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Rolihlahla “Nelson” Mandela: life story of a patriot. Biography, life and story of a true Icon
On 18th July 1918, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was born into the Madiba clan in Mvezo village, Eastern Cape, South Africa.
His mother’s name was Nonqaphi Nosekeni while his father’s was Nkosi Mphakanyiswa Gadla Mandela who happened to be the principal counsellor to the Interim king of the people of Thembu, Jongintaba Dalindyebo.
Early Years/Childhood
At the age of twelve (12), in 1930, Rolihlahla’s father died and at the very young age, he became a ward of Jongintaba at the Great Place in Mqhekezweni.
While being educated with the stories of his ancestors during the wars of resistance, he became very fascinated by the idea of contributing his own quota to the struggle for freedom of his people.
Education
Rolihlahla started his primary school and had the opportunity to meet with Miss Mdingane, a mentor teacher, who named him “Nelson,” regarding a mandatory requirement of giving every schoolchild a “Christian” name.
After he graduated from the elementary school, he completed his Junior Secondary School at Clarkebury Boarding Institute and furthered to Healdtown, a Wesleyan secondary school, where he has his matriculation.
Mandela gained admission to University College of Fort Hare to study a Bachelor of Arts, but was unable to complete his first degree programme following his involvement in a student protest which rocked the entire school.
Rolihlahla “Nelson” Mandela: Life Story Of A Patriot
Upon his return to the Great Place at Mqhekezweni, the King became infuriated and said if he (Mandela) refused to return to Fort Hare, he would for him and his cousin Justice into early marriages.
In 1941, while avoiding the king’s wrath, Mandela and his cousin, Justice, fled to Johannesburg. He started working as a mind security guard where he met with an estate agent Walter Sisulu who eventually introduced him to Lazer Sidelski.
He then did his articles through a firm of attorneys –Witkin, Eidelman and Sidelsky.
After completing his BA at the University of South Africa, he returned to Fort Hare in 1943 for his graduation.
Meanwhile, he started to study for an LLB at the University of the Witwatersrand and by his own conviction, he called himself a poor student and quit his studies in 1952 without graduating.
He returned to school in 1962 through the University of London after his jail term, but quite unfortunate again, he did complete the degree.
So, 1989, while in the last month of his imprisonment, he obtained an LLB from the University of South Africa. He graduated while in absentia at a ceremony in Cape Town.
Political Career
Mandela moved to Johannesburg in 1941. This move opened his eyes not only to an industrial city but also to a nation of injustice based on racial segregation.
For the first time, he saw himself as a black man in a white society.
He began working as a law clerk with Walter Sisulu, a prominent black businessman active in the African National Congress (ANC).
While proactively involved in politics since 1942, Mandela joined the African National Congress (ANC) in 1944 where he was instrumental to the formation of the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL).
In 1944, he married Evelyn Mase, a nurse, and Walter Sisulu’s cousin.
There marital union was blessed with four (4) children− two (2) sons and two (2) daughters−Madiba Thembekile “Thembi,” Makgatho but the two daughters were both called Makaziwe, with the first of the girls died in infancy.
Mandela and Evelyn Mase, his wife, divorced in 1958.
Rolihlahla “Nelson” Mandela: Life Story Of A Patriot
Mandela’s ascension started in ANCYL and through his immense contribution and efforts, the ANC adopted a more radical mass-based policy, named the Programme of Action, in 1949.
In 1952, he was named the National Volunteer-in-Chief of the Defense Campaign alongside Maulvi Cachalia as his deputy. This campaign of civil resistance was against six (6) illegal laws.
The movement was programmed between the ANC and the South African Indian Congress.
He with 19 others was charged under the Suppression of Communism Act for their involvement in the campaign and convicted to nine-month imprisonment with hard labor and banned for two years.
Despite his Bachelor of Arts degree, Mandela also had a two-year diploma in law which qualified him to practice law.
In August 1951, Mandela and Oliver Tambo established South Africa’s first black-owned law firm named, Mandela & Tambo.
Although, there were at least 2 other black owned law firms before Mandela and Tambo
Towards the end of 1952, Mandela was banned for the first time. As a matter of restriction placed on him, he could only be allowed to watch, in secret, as the Freedom Charter was introduced in Kliptown on 26th June, 1955.
The Treason Trial
On 5th December, 1956, Mandela was apprehended during a nationwide police swoop which occasioned his 1956 Treason Trial.
Men and women of all walks of life and races found themselves behind bars in the lengthy trial which could only end when the last twenty-eight (28) accused, including Mandela, were set free on 29th march, 1961.
On 21st March 1960, the South African police killed 69 unarmed civilian in a confrontation in Sharpeville against the pass laws which catalyzed the country’s first state of emergency and the suspension of ANC and the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) on 8th April of the same year.
Mandela and his companions were among thousands of others remanded during the state of emergency.
On 14th June, 1958, during his trial, he married Winnie Madikizela, a social worker. They went on to have two (2) daughters, Zenani and Zinziswa. They got divorced in 1996−after thirty-eight years of marriage, 1996.
