Nelson Mandela Life: A Biography Of Nelson Mandela
On July 18, 1918, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was born in the little hamlet of Mvezo, located in the Eastern Cape. After the passing of his own father, Nelson Mandela was essentially “adopted” by Chief Jongintaba Dalindyebo, the leader of the Tembus people. The kid was sent to receive his education at the Clarkebury Institute, Healdtown College, and the University of Fort Hare by the regent, who had the goal of preparing him for a career as a councilor to the Tembu monarch.
Mandela was kicked out of Fort Hare in 1941 and was forced to flee to Johannesburg to avoid being forced into a marriage against his will. His first employment was as a night watchman for Crown Mines, where he worked for several years.
One of his new acquaintances was Walter Sisulu, who would go on to become one of his closest political allies throughout his whole life. Mandela got a job as an articled clerk at a liberal law firm thanks to Sisulu, who had introduced him to the firm.
By the year 1944, Nelson Mandela had been an enthusiastic participant in the African National Congress (ANC) Youth League. In the same year, he tied the knot with a young nurse by the name of Evelyn Mase. When Mandela was a member of the Youth League, he advocated for African nationalism and was vehemently opposed to the influence of the Communist Party of South Africa.
In 1951, Nelson Mandela started to come around to the idea that the African National Congress (ANC) and the Communist Party should form a strategic alliance. During the year 1952, he was an integral part of the organization of the Defiance Campaign.
In the same year, Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo, a political comrade of his, founded the first African legal company in South Africa. Together, they were known as Mandela and Tambo. Mandela spent the most of the 1950s either “banned” or on trial for various offenses. During this time, he was also responsible for writing a number of essays and speeches.
For instance, in 1953, he conceived and formulated the M-plan, which was a covert cell organization for the ANC. In 1956, he gave his interpretation of the Freedom Charter in an article that he wrote for the publication Liberation. He observed that once the Freedom Charter became law, “the non-European bourgeoisie would have the opportunity to own in their own name and the right mills and factories, and trade and private enterprise would grow and flourish as never before.”
In the decades that followed, when Mandela was forced to defend himself against the allegation that he was a member in good standing of the Communist Party in secret, this sentence would come to have a great deal of significance. Mandela’s first marriage ended in divorce in the middle of the 1950s, and he wed Winnie Nomzamo Madikizela the following year, in 1958.
Mandela was one of 156 political leaders who, together with him, were taken into custody and accused of treason in the year 1956. Mandela and his co-defendants were declared not guilty of the treason charges at the end of the trial, which took place five years after the accusations were brought against them.
As a result of the massacre that took place in Sharpeville in 1960 and the subsequent banning of the ANC, Nelson Mandela made the decision to go into hiding. He quickly became known in South African popular mythology as the “Black Pimpernel.”
In the same year, he took over as head of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), which is the military branch of the African National Congress (ANC). Mandela was taken into custody in Natal after having been on the run for a significant amount of time throughout Africa and for a brief period in London.
In October of 1962, he was given a prison term of five years. This sentence was superseded by new charges less than a year after it had been handed out, and these were connected to the seizure of the MK high command at Rivonia in July 1963. In 1964, as a result of the Rivonia trial, Nelson Mandela was handed a sentence of life imprisonment.
Mandela emerged from his years of incarceration more resolute and prepared to engage in the negotiations that were to follow. He quickly rose to the position of leader of the African National Congress group of political prisoners held on Robben Island.
The 1960s were marked by difficult circumstances, and family members rarely paid visits. However, by the middle of the 1970s, hard labor was no longer an option for inmates, and they were given the opportunity to participate in organized sports and academic studies. Robben Island evolved into something of a university of revolution after the entrance of black consciousness activists in the wake of the Soweto revolt.
This was the final test of Mandela’s political prowess, and he passed it with flying colors. He successfully articulated the case for nonracialism and communal discipline in the face of radical youths who were filled with the desire to take violent action.
The African National Congress (ANC) and the anti-apartheid movement in London initiated the first Free Mandela campaign in 1978, on the occasion of his sixty-fifth birthday. The campaigns supporting Nelson Mandela would gain steam over the course of the 1980s. Mandela and a select group of his top comrades were moved from Robben Island to Pollsmoor Prison in the year 1982.
Midway through the 1980s, Mandela began engaging in conversations in confidence with leaders of the government, despite the fact that the exiled ANC had not given its approval for him to do so. In December of 1988, he was transferred to the Victor Verster Correctional Facility.
Mandela’s release was announced by President F. W. de Klerk in February of 1990, and the ban on several liberation organizations was lifted at the same time. Mandela had been incarcerated for a total of twenty-seven years. The years between 1990 and 1994 were a particularly difficult transitional phase in South Africa.
Mandela, in reality if not initially in name, was the leader of the African National Congress (ANC), and he had a tendency to keep himself removed from the negotiations, only getting involved in times of extreme tension. As a result of his efforts to raise money for the ANC while traveling the world, he was met with nearly universal adulation and came to be recognized as one of the most important and iconic people of the 20th century.
Despite the fact that their relationship was fraught with animosity, F. W. de Klerk and Nelson Mandela were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize jointly in 1993. Mandela made an appearance on television in the same year, after the assassination of Chris Hani, in order to quell the fury of the people.
It was clear that South Africa had already experienced a fundamental shift in the balance of power. This was demonstrated by the election that took place in South Africa in April 1994 and was won by the African National Congress (ANC).
Mandela used his time as president of South Africa, which he held from 1994 until 1999, to work for peace and reconciliation with those who had been his adversaries in the past. Mandela was not a hands-on politician; rather, in his role as president, he was somewhat of a monarchical figure.
This was despite the fact that the “Rainbow Nation” was going through an economic crisis and a rise in crime. In 1998, he wed Graca Machel, making this his third marriage overall. Mandela stepped down as president of South Africa in 1999, having led the country through its first period of majority rule.
Mandela’s resignation served to show other African leaders that it is possible for a great figure to gracefully step down from their position as head of state. This formed something of a precedent throughout Africa.
