Nelson Mandela ( Great Man )

Nelson Mandela was a great man. Nelson Mandela become first black president of South Africa in 1994 to 1999. Nelson Mandela was born on July 18, 1918 in Mvezo, Transkei, South Africa. actively involved in the anti-apartheid 20 years, movement Mandela joined the African National Congress in 1942. For 20 years, led a campaign of peaceful defiance, nonviolent against the South African government and its racist policies. In 1993, Mandela and South African President F. W. de Klerk were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to dismantle apartheid system in the country. In 1994, Mandela was inaugurated as the first black president of South Africa. In 2009, Mandela's birthday (July 18) was declared "Mandela Day" to promote world peace and celebrate the legacy of South African leader. Mandela died at his home in Johannesburg on December 5, 2013, at age 95.

Early Life

Nelson Mandela was born Rolihlahla Mandela on July 18, 1918, in the small village of Mvezo, on the banks of the Mbashe River in Transkei, South Africa. "Rolihlahla" in the Xhosa language literally means "pulling the branch of a tree," but more commonly translated as "disturbing".

Nelson Mandela's father, who was destined to be a leader, served as counselor tribal chiefs for several years, but lost his title and fortune in a dispute with the local colonial magistrate. Mandela was just a baby at the time, and the loss of his father's condition forced his mother to move the family to Qunu, a village even smaller north of Mvezo. The village lies in a narrow valley; there were no roads, only footpaths linking the pastures where cattle grazed. The family lived in huts and a local harvest of corn, sorghum, squash and beans, that was all they could afford ate. The water comes from springs and streams and the cooking is done outdoors. Mandela played games young boys, male scenarios representing rights-of-way with toys made from natural materials available, including tree branches and clay.

At the suggestion of one of his father's friends, Mandela was baptized in the Methodist Church. He became the first in his family to attend school. As it was customary at the time, and probably due to the burden of the British education system in South Africa, Mandela's teacher told him his new name would be Nelson.

When Mandela was 9 years old, his father died of lung disease, causing your life to change drastically. It was adopted by the head Jongintaba Dalindyebo, the acting regent of the Thembu people-a gesture done as a favor to Mandela's father, who, years earlier, had recommended Jongintaba becoming head. Mandela subsequently left the carefree life he knew in Qunu, fearing that he would never see his people again. He traveled by car to Mqhekezweni, the provincial capital of Thembuland to actual residence of the head. Although he had not forgotten his beloved village of Qunu, he quickly adapted to the new, more sophisticated environment Mqhekezweni.

Mandela was given the same status and responsibilities as two other sons of the ruler, his son and his eldest daughter, justice and Nomafu daughter. Mandela took classes at a school in one room next to the palace, studying English, Xhosa, history and geography. It was during this period that Mandela developed an interest in the history of Africa from senior chiefs who attended the grand palace on secondment. He learned Africans had lived in relative peace until the arrival of whites. According to the elders, the children of South Africa had previously lived as brothers, but white men had shattered this communion. While black men shared their land, air and water with whites, whites took all these things for themselves.

When Mandela was 16, it was time participating in the traditional ritual of circumcision in Africa for their entry into adulthood. The circumcision ceremony was nothing but a surgical procedure, but an elaborate ritual in preparation for adulthood. In the African tradition, a man uncircumcised can not inherit the fortune of his father, marry or officiate in tribal rituals. Mandela attended the ceremony with 25 other children. He welcomed the opportunity to participate in the customs of his people and felt ready to make the transition from childhood to adulthood. His mood changed the course of the procedure, however, when the Chief Meligqili, the keynote speaker at the ceremony, spoke sadly of the young men, explaining that they were enslaved in their own country. Because of their land by the white man, they would never have the power to govern themselves, he said the head was controlled. He went on to lament that the promise of young men wasted while trying to earn a living and to perform meaningless tasks for white men. Mandela would later say that while the words of the chief had no overall sense of him at the time, eventually would make its determination for an independent South Africa.

From the moment Mandela was under the tutelage of Regent Jongintaba, I was prepared to assume high office, not a boss, but an advisory one. As Thembu rights, Mandela attended a Wesleyan mission school, the Institute Clarkebury boarding and Wesleyan College, where, later state, achieved academic success through "hard work unformatted." He also excelled in track and boxing. Mandela was initially mocked as a "country boy" by his fellow Wesley, but eventually became friends with several students, including Mathona, his first friend.

