresident of the African National Congress(ANC) from 1991 to 1997. Internationally, Mandela was Secretary General of theNon-Aligned Movementfrom 1998 to 1999.AXhosaborn to theThemburoyal family, Mandela attended theFort Hare Universityand theUniversity of Witwatersrand, where he studied law. Living inJohannesburg, he became involved inanti-colonialpolitics, joining the ANCand becoming a founding member of itsYouth League. After theSouth African National Partycame to power in 1948, he rose to prominence in the ANC's 1952Defiance Campaign, was appointed superintendent of the organisation'sTransvaalchapter and presided over the 1955Congress of the People. Working as a lawyer, he was repeatedly arrested for seditious activities and, with the ANC leadership, was unsuccessfully prosecuted in theTreason Trialfrom 1956 to 1961. Influenced byMarxism, he secretly joined theSouth African Communist Party(SACP) and sat on its Central Committee. Although initially committed to non-violent protest, in association with the SACP he co-founded the militantUmkhonto we Sizwe(MK) in 1961, leading asabotagecampaign against the apartheid government. In 1962, he was arrested, convicted of conspiracy to overthrow the state, and sentenced to life imprisonment in theRivonia Trial.Mandela served over 27 years in prison, initiallyonRobben Island, and later inPollsmoor PrisonandVictor Verster Prison. An international campaign lobbied for his release. He was released in 1990, during a time of escalating civil strife. Mandela joined negotiations with PresidentF. W. de Klerkto abolish apartheid and establishmultiracial elections in 1994, in which he led the ANC to victory and became South Africa's first black president. He publishedhis autobiographyin 1995. During his tenure in theGovernment of National Unityhe invited several other political parties to join thecabinet. As agreed to during thenegotiations to end apartheid in South Africa, he promulgated anew constitution. He also created theTruth and Reconciliation Commissionto investigate pasthuman rightsabuses. While continuing the former government'sliberal economic policy, his administration also introduced measures to encourageland reform, combat poverty, and expand healthcare services. Internationally, he acted as mediator between Libya and the United Kingdom in thePan Am Flight 103 bombing trial, and oversawmilitary intervention in Lesotho. He declined to run for a second term, and was succeeded by his deputy,Thabo Mbeki. Mandela became an elder statesman, focusing on charitable work in combating poverty andHIV/AIDSthrough the Nelson Mandela Foundation.Mandela was a controversial figure for much of his life. Denounced as a communistterroristby critics,[5][6]he nevertheless gained international acclaim for his activism, having receivedmore than 250 honours, including the 1993Nobel Peace Prize, the USPresidential Medal of Freedom, the SovietOrder of Leninand theBharat Ratna. He is held in deep respect within South Africa, where he is often referred to by hisXhosa clan name,Madiba, or asTata("Father"); he is often described as "the father of the nation".Early lifeChildhood: 1918–1936Mandela was born on 18 July 1918 in the villageofMvezoinUmtata, then a part of South Africa'sCape Province.[7]Given the forename Rolihlahla, a Xhosa term colloquially meaning"troublemaker",[7]in later years he became known by his clan name, Madiba.[8]Hispatrilinealgreat-grandfather,Ngubengcuka, wasruler of theThembupeople in theTranskeian Territoriesof South Africa's modernEastern Capeprovince.[9]One of this king's sons, namedMandela, became Nelson's grandfather and the source of his surname.[10]Because Mandela was only the king's child by a wife of the Ixhibaclan, a so-called "Left-Hand House", the descendants of hiscadet branchof the royal family weremorganatic, ineligible to inherit the throne but recognised as hereditary royal councillors.[10]His father, Gadla Henry Mphakanyiswa, was a localchiefand councillor to the monarch; he had been appointed to the position in 1915, after his predecessor was accused of corruption by a governing white magistrate.[11]In 1926, Gadla, too, was sackedfor corruption, but Nelson was told that he had lost his job for standing up to the magistrate's unreasonable demands.