4
MADIBA
A man for all seasons 1918 - 2013
guyanatimeSGY.com
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela 1918-2013
R
olihlahla Mandela was born into the Xhosa-speaking Thembu people in a small village in Transkei in the eastern Cape of South Africa, on July 18, and was given the name of Nelson by one of his teachers. His father Henry was a respected adviser to the Thembu royal family. His father died when Mandela was nine, and he was placed in the care of the acting regent of the Thembu people, chief Jongintaba Dalindyebo. In 1941, aged 23, Mandela, who was educated at the University of Fort Hare, an elite black institution, ran away from an arranged marriage and went to Johannesburg. Two years later, he enrolled for a law degree at the mainly white Witswaterand University, where he met people from all races and backgrounds. He was exposed to liberal, radical and Africanist thought, as well as racism and discrimination, which fuelled his passion for politics. ANC involvement The same year, he joined the African National Congress (ANC), a multi-racial nationalist movement trying to bring about political change in South Africa, and later co-founded the ANC Youth League. He married his first wife, Evelyn Mase, in 1944. They were divorced in 1958 after having four children. Mandela qualified as a lawyer and in 1952, opened a law practice in Johannesburg with his partner, Oliver Tambo. In 1952, Mandela also became one of the ANC’s deputy presidents. Together, Mandela and Tambo campaigned against apartheid, the system of forced segregation on the basis of race, devised by the all-white National Party, which came to power in 1948 and oppressed the black majority. By the late 1950s, faced with increasing government discrimination, Mandela, his friend Tambo and others began to move the ANC in a more radical direction. In 1956, Mandela was charged with high treason, along with 155 other activists, but the charges against him were dropped after a four-and-ahalf year trial. Resistance to apartheid grew, mainly against the new Pass Laws, which dictated where black people were allowed to live and work. In 1958, Mandela married Winnie Madikizela, who was later to take an active role in the campaign to free her husband from prison. The ANC was outlawed in 1960 and Mandela went underground, travelling around the country in disguise as a chauffeur.
Mandela was arrested in 1956 and charged with treason along with 155 others. The trial lasted four-and-ahalf-years, and ended with him being acquitted
attended by 228 delegates from 19 political parties. After much turmoil; extremism, both black and white; and compromise, the sides agreed to a peaceful path towards a multi-party elections and government. In the midst of realising his political aspirations in 1992, Mandela separated from his wife, Winnie, on the grounds of her adultery. She had also been convicted on charges of kidnapping and accessory to assault.
Nelson Mandela and his first wife, Evelyn Ntoko Mase
Sharpeville Tension with the apartheid regime grew, and soared to new heights in 1960 when 69 black people were shot dead by police in the Sharpeville massacre. The government declared a state of emergency and banned the ANC. In response, the organisation abandoned its policy of non-violence and launched a campaign of economic sabotage. Inspired by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement in the Cuban Revolution, Mandela helped establish the ANC’s military wing “Umkhonto we Sizwe” or “The Spear of the Nation”. He was appointed its commander-in-chief and travelled abroad to receive military training and to find support for the ANC. Life imprisonment On his return, he was arrested as a result of a tip-off from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and sentenced to five years in prison. In 1963, Mandela and other ANC leaders were tried for plotting to overthrow the government by violence. Speaking from the dock in the Rivonia court room, Mandela used the stand to convey his beliefs about democracy, freedom and equality. “I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons will live together in harmony and with equal opportunities,” he said. “It is an ideal for which I hope to live for and to see realised. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.” In the winter of 1964, deemed violent communist agitators, he and his colleagues were sentenced to life in prison. They were held in Robben Island prison, off the coast of Cape Town. In the space of 12 months between 1968 and 1969, Mandela’s mother died and his eldest son was killed in a car crash, but he was not allowed to attend the funerals. He remained in prison on Robben Island for 18 years before being transferred to Pollsmoor Prison on the mainland in 1982. As Mandela and other ANC leaders languished in prison or lived in exile, the youths of South Africa’s black townships did their best to fight white minority rule. Hundreds were killed and thousands were injured before the schoolchildren’s uprising was crushed. But all was not lost, during his years in prison, the man condemned as a terrorist by the South African government and many Western governments, including the United Kingdom and the United States (he would remain on the U.S. terror list until 2008) became an international symbol of re-
