Nelson Mandela Biography

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Rolihlahla Mandela was born into the He attended primary school in Qunu He completed his BA through the Madiba clan in the village of Mvezo, where his teacher Miss Mdingane University of and went , on July 18, 1918. His gave him the name Nelson, in back to Fort Hare for his graduation mother was Nonqaphi Nosekeni and accordance with the custom to give in 1943. his father was Nkosi Mphakanyiswa all school children “Christian” names. Gadla Mandela, principal counsellor On his return to the Great Place at to the Acting King of the Thembu He completed his Junior Certifi cate Mqhekezweni the King was furious people, Jongintaba Dalindyebo.In at Clarkebury Boarding Institute and and said if he didn’t return to Fort 1930, when he was 12 years old, his went on to Healdtown, a Wesleyan Hare he would arrange wives for father died and the young Rolihlahla secondary school of some repute, him and his cousin Justice. They became a ward of Jongintaba at the where he matriculated. ran away to instead, Great Place in Mqhekezweni.* arriving there in 1941. There he Nelson Mandela began his studies worked as a mine security offi cer and Hearing the elders’ stories of his for a Bachelor of Arts degree at the after meeting , an estate ancestors’ valour during the wars University College of Fort Hare but agent, he was introduced to Lazer of resistance, he dreamed also of did not complete the degree there Sidelsky. He then did his articles making his own contribution to the as he was expelled for joining in a through a fi rm of attorneys, Witkin freedom struggle of his people. student protest. Eidelman and Sidelsky. Nelson Mandela biography PAGE 2

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.

In 1989, while in the last months of his imprisonment, he obtained an LLB through the University of South Africa. He graduated in absentia at a ceremony in Cape Town.

Nelson Mandela, while increasingly politically involved from 1942, only joined the African National Congress in 1944 when he helped to form the ANC Youth League.

In 1944 he married Walter Sisulu’s cousin , 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.

Nelson Mandela rose through the At the end of 1952 he was banned for thousands detained during the state ranks of the ANCYL and through the first time. As a restricted person he of emergency. its efforts, the ANC adopted a more was only permitted to watch in secret radical mass-based policy, the as the was adopted During the trial on 14 June 1958 Programme of Action in 1949. in Kliptown on 26 June 1955. Nelson Mandela married a social worker, Winnie Madikizela. They had In 1952 he was chosen at the National Nelson Mandela was arrested in two daughters, Zenani and Zindziswa. Volunteer-in-Chief of the Defiance a countrywide police swoop on 5 The couple divorced in 1996. Campaign with Maulvi Cachalia as December 1955, which led to the his deputy. This campaign of civil . Men and women Days before the end of the Treason disobedience against six unjust laws of all races found themselves in the Trial Nelson Mandela travelled to was a joint programme between the dock in the marathon trial that only Pietermaritzburg to speak at the All-in ANC and the South African Indian ended when the last 28 accused, Africa Conference, which resolved Congress. He and 19 others were including Mandela were acquitted on that he should write to Prime Minister charged under the Suppression of 29 March 1961. Verwoerd requesting a non-racial Communism Act for their part in the national convention, and to warn that campaign and sentenced to nine On 21 March 1960 police killed should he not agree there would be months hard labour, suspended for 69 unarmed people in a protest a national strike against South Africa two years. in Sharpeville against the pass becoming a republic. As soon as he laws. This led to the country’s and his colleagues were acquitted A two-year diploma in law on top of his first state of emergency and the in the Treason Trial Nelson Mandela BA allowed Nelson Mandela to practice banning of the ANC and the Pan went underground and began law, and in August 1952 he and Oliver Africanist Congress on 8 April. planning a national strike for 29, 30 Tambo established South Africa’s first Nelson Mandela and his colleagues and 31 March. In the face of massive black law firm, . in the Treason Trial were among mobilisation of state security the strike Nelson Mandela biography PAGE 3

“I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which .”