[12]A devotee of the godQamata,[13]Gadla was apolygamist, having four wives, four sons and nine daughters, who lived in different villages. Nelson's mother was Gadla's third wife, Nosekeni Fanny, who was daughter of Nkedama of the Right Hand House and a member of the amaMpemvu clan of Xhosa.[14]"No one in my family had ever attended school [...] On the first day of school my teacher, Miss Mdingane, gave each of us an English name. This was the custom among Africans in those days and was undoubtedly due to the British bias of our education. That day, Miss Mdingane told me that my new name was Nelson. Why this particular name I have no idea."— Mandela, 1994[15]Later stating that his early life was dominated by "custom, ritual and taboo",[16]Mandela grew up with two sisters in his mother'skraalin the village ofQunu, where he tended herds as a cattle-boy, spending much time outside with other boys.[17]Both his parents were illiterate, but being a devout Christian, his mother sent him to a localMethodistschool when he was about seven. Baptised a Methodist, Mandela was given the English forename of "Nelson" by his teacher.[18]When Mandela was about nine, his father came to stay at Qunu, where he died of an undiagnosed ailment which Mandela believed tobe lung disease.[19]Feeling "cut adrift", he later said that he inherited his father's "proud rebelliousness" and "stubborn sense of fairness".[20]His mother took Mandela to the "Great Place" palace at Mqhekezweni, where he was entrusted under theguardianshipof Themburegent, Chief Jongintaba Dalindyebo. Although he did not see his mother again for many years,Mandela felt that Jongintaba and his wife Noengland treated him as their own child, raising him alongside their son Justice and daughter Nomafu.[21]As Mandela attended church services every Sunday with his guardians, Christianity became a significant partof his life.[22]He attended aMethodistmission school located next to the palace, studying English, Xhosa, history and geography.[23]He developed a love of African history, listening to the tales told by elderly visitors to the palace, and became influenced by the anti-imperialist rhetoric of Chief Joyi.[24]At the time he nevertheless considered the European colonialists as benefactors, not oppressors.[25]Aged 16, he, Justice and several other boys travelled to Tyhalarha to undergo thecircumcisionritual that symbolically marked their transition from boys to men; the rite over, he was given the nameDalibunga.[26]Clarkebury, Healdtown, and Fort Hare: 1936–1940Mandela c. 1937Intending to gain skills needed to become a privy councillor for the Thembu royal house, Mandela began his secondary education at Clarkebury Boarding Institute inEngcobo, a Western-style institution that was the largest school for black Africans inThembuland.[27]Made to socialise with other students on an equal basis, he claimed that he lost his "stuck up" attitude, becoming best friends with a girl for the first time; he began playing sports and developed his lifelong love of gardening.[28]Completing his Junior Certificate in two years,[29]in 1937 he moved toHealdtown, the Methodist college inFort Beaufortattended by most Thembu royalty, including Justice.[30]The headmaster emphasised the superiority of English culture and government, but Mandela became increasingly interested in native Africanculture, making his first non-Xhosa friend, aSotho language-speaker, and coming under the influence of one of his favourite teachers, a Xhosa who broke taboo by marrying a Sotho.[31]Spending much of his spare time long-distance running and boxing, in his second year Mandela became aprefect.[32]With Jongintaba's backing, Mandela began work on a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree at theUniversity of Fort Hare, an elite black institution inAlice, Eastern Cape, with around 150 students. There he studied English,anthropology, politics, native administration, andRoman Dutch lawin his first year, desiring to become an interpreter or clerk in the Native Affairs Department.[33]Mandela stayed in theWesley House dormitory, befriending his own kinsman,K.D. Matanzima, as well asOliver Tambo, who became a close friend and comrade for decades to come.[34]Continuing his interest in sport, Mandela took up ballroom dancing,[35]performed in a drama society play aboutAbraham Lincoln,[36]and gave Bible classes in the local community as part of the Students Christian Association.