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| Nelson Mandela |
Nelson Mandela was born on July 18, 1918, in
Mveso, Transkei, South Africa. Becoming actively involved in the anti-apartheid
movement in his 20s, Mandela joined the African National Congress in 1942. For
20 years, he directed a campaign of peaceful, non-violent defiance against the
South African government and its racist policies. In 1993, Mandela and South
African President F.W.
de Klerk were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to
dismantle the country's apartheid system. In 1994, Mandela was inaugurated as
South Africa's first black president. In 2009, Mandela's
birthday (July 18) was declared Mandela Day to promote global peace and
celebrate the South African leader's legacy.
Early Life
Nelson Mandela was born Rolihlahla
Mandela on July 18, 1918, in the tiny village of Mvezo, on the banks of the
Mbashe River in Transkei, South Africa. "Rolihlahla" in the Xhosa
language literally means "pulling the branch of a tree," but more
commonly translates as "troublemaker."
Nelson Mandela's father, who was
destined to be a chief, served as a counselor to tribal chiefs for several
years, but lost both his title and fortune over a dispute with the local
colonial magistrate. Mandela was only an infant at the time, and his father's
loss of status forced his mother to move the family to Qunu, an even smaller
village north of Mvezo. The village was nestled in a narrow grassy valley;
there were no roads, only foot paths that linked the pastures where livestock
grazed. The family lived in huts and ate a local harvest of maize, sorghum,
pumpkin and beans, which was all they could afford. Water came from springs and
streams and cooking was done outdoors. Mandela played the games of young boys,
acting out male rights-of-passage scenarios with toys he made from the natural
materials available, including tree branches and clay.
At the suggestion of one of his
father's friends, Mandela was baptized in the Methodist Church. He went on to
become the first in his family to attend school. As was custom at the time, and
probably due to the bias of the British educational system in South Africa,
Mandela's teacher told him that his new first name would be Nelson.
When Mandela was 9 years old, his
father died of lung disease, causing his life to change dramatically. He was
adopted by Chief Jongintaba Dalindyebo, the acting regent of the Thembu people—a
gesture done as a favor to Mandela's father, who, years earlier, had
recommended Jongintaba be made chief. Mandela subsequently left the carefree
life he knew in Qunu, fearing that he would never see his village again. He
traveled by motorcar to Mqhekezweni, the provincial capital of Thembuland, to
the chief's royal residence. Though he had not forgotten his beloved village of
Qunu, he quickly adapted to the new, more sophisticated surroundings of
Mqhekezweni.
Mandela was given the same status and
responsibilities as the regent's two other children, his son and oldest child,
Justice, and daughter Nomafu. Mandela took classes in a one-room school next to
the palace, studying English, Xhosa, history and geography. It was during this
period that Mandela developed his interest in African history from elder chiefs
who came to the Great Palace on official business. He learned how the African
people had lived in relative peace until the coming of the white people.
According to the elders, the children of South Africa had lived as brothers, but
the white man shattered this fellowship. While the black man shared his land,
air and water with the white man, the white man took all of these things for
himself.
When Mandela was 16, it was time for
him to partake in the traditional African circumcision ritual to mark his
entrance into manhood. The ceremony of circumcision was not just a surgical
procedure, but an elaborate ritual in preparation for manhood. In African
tradition, an uncircumcised man cannot inherit his father's wealth, marry or
officiate at tribal rituals. Mandela participated in the ceremony with 25 other
boys. He welcomed the opportunity to partake in his people's customs and felt
ready to make the transition from boyhood to manhood. His mood shifted during
the proceedings, however, when Chief Meligqili, the main speaker at the
ceremony, spoke sadly of the young men, explaining that they were enslaved in
their own country. Because their land was controlled by white men, they would
never have the power to govern themselves, the chief said. He went on to lament
that the promise of the young men would be squandered as they struggled to make
a living and perform mindless chores for white men. Mandela would later say
that while the chief's words didn't make total sense to him at the time, they
would eventually formulate his resolve for an independent South Africa.
From the time Mandela came under the
guardianship of Regent Jongintaba, he was groomed to assume high office, not as
a chief, but a counselor to one. As Thembu royalty, Nelson attended a Wesleyan
mission school, the Clarkebury Boarding Institute and Wesleyan College, where,
he would later state, he found interest and achieved academic success through
"plain hard work." He also excelled at track and boxing. Mandela was
initially mocked as a "country boy" by his Wesleyan classmates, but
eventually became friends with several students, including Mathona, his first
female friend.
In 1939, Mandela enrolled at the
University College of Fort Hare, the only residential center of higher learning
for blacks in South Africa at the time. Fort Hare was considered Africa's
equivalent of Oxford or Harvard, drawing scholars from all parts of sub-Sahara
Africa. In his first year at the university, Mandela took the required courses,
but focused on Roman Dutch law to prepare for a career in civil service as an
interpreter or clerk—regarded as the best profession a black man could obtain
at the time.
In his second year at Fort Hare,
Mandela was elected to the Student Representative Council. For some time,
students had been dissatisfied with the food and lack of power held by the SRC.