In 1939, Mandela enrolled at the University College of Fort Hare, the only residential center of higher education for blacks in South Africa at the time. Fort Hare was considered equivalent to the University of Oxford and Harvard University in Africa, drawing scholars from all over sub-Saharan Africa. In his first year at university, Mandela took the required courses, but focused on Roman Dutch law to prepare for a career in public service as an interpreter or secretary-considered the best profession a black man could get at the time .

In his second year at Fort Hare, Mandela was elected to the Student Representative Council. For some time, the students had been satisfied with the food and the lack of power held by the SRC. During this election, most students voted to boycott unless their demands are met. Alignment with most students, Mandela resigned. Seeing this as an act of insubordination, University Dr. Kerr expelled Mandela for the rest of the year and gave him an ultimatum: He could return to school if he agreed to join the SRC. When Mandela returned home, the regent was furious, saying unequivocally that would have to retract its decision and return to school in the fall.

Mandela's Imprisonment

A few weeks after Mandela returned home, Regent Jongintaba announced that it had arranged a marriage for his adopted son. The regent wanted to make sure Mandela's life was well planned, and the provision was to his right as tribal custom dictated. Shocked by the news, feeling trapped and believing he had no choice but to follow this recent order, Mandela ran away from home. He settled in Johannesburg, where he worked a variety of jobs, including as a guard and an employee, to complete his degree through correspondence courses. Then he enrolled at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg to study law.

Mandela soon became actively involved in the anti-apartheid movement, joining the African National Congress in 1942. Within the ANC, a small group of young Africans joined in, calling the Congress of the African National Youth League. His goal was to transform the ANC into a mass popular movement, deriving strength of millions of peasants and workers who had no voice in the current regime. Specifically, the group believes that the old tactics of polite requests ANC were ineffective. In 1949, the ANC officially adopted methods of boycott, strike, civil disobedience and non-cooperation of the Youth League, with the policy goals of full citizenship, redistribution of land, trade union rights, and free education and compulsory for all children.

For 20 years, Mandela directed peaceful and non-violent acts of defiance against the South African government and its racist policies, including the 1952 Challenge Campaign and the 1955 Congress of the People. He founded the law firm of Mandela and Tambo, in partnership with Oliver Tambo, a brilliant student he had met while attending Fort Hare. The law firm provided free and low-cost unrepresented blacks legal advice.

In 1956, Mandela and 150 others were arrested and charged with treason for their political implications (were eventually acquitted). Meanwhile, the ANC was being challenged by the Africanists, a new generation of black activists who believe that the pacifist method of the ANC was ineffective. They soon Africanists broke away to form the Pan Africanist Congress, which negatively affected the ANC; In 1959, the movement had lost much of its militant support.

In 1961, Mandela, who was previously committed to nonviolent protest, began to believe that armed struggle was the only way to achieve change. Later co-he founded Umkhonto we Sizwe, also known as MK, an armed branch of the ANC dedicated to sabotage and guerrilla warfare tactics against apartheid. In 1961, Mandela organized a three-day strike of national workers. He was arrested for leading the strike the following year, and was sentenced to five years in prison. In 1963, Mandela was brought to trial again. This time, he and 10 other ANC leaders were sentenced to life imprisonment for political offenses, including sabotage.

Nelson Mandela was imprisoned on Robben Island for 18 of his 27 years in prison. During this time, he contracted tuberculosis and, as black political prisoner, received the lowest level of treatment of prison officials. However, in prison, Mandela was able to earn a degree in law through a correspondence program at the University of London.

A 1981 memoir by South African intelligence agent Gordon Winter describes a plot by the government of South Africa to host Mandela flight in order to shoot him during recapture; the plan was foiled by British intelligence. Mandela remains a symbol of black resistance so potent that launched a coordinated international campaign for his release, and this international wave of food exemplifies the power and esteem Mandela had on the world political community.

In 1982, Mandela and other ANC leaders were transferred to Pollsmoor prison, supposedly to allow contact between them and the South African government. In 1985, President P. W. Botha offered Mandela's release in exchange for renouncing armed struggle; the prisoner flatly rejected the offer. With increasing local and international pressure for his release, the government participated in several talks with Mandela over the following years, but no deal was made. It was not until Botha suffered a stroke and was replaced by Frederik Willem de Klerk that Mandela's release was finally announced on 11 February 1990. De Klerk also unbanned the ANC, removed restrictions on political groups and suspended executions .

Prison Release and Presidency

Upon his release from prison, Nelson Mandela immediately urged foreign powers not to reduce pressure on the South African government for constitutional reform. While he said he was committed to working for peace, he declared that the ANC's armed struggle would continue until the black majority received the right to vote.