sistance to apartheid. Renewed international interest in his plight came in July 1978, when he celebrated his 60th birthday. He was awarded an honorary doctorate in Lesotho, the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding in India in 1979, and the Freedom of the City of Glasgow, Scotland in 1981. In 1980, the ANC led by the exiled Tambo, launched an international campaign against apartheid, but ingeniously decided to focus it on one cause and one person – the demand to release Mandela. The slogan "Free Mandela!" was developed by journalist Percy Qoboza. The international campaign, which led the United Nations Security Council to call for his release, culminated in the 1988 concert at Wembley stadium in London when some 72,000 people – and millions more watching on TV around the world – sang “Free Nelson Mandela”. Popular pressure led world leaders to tighten the sanctions first imposed
Key dates 1918 – Born in the Eastern Cape 1944 – Joined African National Congress 1956 – Charged with high treason, but charges dropped 1962 – Arrested, convicted of sabotage, sentenced to five years in prison 1964 – Charged again, sentenced to life 1990 – Freed from prison 1993 – Wins Nobel Peace Prize 1994 – Elected president 1999 – Steps down as leader 2001 – Diagnosed with prostate cancer 2004 – Retires from public life 2005 – Announces his son has died of an HIV/AIDS-related illness 2010 – Appears at football World Cup 2013 – Dies after a period of prolonged illness and hospitalisation
on South Africa in 1967 against the apartheid regime. In 1990, the South African government led by President FW de Klerk responded to internal and international pressure and released Mandela, at the same time lifting the ban against the ANC. In 1991, Mandela became the ANC’s leader. Talks on forming a new multiracial democracy for South Africa then began. The Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) began in December 1991 at the Johannesburg World Trade Centre,
A respected global statesman In December 1993, Mandela and de Klerk were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Five months later, for the first time in South Africa’s history, all races voted in democratic elections and Mandela was overwhelmingly elected president. He headed a government dominated by the ANC – which had no experience of governance – but containing representatives from the National Party and Inkatha, De Klerk as first deputy president. In a tense South Africa, Mandela saw national reconciliation as the primary task of his presidency. He worked to reassure South Africa's white population that they were protected and represented in “the Rainbow Nation” and the former avid boxer and sportsman seized a sporting event to bring the nation together. He encouraged
for the poor, and slum townships continued to blight major cities. He entrusted his second deputy, Thabo Mbeki, with the day-to-day business of the government, while he concentrated on the ceremonial duties of a leader, building a new international image of South Africa. In that context, he succeeded in persuading the country’s multinational corporations to remain and invest in South Africa. Still, it proved an impossible task to fulfil the election promise of prosperity for all. However, many analysts point out that great strides were made in delivering some of the Freedom Charter aspirations in the early years of the new South Africa. Retirement In 1997, Mandela stepped down as ANC leader and in 1999 ,his presidency of South Africa came to an end. After stepping down as president, Mandela has become South Africa’s highest-profile ambassador, campaigning against HIV/AIDS and helping to secure his country’s right to host the 2010 football World Cup. On his 80th birthday, Nelson Mandela married Graca Machel, the widow of the former president of Mozambique. In 2004, at the age of 85, Mandela retired from public life to spend more time with his family and friends and
"Amandla": The triumphant return of Nelson Mandela
black South Africans to get behind the previously hated national rugby team, the Springboks, a symbol of apartheid, as South Africa hosted the 1995 Rugby World Cup. After the underdog Springboks won an epic final over New Zealand, Mandela presented the trophy to captain Francois Pienaar, an
Nelson Mandela’s children With Evelyn Mase: Thembekile born 1945, died 1969 Makaziwe born 1947, died aged nine months Makgatho born 1950, died 2005 Makaziwe, born 1954 With Winnie Madikizela-Mandela: Zenani born 1959 Zindziswa born 1960
Afrikaner, wearing a Springbok shirt with Pienaar's own number on the back. He won the hearts of millions of white rugby fans and black Africans began to embrace the Afrikaners who had embraced their “Madiba” or Tata (father). He also set up the Truth and Reconciliation Commission headed Archbishop Desmod Tutu. Now, Mandela’s greatest problem as president was the housing shortage
engage in “quiet reflection”. But his charitable work continued. On August 29, 2007, a permanent statue to him was unveiled in Parliament Square, London. He continued travelling the world, meeting leaders, attending conferences and collecting awards after stepping down as president. After his official retirement, his public appearances were mostly connected with the work of the Mandela Foundation, a charitable fund that he founded. On his 89th birthday, he formed The Elders, a group of leading world figures, to offer their expertise and guidance “to tackle some of the world’s toughest problems”. Possibly his most noteworthy intervention of recent years came early in 2005, following the death of his surviving son, Makgatho. At a time when taboos still surrounded the AIDS epidemic, Mandela announced that his son had died of AIDS, and urged South Africans to talk about AIDS “to make it appear like a normal illness”. In 2010, he appeared at the closing ceremony of the football World Cup. He died on December 5, 2013, aged 95. His charisma, self-deprecating sense of humour and lack of bitterness over his harsh treatment, as well as his amazing life story, partly explain his extraordinary global appeal. (Sources: BBC, the Daily Telegraph)