Nelson Mandela was a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, politician, and philanthropist, who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country’s first black head of state and the first elected in a fully representative democratic election. His government focused on dismantling the legacy of apartheid by tackling institutionalized racism and fostering racial reconciliation. As South Africa’s first black president, he was also the world’s most famous political prisoner.
Table of Contents:
1. Early life and education
2. Resistance to apartheid
3. Imprisonment and release
4. Presidency
5. Later life and death
6. Legacy
7. Top Quotes by Nelson Mandela
Early life and education
Nelson Mandela was born on 18 July 1918 in the village of Mvezo in Umtata, then a part of South Africa’s Cape Province. He was one of the thirteen children of his father’s four wives. His mother was Gadla Henry Mphakanyiswa, a third-wife of his father. Mandela’s birth name was Rolihlahla, a Xhosa name meaning “troublemaker”, which his teacher later changed to Nelson.
As a child, Mandela was given the English name of Nelson by his teacher. He attended primary school in Qunu, where he began to develop his lifelong love for the African outdoors and hunting. When he was nine, his father died of tuberculosis and he became a ward of Jongintaba Dalindyebo, the Regent of the Thembu people. Mandela was educated at a Methodist mission school and later at the University of Fort Hare where he studied law. While at Fort Hare, he was elected Class President.
Resistance to apartheid
Mandela joined the African National Congress (ANC) in 1944. He committed himself to the ANC’s stance of non-violent protest against the ruling National Party’s apartheid policies. In 1955, he helped lead the ANC’s campaign against the government’s pass laws, which required black South Africans to carry identification documents at all times. The following year, he participated in the Congress of the People, which adopted the Freedom Charter, a document calling for political and economic equality for all South Africans.
In December 1956, Mandela was arrested with several other ANC leaders on charges of treason. He was acquitted in 1961, but remained active in the ANC’s campaign of resistance, which now advocated armed struggle. In 1962, he was arrested again and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment. While in prison, he completed his law studies and was awarded a Bachelor of Laws degree by the University of London.
In June 1964, Mandela and seven other ANC leaders were tried for sabotage and sentenced to life imprisonment. He was held at the maximum security prison on Robben Island, where he remained for the next 18 years. During this time, he was only allowed to see his wife and children on rare occasions.
Imprisonment and release
In 1982, Mandela was moved to the prison on Pollsmoor Island, where he shared a cell with General Secretary of the ANC, Walter Sisulu. He was also allowed more visitors and was able to meet with his wife and children on a regular basis. In 1985, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis and was moved to the Victor Verster Prison, where he continued to receive treatment for his illness.
Mandela was released from prison on 11 February 1990, after 27 years’ imprisonment. He immediately called for calm and reconciliation, urging his supporters to refrain from revenge or violence. He also resumed his role as President of the ANC.
Presidency
In April 1994, Mandela was elected President of South Africa in the country’s first fully representative democratic election. He took office on 10 May, with his inauguration ceremony held at the Union Buildings in Pretoria. As President, Mandela worked to promote reconciliation between the country’s different racial groups and to end the legacy of apartheid. He also set up the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate human rights abuses that had occurred during the apartheid era.
Mandela’s term as President was marked by economic and social challenges. He faced criticism for his handling of the AIDS epidemic and for the high levels of crime in the country. However, he was widely praised for his role in promoting racial reconciliation. He also won international acclaim for his efforts to end the apartheid regime and promote democracy in South Africa.
Later life and death
Mandela retired from public life in 1999, but continued to work for social justice through his charitable foundation. In 2004, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer and underwent treatment for the disease.
Mandela died on 5 December 2013 at his home in Houghton, Johannesburg, at the age of 95. His death was followed by national and international mourning. He was honoured with a state funeral on 10 December, which was attended by leaders from around the world.
Legacy
Mandela is widely regarded as one of the most influential people of the 20th century. He is celebrated for his role in fighting apartheid and promoting democracy in South Africa. He is also admired for his commitment to peace and reconciliation.