During this election, a majority of students voted to boycott unless their
demands were met. Aligning with the student majority, Mandela resigned from his
position. Seeing this as an act of insubordination, the university's Dr. Kerr
expelled Mandela for the rest of the year, but gave him an ultimatum: He could
return if he agreed to serve on the SRC. When Mandela returned home, the regent
was furious, telling Mandela unequivocally that he would have to recant his
decision and go back to school in the fall.
Mandela's Imprisonment
A few weeks after Nelson Mandela's
return home, Regent Jongintaba announced that he had arranged a marriage for
his adopted son. The regent wanted to make sure that Mandela's life was
properly planned, and the arrangement was within his right, as tribal custom
dictated. Shocked by the news, feeling trapped and believing he had no other
option, Mandela ran away from home. He settled in Johannesburg, where he worked
a variety of jobs, including as a guard and a clerk, while completing his
bachelor's degree via correspondence courses. He then enrolled at the
University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg to study law.
Mandela soon became actively involved
in the anti-apartheid movement, joining the African National Congress in 1942.
Within the ANC, a small group of young Africans banded together, calling
themselves the African National Congress Youth League. Their goal was to transform
the ANC into a mass grassroots movement, deriving strength from millions of
rural peasants and working people who had no voice under the current regime.
Specifically, the group believed that the ANC's old tactics of polite
petitioning were ineffective. In 1949, the ANC officially adopted the Youth
League's methods of boycott, strike, civil disobedience and non-cooperation,
with policy goals of full citizenship, redistribution of land, trade union
rights, and free and compulsory education for all children.
For 20 years, Mandela directed
peaceful, nonviolent acts of defiance against the South African government and
its racist policies, including the 1952 Defiance Campaign and the 1955 Congress
of the People. He founded the law firm Mandela and Tambo, partnering with Oliver Tambo, a
brilliant student he'd met while attending Fort Hare. The law firm provided
free and low-cost legal counsel to unrepresented blacks.
In 1956, Mandela and 150 others were
arrested and charged with treason for their political advocacy (they were
eventually acquitted). Meanwhile, the ANC was being challenged by Africanists,
a new breed of black
activists who believed that the pacifist method of the ANC was ineffective.
Africanists soon broke away to form the Pan-Africanist Congress, which
negatively affected the ANC; by 1959, the movement had lost much of its
militant support.
In 1961, Mandela, who was formerly
committed to nonviolent protest, began to believe that armed struggle was the
only way to achieve change and subsequently co-founded Umkhonto we Sizwe, also
known as MK, an armed offshoot of the ANC dedicated to sabotage and guerilla
war tactics to end apartheid. In 1961, Mandela orchestrated a three-day
national workers' strike.
He was arrested for leading the strike
the following year and sentenced to five years in prison. Then, in 1963, he was
brought to trial again. This time, he and 10 other ANC leaders were sentenced
to life imprisonment for political offenses, including sabotage.
Nelson Mandela was incarcerated on
Robben Island for 18 of his 27 years in prison. During this time, he contracted
tuberculosis and, as a black political prisoner, received the lowest level of
treatment from prison workers. However, while incarcerated, Mandela was able to
earn a Bachelor of Law degree through a University of London correspondence
program.
A 1981 memoir by South African
intelligence agent Gordon Winter described a plot by the South African
government to arrange for Mandela's escape so as to shoot him during the
recapture. The plot was foiled by British intelligence, however. Mandela
continued to be such a potent symbol of black resistance that a coordinated
international campaign for his release was launched, and this international
groundswell of support exemplified the power and esteem Mandela had in the
global political community.
In 1982, Mandela and other ANC leaders
were moved to Pollsmoor Prison, allegedly to enable contact between them and
the South African government. In 1985, President P.W. Botha offered
Mandela's release in exchange for renouncing armed struggle; the prisoner
flatly rejected the offer. With increasing local and international pressure for
his release, the government participated in several talks with Mandela over the
years, but no deal was made. It wasn't until Botha suffered a stroke and was replaced
by Frederik Willem de Klerk that Mandela's release was finally announced, on
February 11, 1990. De Klerk also unbanned the ANC, removed restrictions on
political groups and suspended executions.
Prison Release and Presidency
Upon his release from prison, Nelson
Mandela immediately urged foreign powers not to reduce their pressure on the
South African government for constitutional reform. While he stated that he was
committed to working toward peace, he declared that the ANC's armed struggle
would continue until the black majority received the right to vote.
In 1991, Mandela was elected president
of the African National Congress, with lifelong friend and colleague Oliver Tambo
serving as national chairperson. Mandela continued to negotiate with President F.W. de Klerk
toward the country's first multiracial elections. White South Africans were
willing to share power, but many black South Africans wanted a complete
transfer of power. The negotiations were often strained and news of violent
eruptions, including the assassination of ANC leader Chris Hani, continued
throughout the country. Mandela had to keep a delicate balance of political
pressure and intense negotiations amid the demonstrations and armed resistance.
In 1993, Mandela and President de
Klerk were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their work toward
dismantling apartheid. Due in no small part to their work, negotiations between
black and white South Africans prevailed: On April 27, 1994, South Africa held
its first democratic elections.
Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as the
country's first black president on May 10, 1994, at the age of 77, with de
Klerk as his first deputy. Also in 1994, Mandela published his autobiography, Long
Walk to Freedom, much of which he had secretly written while in prison. The
following year, he was awarded the Order of Merit. From 1994 until June 1999,
Mandela worked to bring about the transition from minority rule and apartheid
to black majority rule. He used the nation's enthusiasm for sports as a pivot
point to promote reconciliation between whites and blacks, encouraging black
South Africans to support the once-hated national rugby team. In 1995, South
Africa came to the world stage by hosting the Rugby World Cup, which brought
further recognition and prestige to the young republic.
Mandela also worked to protect South
Africa's economy from collapse during his presidency. Through his
Reconstruction and Development Plan, the South African government funded the
creation of jobs, housing and basic health care. In 1996, Mandela signed into
law a new constitution for the nation, establishing a strong central government
based on majority rule, and guaranteeing the rights of minorities and the
freedom of expression.
Retirement and Later Career
By the 1999 general election, Nelson
Mandela had retired from active politics. He continued to maintain a busy
schedule, however, raising money to build schools and clinics in South Africa's
rural heartland through his Mandela Foundation, and serving as a mediator in
Burundi's civil war. He also published a number of books on his life and
struggles, among them No Easy Walk to Freedom; Nelson Mandela: The
Struggle is my Life; and Nelson Mandela's Favorite African Folktales.
Mandela was diagnosed and treated for
prostate cancer in 2001. In June 2004, at the age of 85, he announced his
formal retirement from public life and returned to his native village of Qunu.
On July 18, 2007, Mandela convened a
group of world leaders, including Graca Machel (whom Mandela would wed in
1998), Desmond
Tutu, Kofi
Annan, Ela Bhatt, Gro Harlem Brundtland, Jimmy Carter,
Li Zhaoxing, Mary
Robinson and Muhammad
Yunus, to address the world's toughest issues. Named "The
Elders," the group is committed to working both publicly and privately to
find solutions to problems around the globe. Since its inception, the group has
made an impact in Asia, the Middle East and Africa, promoting peace and women's
equality, demanding an end to atrocities, and supporting initiatives to address
humanitarian crises and promote democracy.
In Recent Years
Nelson Mandela made his last public
appearance to date in 2010, at the final match of the World Cup in South
Africa. He has largely stepped out of the spotlight, choosing to spend much of
his time in his childhood community of Qunu, south of Johannesburg. He did,
however, visit with Michelle Obama,
U.S. first lady and wife of President Barack Obama,
during her trip to South Africa in 2011.
In recent months, there have been
growing concerns about Mandela's health. After suffering a lung infection in
January 2011, Mandela was briefly hospitalized in Johannesburg to undergo
surgery for a stomach ailment in early 2012. He was released after a few days,
later returning to Qunu. In December 2012, Mandela was hospitalized for tests
and medical treatment relating to a recurrent lung infection. In March 2013, he
was re-admitted to the hospital after his lung infection returned. Hours later,
it was reported that he was responding positively to treatment. On June 8,
2013, a 94-year-old Mandela was rushed to a hospital in Pretoria, receiving
treatment once again for a recurring lung infection. Later that same day, the
South African president's office stated that Mandela was in "serious but
stable condition," and that he was breathing on his own. Mandela's wife,
Graca Machel, reportedly canceled a scheduled appearance in London to remain at
her husband's his side, and his daughter, Zenani Dlamini, Argentina's South
African ambassador, reportedly flew back to South Africa to be with her father.
Jacob Zuma, South
Africa's current president, issued a statement in response to public concern
over Mandela's March 2013 health scare, asking for support in the form of
prayer: "We appeal to the people of South Africa and the world to pray for
our beloved Madiba and his family and to keep them in their thoughts,"
Zuma said. "We have full confidence in the medical team and know that they
will do everything possible to ensure recovery."
Nelson Mandela continues to be a
source of inspiration for civil
rights activists worldwide. In 2009, Mandela's
birthday (July 18) was declared Mandela Day, an international day to
promote global peace and celebrate the South African leader's legacy. According
to the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory, the annual event is meant to encourage
citizens worldwide to give back the way that Mandela has throughout his
lifetime. A statement on the Nelson
Mandela Centre of Memory's website reads: "Mr. Mandela gave 67 years
of his life fighting for the rights of humanity. All we are asking is that
everyone gives 67 minutes of their time, whether it's supporting your chosen
charity or serving your local community."
Mandela has been married three times.
He was married to Evelyn Ntoko Mase from 1944 to 1957. The couple had four
children together: Madiba Thembekile, Makgatho, Makaziwe and Maki. He and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela
were married from 1958 to 1996; they had two daughters together, Zenani and
Zindziswa. In 1998, Mandela married Graca Machel.
In addition to advocating for peace
and equality on both a national and global scale, Mandela has remained
committed to the fight against AIDS, a disease that killed his son, Makgatho,
in 2005.
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