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Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela IPA: [xolaa mandla] (born 18 July 1918) is a former President of SouthAfrica, the first to be elected in fully representative democratic elections. Before his presidency,Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist and leader of the African National Congress and its armedwing Umkhonto we Sizwe. He spent 27 years in prison, much of it on Robben Island, on convictionsfor crimes that included sabotage committed while he spearheaded the struggle against apartheid.

Among opponents of apartheid in South Africa and internationally, he became a symbol of freedomand equality, while the apartheid government and nations sympathetic to it condemned him and theANC as communists and terrorists. Because of his terrorist designation by the previous goverment,the United States listed him as a terrorist, (something US Secretary of State Condolezza Rice called"embarrassing.") The United States Congress is acting to remove the designation.[1]

Following his release from prison on February 11, 1990, his switch to a policy of reconciliation andnegotiation helped lead the transition to multi-racial democracy in South Africa. Since the end ofapartheid, he has been widely praised, even by former opponents.

Mandela has received more than one hundred awards over four decades, most notably the NobelPeace Prize in 1993. He is currently a celebrated elder statesman who continues to voice his opinionon topical issues. In South Africa he is often known as Madiba, an honorary title adopted by elders ofMandela's clan. The title has come to be synonymous with Nelson Mandela.

Mandela has frequently credited Mahatma Gandhi for being a major source of inspiration in his life,both for the philosophy of non-violence and for facing adversity with dignity.

Mandela belongs to a cadet branch of the Thembu dynasty which (nominally) reigns in theTranskeian Territories of the Union of South Africa's Cape Province. He was born in the small villageof Mvezo in the district of Umtata, the Transkei capital. His great-grandfather was Ngubengcuka(died 1832), the Inkosi Enkhulu or King of the Thembu people, who were eventually subjected toBritish colonial rule. One of the king's sons, named Mandela, became Nelson's grandfather and thesource of his surname. However, being only the Inkosi's child by a wife of the Ixhiba clan (the so-called "Left-Hand House"), the descendants of his branch of the royal family were not eligible tosucceed to the Thembu throne. His father, Gadla Henry Mphakanyiswa (18801928), was nonethelessdesignated chief of the town of Mvezo. Upon alienating the colonial authorities, however, he wasdeprived of his position, and moved his family to Qunu. Gadla remained, however, a member of theInkosi's Privy Council, and was instrumental in the ascension to the Thembu throne of JongintabaDalindyebo, who would later return this favour by informally adopting Mandela upon Gadla's death.Mandela's father had four wives, with whom he fathered a total of thirteen children (four boys andnine girls). Mandela was born to Gadla's third wife ('third' by a complex royal ranking system),Nosekeni Fanny, daughter of Nkedama of the Mpemvu Xhosa clan, the dynastic Right Hand House,in whose umzi or homestead Mandela spent much of his childhood.[2] His given name Rolihlahlameans "to pull a branch of a tree", or more colloquially, "troublemaker".[3]

Education

At seven years of age, Rolihlahla Mandela became the first member of his family to attend a school,where he was given the name "Nelson," after the British admiral Horatio Nelson, by a Methodist

teacher who found his native name difficult to pronounce.[citation needed]

His father died of tuberculosis when Rolihlahla was nine, and the Regent, Jongintaba, became hisguardian. Mandela attended a Wesleyan mission school next door to the palace of the Regent.Following Thembu custom, he was initiated at age sixteen, and attended Clarkebury BoardingInstitute. He completed his Junior Certificate in two years, instead of the usual three. Destined toinherit his father's position as a privy councillor, in 1937 Mandela moved to Healdtown, theWesleyan college in Fort Beaufort which most Thembu royalty attended. Aged nineteen, he took aninterest in boxing and running.[2]

After matriculating, he started to study for a B.A. at the Fort Hare University, where he met OliverTambo, and the two became lifelong friends and colleagues. He also became close friends with hiskinsman, Kaiser ("K.D.") Matanzima who, however, as royal scion of the Thembu Right Hand House,was destined for the throne of Transkei, a role that later led him to embrace Bantustan policieswhich made him and Mandela political enemies.[2] At the end of Nelson's first year, he becameinvolved in a boycott by the Students' Representative Council against the university policies, andwas asked to leave Fort Hare.

