Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela has achieved his dream of equality for all South Africans, against overwhelming odds. His goals were to cut racism, poverty and inequality.


"I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear. "


Nelson Mandela was born on July 18, 1918 in Transkei, a small South African village to the name Rolihlahla, his mother is Nonqaphi Nosekeni and his father Nkosi Mphakanyiswa Gadla Mandela who was "Chief Henry Mandela" of the Tembu Tribe. At the age of 7, he began his British Education, and his teacher, Miss Mdingane, gave him the name Nelson. After his father died in 1927 he was sent to Mqhekezweni where he grew his leadership skills attending counselings and tribe meetings. He was then sent to get his high education of the LLB at the University of Witwatersrand. For 20 years, he directed a campaign of peaceful, non-violent defiance against the South African government and its racist policies.


He joined the ANC, becoming one of the founders of its Youth League, he was later on elected president of the Transvaal ANC branch and so on used to oversee the Congress of the People. Working as a lawyer, ( in August 1952 he and Oliver Tambo opened the first black law firm in South Africa, called 'Mandela and Tambo'), he was repeatedly arrested along with others for engaging in activities against the government.


As mentioned on nelson mandela's website, on 11 January 1962 using the adopted name David Motsamayi, Nelson Mandela left South Africa secretly. He traveled 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 briefed ANC President Chief Albert Luthuli about his trip. He was charged with leaving the country illegally and inciting workers to strike.

While facing the death penalty, his words to the court at the end of his famous ‘Speech from the Dock’ on 20 April 1964 became immortalized:
“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 I am prepared to die.”

The next day, him and other protesters were sentenced to life imprisonment. During his time in, his mother died in 1968, the next year his oldest son passed away too. Nelson was not allowed to attend the funerals.

On Sunday 11 February 1990, Mendela was resealed from jail, that was about nine days after the ANC was unbanned. During his years in, he had rejected three conditional offers of release. Nelson Mandela's reputation grew hugely. He was widely known as a powerful leader in South Africa. He, more than once, refused to compromise his political position and opinion for his freedom.


Nelson Mandela was released on February 11, 1990 from jail. After his release, he went back to working on the goals he had set up years ago. Mendela was elected President of South Africa, from 1994 to 1999, it was for the first time, a fully representative, multiracial election.