Nelson Mandela (18 July 1918-5 December 2013) was the leader of the African National Congress and the President of South Africa from 10 May 1994 to 14 June 1999, succeeding F.W. de Klerk and preceding Thabo Mbeki. Mandela was famous for leading opposition to the racist policy of apartheid from the 1960s to the 1990s, and he was arrested and held on Robben Island and at other prisons for 27 years. In 1994, he became the first native African president of South Africa, ending 46 years of segregation and oppression.
Biography[]
Promising lawyer[]
Mandela giving a speech in Johannesburg
Nelson Mandela was born on 18 July 1918 in Mvezo, Cape Province, South Africa to a Protestant Xhosa family. He was from the Thembu royal family, and he came from wealth; he attended the University of Fort Hare and the University of the Witwatersrand, studying law. Mandela became involved in anti-colonial politics while living in Johannesburg, and he joined the African National Congress before being a founding member of its Youth League. When apartheid (segregation) was announced in 1948, Mandela became active in opposing this law, and he became president of the ANC's Transvaal branch. From 1956 to 1961, he was unsuccessfully tried for treason, and he secretly joined the South African Communist Party due to his Marxist influences. Mandela was a believer in leftist politics, and he inspired the people that he spoke to; he would marry Winnie Madikizela-Mandela in 1958 after she fell in love with him after attending one of his rallies.
Revolutionary leader[]
Mandela being interviewed about the Sharpeville massacre in prison
In response to the Sharpeville massacre, Mandela founded the ANC's armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), which he led in a sabotage campaign against the government. MK laid landmines, ambushed the army, and occasionally carried out terrorist attacks, and in 1962 he was sentenced to life in prison after the Rivonia Trial. He served 27 years in prison at Robben Island, Pollsmoor Prison, and Victor Verster Prison. In 1990, President F.W. de Klerk released him from prison after international opinion turned against the racist government, and in 1994 he negotiated multiracial elections, which Mandela and the ANC won. He was the first black president of South Africa, and his revolution succeeded in winning equal rights for blacks and whites.
President of South Africa[]
On 10 May 1994, Mandela was sworn into office, with fellow ANC leader Thabo Mbeki serving as his deputy. Mandela led a broad coalition government that reconciled between the country's racial groups, investigated previous human rights abuses, and drafted a new constitution that abolished all racist laws in the country. He encouraged land reform, fought against poverty, and expanded health care, and Mandela left office in 1999 after one term after declining to run again. Mbeki succeeded him, and Mandela devoted the rest of his life to be an elder statesman that was involved in charity, the fight against HIV/AIDS, and helping the poor. His Nelson Mandela Foundation helped people across the country, and Mandela was a beloved figure when he died in 2013 at the age of 85. He is called "Father of the Nation" for his contributions to civil rights in Africa.
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