[37]Although having friends connected to theAfrican National Congress(ANC) and the anti-imperialist movement who wanted an independent South Africa, Mandela avoided anyinvolvement,[38]and became a vocal supporter of the British war effort when theSecond World Warbroke out.[39]Helping found a first-year students' house committee which challenged the dominance of the second-years,[40]at the end of his first year he became involved in aStudents' Representative Council(SRC) boycott against the quality of food,for which he was temporarily suspended from the university; he left without receiving a degree.[41]Arriving in Johannesburg: 1941–1943Returning to Mqhekezweni in December 1940, Mandela found that Jongintaba hadarranged marriagesfor him and Justice; dismayed, they fled toJohannesburgviaQueenstown, arriving in April 1941.[42]Mandela found work as a night watchman at Crown Mines, his "first sight of South African capitalism in action", but was fired when theinduna(headman) discovered he was a runaway.[43]Staying with a cousin in George Goch Township, Mandela was introduced to the realtor and ANC activistWalter Sisulu, who secured him a job as anarticled clerkat law firm Witkin, Sidelsky and Eidelman. The company was run by a liberal Jew, Lazar Sidelsky, who was sympathetic to the ANC's cause.[44]At the firm, Mandela befriended Gaur Redebe, a Xhosa member of the ANC andCommunist Party, as well as Nat Bregman, a Jewish communist who became his first white friend.[45]Attending communist talks and parties, Mandela was impressed thatEuropeans,Africans,IndiansandColouredswere mixing as equals. He stated later that he did not join the Party because its atheism conflicted with his Christian faith, and because he saw the South African struggle as being racially based rather thanclass warfare.[46]Becoming increasingly politicised, in August 1943 Mandela marched in support of a successful bus boycott to reverse fare rises.[47]Continuing his higher education, Mandela signed up to aUniversity of South Africacorrespondence course, working on his bachelor's degree at night.[48]Earning a small wage, Mandela rented a room inthe house of the Xhoma family in theAlexandratownship; although rife with poverty, crime andpollution, Alexandra always remained "a treasured place" for him.[49]Although embarrassed by his poverty, he briefly courted aSwaziwoman before unsuccessfully courting his landlord's daughter.[50]In order to save money and be closer to downtown Johannesburg, Mandela moved into the compound of theWitwatersrand Native Labour Association, living among miners of various tribes; as the compound was a "way station for visiting chiefs", he once met the Queen Regent ofBasutoland.[51]In late 1941, Jongintaba visited, forgiving Mandela for running away. On returning to Thembuland, the regent died in winter 1942; Mandela and Justice arrived a day late for the funeral.[52]After passing his BA exams in early 1943, Mandela returned to Johannesburg to follow a political path as a lawyer rather than become a privy councillor in Thembuland.[53]He later stated that he experienced no epiphany, but that he "simply found myself doing so, and could not do otherwise."[54]Revolutionary activityLaw studies and the ANC Youth League: 1943–1949Beginning law studies at theUniversity of Witwatersrand, Mandela was the only native African student, and though facing racism, he befriended liberal and communist European, Jewish, and Indian students, among themJoe Slovo,Harry SchwarzandRuth First.[55]Joining the ANC, Mandela was increasingly influenced by Sisulu, spending much time with other activists at Sisulu'sOrlandohouse, including old friend Oliver Tambo.[56]In 1943,Mandela metAnton Lembede, anAfrican nationalistvirulently opposed to a racially united front against colonialism and imperialism or to an alliance with the communists.[57]Despite his friendships with non-blacks and communists, Mandela supportedLembede's views, believing that black Africans should be entirely independent in their strugglefor political self-determination.[58]Deciding on the need for a youth wing to mass mobilise Africans in opposition to their subjugation, Mandela was among a delegation that approached ANC PresidentAlfred Bitini Xumaon the subject at his home inSophiatown; theAfrican National Congress Youth League(ANCYL)was founded on Easter Sunday 1944 in theBantu Men's Social Centrein Eloff Street, with Lembede as President and Mandela