In 1991, Mandela was elected president of the African National Congress, with lifelong friend and colleague Oliver Tambo serve as national president. Mandela continued to negotiate with President F. W. de Klerk to the first multiracial elections. White South Africans were willing to share power, but many black South Africans wanted a complete transfer of energy. The negotiations were often strained and news of violent eruptions, including the assassination of ANC leader Chris Hani, continued throughout the country. Mandela had to maintain a delicate balance of political pressure and intense negotiations amid the demonstrations and armed resistance.

In 1993, Mandela and President de Klerk were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his work towards the dismantling of apartheid. And, due largely to his work, negotiations between blacks and whites in South Africa prevailed: On April 27, 1994, South Africa held its first democratic elections. Nelson Mandela was inaugurated as the first black president of the country on May 10, 1994, at the age of 77, with De Klerk as his first deputy.

Also in 1994, Mandela published an autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, much of which he wrote secretly in prison. The following year, he was awarded the Order of Merit.

From 1994 until June 1999, Mandela worked to carry out the transition from minority rule and apartheid to black majority government. He used the nation's enthusiasm for sports as a turning point to promote reconciliation between whites and blacks, encouraging black South Africans to support the national rugby team ever hated. In 1995, South Africa became the world stage as host of the Rugby World Cup, which brought greater recognition and prestige to the young republic.

Mandela also worked to protect South Africa's economy from collapse during his presidency. Through its Plan for Reconstruction and Development, the South African government funded the creation of jobs, housing and basic health care. In 1996, Mandela promulgated a new constitution for the nation, the establishment of a strong central government based on majority rule, and ensure both the rights of minorities and freedom of expression.

Retirement and Later Career

In the 1999 general elections, Nelson Mandela had retired from active politics. He continued to maintain a busy schedule, however, raising money to build schools and clinics in rural heartland of South Africa through its foundation, and mediates civil war in Burundi. He also published a series of books about his life and struggles between them is no easy road to freedom; Nelson Mandela: The struggle is my life; and favorite African folktales of Nelson Mandela.

Mandela was diagnosed and treated for prostate cancer in 2001. In June 2004, at the age of 85 years, announced his retirement from formal public life, and returned to his hometown of Qunu.

On July 18, 2007, Mandela convened a group of world leaders, including Graca Machel (whom Mandela married in 1998), Desmond Tutu, Kofi Annan, Ela Bhatt, Gro Harlem Brundtland, Jimmy Carter, Li Zhaoxing, Mary Robinson and Muhammad Yunus, to address some of the most difficult problems in the world. With the aim of working both publicly and privately to find solutions to problems around the world, the group was aptly named "The Elders". impact of the elderly has spread across Asia, Middle East and Africa, and their actions have included the promotion of peace and equality of women, demanding an end to atrocities, and support for initiatives to tackle crises humanitarian and promote democracy.

In addition to advocating peace and equality both nationally and globally, in his later years, Mandela I remained committed to the fight against AIDS, a disease that killed the son of Mandela, Makgatho, in 2005.

Personal Life

Mandela was married three times, starting with Evelyn Ntoko Mase (m. 1944-1957). The couple had four children together: Madiba Thembekile, Makgatho (d 2.005.), Makaziwe and Maki. Mandela married Winnie Madikizela-Mandela in 1958; the couple had two daughters together, Zenani and Zindziswa, before disbanding in 1996. Two years later, Mandela married Graca Machel, with whom he remained until his death in 2013. Nelson Mandela became the first black president of South Africa in 1994, serving until 1999. A symbol of world peace, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.

Death and Legacy

On December 5, 2013, at the age of 95 years, Nelson Mandela died at his home in Johannesburg, South Africa. Zuma issued a statement later that day, in which he spoke of the legacy of Mandela: "Wherever we are in the country, wherever we are in the world, let us reaffirm his vision of a society ... in which none is exploited, oppressed or dispossessed by another, "he said. In the coming decades, Nelson Mandela will remain a source of inspiration for civil rights activists worldwide.

In 2009, Mandela's birthday (July 18) was declared Mandela Day, an international day to promote world peace and celebrate the legacy of South African leader. According to the Center of Memory Nelson Mandela, the annual event is designed to encourage citizens worldwide to turn the way Mandela has all his life. A statement on the Nelson Mandela Center web page memory is read. "Mr. Mandela gave 67 years of struggle for the rights of humanity life All we ask is that everyone gives 67 minutes of their time, either to support their charity or elected to serve their local community. "