was called off early. In June 1961 he Liliesleaf, a secret hide-out in Rivonia was asked to lead the armed struggle used by ANC and Communist Party and helped to establish Umkhonto activists, and several of his comrades weSizwe (Spear of the Nation) which were arrested. launched on 16 December 1961 with a series of explosions. On 9 October 1963 Nelson Mandela joined ten others on trial for sabotage On 11 January 1962, using the in what became known as the Rivonia adopted name David Motsamayi, Trial. While facing the death penalty Nelson Mandela secretly left his words to the court at the end of his South Africa. He travelled around famous ‘Speech from the Dock’ on 20 Africa and visited England to gain April 1964 became immortalised: “I support for the armed struggle. have fought against white domination, He received military training in and I have fought against black Morocco and Ethiopia and returned domination. I have cherished the to South Africa in July 1962. He ideal of a democratic and free society was arrested in a police roadblock in which all persons live together in outside Howick on 5 August harmony and with equal opportunities. while returning from KwaZulu- It is an ideal which I hope to live for Natal where he had briefed ANC and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an President Chief Albert Luthuli about ideal for which I am prepared to die.” his trip. On 11 June 1964 Nelson Mandela He was charged with leaving and seven other accused: Walter the country illegally and inciting Sisulu, , Govan workers to strike. He was Mbeki, Raymond Mhlaba, Denis convicted and sentenced to five Goldberg, Elias Motsoaledi and years’ imprisonment which he Andrew Mlangeni were convicted and began serving in the Pretoria the next day were sentenced to life Local Prison. On 27 May 1963 he imprisonment. Denis Goldberg was was transferred to sent to Pretoria Prison because he and returned to Pretoria on 12 was white, while the others went to June. Within a month police raided Robben Island. Nelson Mandela biography PAGE 4

Nelson Mandela’s mother died in the PAC and nearly four months In April 2007 his grandson Mandla 1968 and his eldest son Thembi in after the release of his remaining Mandela was installed as head of 1969. He was not allowed to attend Rivonia comrades. Throughout his the Mvezo Traditional Council at a their funerals. imprisonment he had rejected at least ceremony at the Mvezo Great Place. three conditional offers of release. On 31 March 1982 Nelson Mandela Nelson Mandela never wavered was transferred to Pollsmoor Nelson Mandela immersed himself in his devotion to democracy, Prison in Cape Town with Sisulu, in official talks to end white minority equality and learning. Despite Mhlaba and Mlangeni. Kathrada rule and in 1991 was elected ANC terrible provocation, he never joined them in October. When he President to replace his ailing friend answered racism with racism. His returned to the prison in November . In 1993 he and life is an inspiration to all who are 1985 after prostate surgery Nelson President FW de Klerk jointly won oppressed and deprived; and to all Mandela was held alone. Justice the Nobel Peace Prize and on 27 who are opposed to oppression and Minister Kobie Coetsee visited him April 1994 he voted for the first time deprivation. in hospital. Later Nelson Mandela in his life. initiated talks about an ultimate He died at his home in meeting between the On 10 May 1994 he was Johannesburg on 5 December 2013. government and the ANC. inaugurated South Africa’s first democratically elected President. On *Nelson Mandela’s father died On 12 August 1988 he was taken his 80th birthday in 1998 he married in 1930 when Mandela was 12 to hospital where he was diagnosed Graça Machel, his third wife. and his mother died in 1968 with tuberculosis. After more than when he was in prison. While three months in two hospitals he True to his promise Nelson Mandela the autobiography Long Walk to was transferred on 7 December stepped down in 1999 after one Freedom places Madiba’s father’s 1988 to a house at Victor Verster term as President. He continued death in 1927, historical evidence Prison near Paarl where he spent to work with the Nelson Mandela shows it must have been later, his last 14 months of imprisonment. Children’s Fund he set up in 1995 most likely 1930. In fact, the He was released from its gates on and established the Nelson Mandela original Sunday 11 February 1990, nine days Foundation and The Mandela manuscript (written on Robben after the unbanning of the ANC and Rhodes Foundation. Island) states the year as 1930.