Mandela’s birthday (18 July) is now a national holiday in South Africa, known as Nelson Mandela Day. In 2009, he was posthumously awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Top Quotes by Nelson Mandela
A fundamental concern for others in our individual and community lives would go a long way in making the world the better place we so passionately dreamt of.
A winner is a dreamer who never gives up.
To the youth of today, I also have a wish to make: Be the scriptwriters of your destiny and feature yourselves as stars that showed the way towards a brighter future.
It is in the character of growth that we should learn from both pleasant and unpleasant experiences.
You will achieve more in this world through acts of mercy than you will through acts of retribution.
One cannot be prepared for something while secretly believing it will not happen.
I like friends who have independent minds because they tend to make you see problems from all angles.
Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.
Difficulties break some men but make others. No ax is sharp enough to cut the soul of a sinner who keeps on trying, one armed with the hope that he will rise even in the end.
A real leader uses every issue, no matter how serious and sensitive, to ensure that at the end of the debate we should emerge stronger and more united than ever before.
A good leader can engage in a debate frankly and thoroughly, knowing that at the end he and the other side must be closer, and thus emerge stronger. You don’t have that idea when you are arrogant, superficial, and uninformed.
A good head and good heart are always a formidable combination. But when you add to that a literate tongue or pen, then you have something very special.
The truth is that we are not yet free; we have merely achieved the freedom to be free, the right not to be oppressed. We have not taken the final step of our journey, but the first step on a longer and even more difficult road. For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others. The true test of our devotion to freedom is just beginning.
For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.
Live life as though nobody is watching, and express yourself as though everyone is listening.
Peace is not just the absence of conflict; peace is the creation of an environment where all can flourish, regardless of race, color, creed, religion, gender, class, caste, or any other social markers of difference.
Our freedom cannot be complete while others in the world are not free.
There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find how you have altered.
I never lose. I either win or learn.
What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.
If you want the cooperation of humans around you, you must make them feel they are important – and you do that by being genuine and humble.
During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. 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.
It always seems impossible until it’s done.
Freedom cannot be achieved unless the women have been emancipated from all forms of oppression.
Money won’t create success, the freedom to make it will.
If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.
Today we should all ask ourselves: What have I done to improve the surroundings in which I live?
If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.
As long as many of our people still live in utter poverty, as long as children still live under plastic covers, as long as many of our people are still without jobs, no South African should rest and wallow in the joy of freedom.
It is so easy to break down and destroy. The heroes are those who make peace and build.
As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn’t leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I’d still be in prison.
Without language, one cannot talk to people and understand them; one cannot share their hopes and aspirations, grasp their history, appreciate their poetry, or savor their songs.
Everyone can rise above their circumstances and achieve success if they are dedicated to and passionate about what they do.
Real leaders must be ready to sacrifice all for the freedom of their people.
A leader…is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind.
Sometimes it falls upon a generation to be great, you can be that generation.
No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.
We must use time creatively, and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right.
I am not a saint unless you think of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying.
There is no passion to be found playing small – in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.
Overcoming poverty is not a task of charity, it is an act of justice. Like slavery and apartheid, poverty is not natural. It is man-made and it can be overcome and eradicated by the actions of human beings. Sometimes it falls on a generation to be great. You can be that great generation. Let your greatness blossom.
Everyone can rise above their circumstances and achieve success if they are dedicated to and passionate about what they do.
One of the most difficult things is not to change society — but to change yourself.
I am fundamentally an optimist. Whether that comes from nature or nurture, I cannot say. Part of being optimistic is keeping one’s head pointed toward the sun, one’s feet moving forward. There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not and could not give myself up to despair. That way lays defeat and death.
It is what we make out of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another.
Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell and got back up again.
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.
It is easy to break down and destroy. The heroes are those who make peace and build.
Everyone can rise above their circumstances and achieve success if they are dedicated to and passionate about what they do.
Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice. It is the protection of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life.