A few days before the end of the Treason Trial, Mandela travelled long to Pietermaritzburg to speak at the All-in Africa Conference where he wrote to Prime Minister Verwoerd, demanding a national conference devoid of racial constitution and he threatened that if declined, a nationwide strike would be embarked upon against South Africa becoming a republic.
Rolihlahla “Nelson” Mandela: Life Story Of A Patriot
After he was acquitted, along with his colleagues, of Treason, Mandela disappeared from the public view, secretly planning a three-day nationwide strike, 29th, 30th and 31st March.
In the wake of massive deployment and reinforcement of state security forces, the strike was called off early.
And in June 1961, he was implored to marshal the armed struggle and aided the establishment of Umkhonto weSizwe (Spear of the Nation), which was launched on 16th December, 1961, with various numbers of explosions.
Travel On A Falsified Ethiopian Passport
On eleventh (11th) January, 1962, with an adopted name, David Motsamayi, Mandela absconded South Africa.
He travelled to various African countries and visited England where he canvassed support for the armed struggle.
Mandela was militarily trained in Morocco and Ethiopia before returning to South Africa in July, 1962.
He was nabbed in a police roadblock around Howick on fifth (5th) August when he was returning from KwaZulu-Natal, where he went to brief ANC President Chief Albert Luthuli about his absence.
Subsequently, he was charged with illegal absenteeism and involvement in inciting nationwide strike against the government.
He got jailed for five (5) years which he served at the Pretoria Local Prison.
On 27th May, 1963, he was transferred to Robben Island and brought back to Pretoria on 12th June.
Within the pace of a month, the police ransacked Liliesleaf, an unpopular hideout in Rivonia, Johannesburg, used by ANC and the Communist Party activists which led to the arrest and apprehension of various comrades.
Mandela joined ten (10) others on trial for wanton destruction in what was widely known as the Rivonia Trial. Which facing the reality of death sentence, his famous words to the court, “Speech from the Dock” on 20th April, 1964 became immortalized:
Rolihlahla “Nelson” Mandela: Life Story Of A Patriot
“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.”
Mandela’s Speech From The “Dock Quote, 20th April, 1964.
On 11th June, 1964, Mandela with seven other accused persons−Walter Sisulu, Ahmed Kathrada, Govan Mbeki, Raymond Mhlaba, Denis Goldberg, Elias Motsoaledi and Andrew Mlangeni, was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment on the next day.
Due to Goldberg being white, he was sent to Pretoria Prison while Mandela and others convicted persons were sent to Robben Island.
Mandela lost his mother in 1968 and his eldest son, Thembi, in 1969 respectively but he was not permitted to be present at both funerals due to the conditions surrounding his conviction.
Mandela was transferred to Pollsmoor Prison in Cape Town with Sisulu, Mhlaba and Mlangeni on 31st March, 1982, Kathrada joined them in October.
In November, 1985, following his successful prostrate surgery, Mandela was held alone. The-then Minister of Justice Kobie Coetsee visited him in the hospital.
Later, Mandela engineered a dialogue between the apartheid government and the ANC.
Freedom From Imprisonment
On 12th August, 1988, Mandela was taken to hospital where he was diagnosed with tuberculosis.
On seventh (7th) December, 1988, after he had spent more than three months in two hospitals, he was transferred to a house at Victor Verster Prison close to Paarl where he was made to spend last 14 months in prison.
Rolihlahla “Nelson” Mandela: Life Story Of A Patriot
Mandela was released on Sunday, 11th February, 1990, nine (9) days after lifting of bans placed on the ANC and the PAC, and almost four (4) months after the release of his remaining Rivonia comrades
It was learned that while serving his jail term, Mandela had rescinded three conditional offers of release.
He actively engaged himself in official dialogue to end white minority rule and in 1991, he was elected ANC president in place of his sick friend, Oliver Tambo.
In 1993, he and President FW de Klerk jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize and on 27th April, 1994, Mandela participated in voting exercise for the first time.
Presidency
On May 10, 1994, at age 77, Mandela was inaugurated as South Africa’s first black President at the Union Building in Pretoria.
The ceremony was televised internationally and numerous people gathered to witness the inauguration speech.
During his presidency, Mandela worked tirelessly rebuilding South Africa’s economy which was in crisis from the apartheid, as well as poverty, inequalities, unequal access to social services, and infrastructure.
On his eightieth (80th) birthday in 1998, he took Graca Machel as his third wife.
After a term in office, Mandela gave a live broadcast and quit his role in February 1999 as the President of South Africa.
He proceeded his work with the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund−an organization which he established in 1995 under the Nelson Mandela foundation and The Mandela Rhodes Foundation.
His grandson, Mandla Mandela, in April 2007, was named the head of the Mvezo Traditional Council at an event at the Mvezo Great Place.
Through-out his life, Mandela never compromised his commitment and passion for democracy, equality and learning.
Amidst horrific provocation and hindrances, he never condoned racism or answered racism with racism.
He entire life serves as a motivation and an inspiration to the oppressed, suppressed and the deprived; and to all who want to resist oppression, suppression and deprivation.
On fifth (5th) December, 2013, Mandela died in his home in Johannesburg.
Rolihlahla “Nelson” Mandela: Life Story Of A Patriot.