Later, while imprisoned, Mandela studied for a Bachelor of Laws from the University of LondonExternal Programme (see below).

Move to Johannesburg

Shortly after leaving Fort Hare, Jongintaba announced to Mandela and Justice (the Regent's own sonand heir to the throne) that he had arranged marriages for both of them. Both young men weredispleased by this and rather than marry, they elected to flee the comforts of the Regent's estate togo to Johannesburg. Upon his arrival, Mandela initially found employment as a guard at a mine.However, this was quickly terminated after the employer learned that Mandela was the Regent'srunaway adopted son. He later started work as an articled clerk at a law firm thanks to connectionswith his friend and mentor, realtor Walter Sisulu. While working there, he completed his B.A. degreeat the University of South Africa via correspondence, after which he started with his law studies atthe University of Witwatersrand,where he first befriended fellow students and future anti-apartheidpolitical activists Joe Slovo, Harry Schwarz and Ruth First. During this time Mandela lived inAlexandra township, north of Johannesburg.

Political activity

After the 1948 election victory of the Afrikaner-dominated National Party with its apartheid policy ofracial segregation, Mandela was prominent in the ANC's 1952 Defiance Campaign and the 1955Congress of the People, whose adoption of the Freedom Charter provided the fundamental programof the anti-apartheid cause. During this time, Mandela and fellow lawyer Oliver Tambo operated thelaw firm of Mandela and Tambo, providing free or low-cost legal counsel to many blacks who wouldotherwise have been without representation.

Mandela's approach was influenced by Mahatma Gandhi, who inspired him and succeedinggenerations of South African anti-apartheid activists.[4][5] Indeed, Mandela took part in the 29January 30 January 2007 conference in New Delhi which marked the 100th anniversary of Gandhi'sintroduction of satyagraha in South Africa.[6]

Initially committed to non-violent mass struggle, Mandela was arrested with 150 others on 5December 1956 and charged with treason. The marathon Treason Trial of 195661 followed, and all

were acquitted.[citation needed] From 195259 the ANC experienced disruption as a new class ofBlack activists (Africanists) emerged in the townships demanding more drastic steps against theNational Party regime. The ANC leadership of Albert Luthuli, Oliver Tambo and Walter Sisulu feltnot only that events were moving too fast, but also that their leadership was challenged. Theyconsequently bolstered their position by alliances with small White, Coloured and Indian politicalparties in an attempt to appear to have a wider appeal than the Africanists. The 1955 FreedomCharter Kliptown Conference was ridiculed by the Africanists for allowing the 100,000-strong ANCto be relegated to a single vote in a Congress alliance, in which four secretaries-general of the fiveparticipating parties were members of the secretly reconstituted South African Communist Party(SACP), strongly adhering to the Moscow line.[citation needed]

In 1959 the ANC lost its most militant support when most of the Africanists, with financial supportfrom Ghana and significant political support from the Transvaal-based Basotho, broke away to formthe Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) under Robert Sobukwe and Potlako Leballo.[citation needed]

Guerrilla activities

In 1961, Mandela became the leader of the ANC's armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (translated asSpear of the Nation, also abbreviated as MK), which he co-founded. He coordinated a sabotagecampaign against military and government targets, and made plans for a possible guerrilla war ifsabotage failed to end apartheid. A few decades later, MK did wage a guerrilla war against theregime, especially during the 1980s, in which many civilians were killed. Mandela also raised fundsfor MK abroad, and arranged for paramilitary training, visiting various African governments.

Mandela explains the move to embark on armed struggle as a last resort, when increasingrepression and violence from the state convinced him that many years of non-violent protest againstapartheid had achieved nothing and could not succeed.[7][3]

Mandela later admitted that the ANC, in its struggle against apartheid, also violated human rights,and has sharply criticised attempts by parts of his party to remove statements supporting this factfrom the reports of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.[8]

Arrest and Rivonia trial

Main article: Rivonia Trial

On August 5, 1962 Mandela was arrested after living on the run for seventeen months, and wasimprisoned in the Johannesburg Fort. The arrest was made possible because the CIA tipped off thesecurity police as to Mandela's whereabouts and disguise.[9][10][11] Three days later, the chargesof leading

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