Nelson Mandela, often known by his stage name Madiba, was a Black nationalist and the first Black president of South Africa (1994–1999). His full name is Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela. His discussions with South African President F.W. de Klerk in the early 1990s contributed to the peaceful conclusion of the nation's apartheid system of racial segregation. Mandela and de Klerk shared the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize for their contributions.Nelson Mandela was the Xhosa-speaking Tembu people's son, descended from Chief Henry Mandela of the Madiba tribe. Young Nelson was brought up by Jongintaba, the Tembu regent, after the passing of his father. To pursue a career as a lawyer, Nelson gave up his claim to the chieftainship. He went to South African Native College, which became the University of Fort Hare, and the University of the Witwatersrand, where he studied law. He later passed the bar test to become a lawyer. He joined the African National Congress (ANC), a movement for Black liberation, in 1944 and rose to the position of youth league leader. He met and wed Evelyn Ntoko Mase in the same year. Later, Mandela held further leadership posts within the ANC, where he worked to reenergize the group and combat the National Party's apartheid practices.Mandela founded South Africa's first Black law firm in Johannesburg in 1952 with fellow ANC leader Oliver Tambo, focusing in matters arising from the post-1948 apartheid laws. Mandela was a key figure in the beginning of a campaign of disobedience against South Africa's pass laws, which mandated that non-whites carry identification that authorized their presence in what the government designated "restricted" regions (i.e., generally reserved for the white population). As part of the campaign, he travelled around the nation to garner support for peaceful ways to protest the discriminatory legislation. He contributed to the Freedom Charter's writing in 1955, which called for nonracial social democracy in South Africa.Mandela was frequently targeted by the authorities as a result of his anti-apartheid activism. He was occasionally prohibited beginning in 1952. (severely restricted in travel, association, and speech). He was detained in December 1956 together with over 100 other persons on treason allegations intended to intimidate anti-apartheid campaigners. In the same year, Mandela was put on trial and ultimately found not guilty in 1961. He wed Nomzamo Winifred Madikizela after divorcing his first wife during the protracted legal proceedings (Winnie Madikizela-Mandela).The Rivonia Trial and underground activity
Mandela renounced his nonviolent attitude and started encouraging acts of sabotage against the South African government in the wake of the 1960 Sharpeville killing of unarmed Black South Africans by police, which led to the ANC's eventual banning. He fled into hiding and helped create Umkhonto we Sizwe, the ANC's armed wing (during which time he earned the nickname "Black Pimpernel" for his capacity to avoid capture). He traveled to Algeria in 1962 to receive instruction in sabotage and guerilla warfare before returning to South Africa in the following year. Mandela was detained at a roadblock in Natal on August 5, not long after his homecoming, and was later given a five-year prison term.The infamous Rivonia Trial, named after a posh suburb of Johannesburg where raiding police had discovered a large amount of weapons and equipment at the headquarters of the underground Umkhonto we Sizwe, took place in October 1963. The trial involved the imprisoned Mandela and several other men and was held for sabotage, treason, and violent conspiracy. Mandela's address from the witness stand, in which he acknowledged that some of the accusations leveled against him were true, was an iconic defense of liberty and a stand against tyranny. (I Am Prepared to Die, the title of his speech, which received widespread acclaim and attention, was published later that year.) He received a life sentence on June 12, 1964, narrowly avoiding the death penalty.Incarceration
Mandela was detained on the offshore Robben Island Prison from 1964 to 1982. He was then held at the high-security Pollsmoor Prison until 1988, when, following tuberculosis treatment, he was moved to the Victor Verster Prison close to Paarl. Mandela received conditional offers of freedom from the South African government on occasion, most notably in 1976, in exchange for his acceptance of the Transkei Bantustan's newly independent status and consent to live there. He was needed to give up using violence in order to accept an offer made in 1985. Mandela declined both proposals, the second on the grounds that he was not a free man because he was a prisoner and could not participate in such conversations.Mandela maintained strong support from the Black population of South Africa throughout his imprisonment, and the foreign society that opposed apartheid made his captivity a cause célèbre. Ministers in the administration of President P.W. Botha engaged him in exploratory talks as South Africa's political situation deteriorated after 1983, and especially after 1988. In December 1989, he met with Botha's successor, de Klerk.
Mandela was freed from jail by the South African government, led by President de Klerk, on February 11, 1990. Mandela was selected to serve as the ANC's deputy president soon after his release. In July 1991, he was elected party president. To put an end to apartheid and ensure a smooth transition to nonracial democracy in South Africa, Mandela led the ANC in negotiations with de Klerk.Governing and retiring
The Mandela-led ANC won South Africa's first elections in April 1994 with a majority vote, and on May 10 Mandela took the oath of office as the first president of a multiethnic government. He established the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in 1995, which looked into human rights abuses committed during apartheid, and he put forth housing, educational, and economic development projects aimed at raising the standard of living for the Black population of the nation. He presided over the adoption of a new democratic constitution in 1996. In December 1997, Mandela resigned from his position with the ANC, handing Thabo Mbeki the reins of the party. After divorcing Madikizela-Mandela in 1996, Mandela wed Graca Machel in 1998. Samora Machel was a former Mozambican president and Frelimo leader.Mbeki succeeded Mandela as president of South Africa in 1999 when Mandela declined to run for reelection. Mandela resigned from active politics after leaving government but continued to be a vocal international proponent of peace, harmony, and social justice, frequently through the initiatives of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, which was founded in 1999. He was a founder member of the Elders, an organization of world leaders started in 2007 to promote negotiation and problem-solving on a global scale. In honor of Mandela's 90th birthday in 2008, many events were held in South Africa, the United Kingdom, and other nations.
Mandela Day was established to honor his legacy by fostering community service all across the world on the day of his birthday. The Nelson Mandela Foundation and the 46664 initiative, the foundation's global HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention campaign, were primarily responsible for its first commemoration on July 18, 2009; later that year, the United Nations proclaimed the day to be celebrated annually as Nelson Mandela International Day.I Am Prepared to Die (1964; revised edition 1986), No Easy Walk to Freedom (1965; updated edition 2002), The Struggle Is My Life (1978; revised edition 1990), and In His Own Words contain all of Mandela's writings and speeches (2003). His early years and years in prison are detailed in the memoirs Long Walk to Freedom, which was released in 1994. Mandla Langa finished the unfinished text of his second memoir book, which was published posthumously as Dare Not Linger: The Presidential Years (2017).
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