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| Nelson Mandela |
Nelson Mandela was born in Mvezo, South Africa on July 18, 1981. His father, Gadla Henry Mphakanyiswa, was a local chief and member of the royal council and his mother Nosekeni Fanny.
Nelson Mandela was the last child of thirteen brothers, from four of his father's wives. Born from the Thembu royal family and Xhosa tribe, one of the population groups that speak Xhosa in South Africa. In the 19th century, the tribe was known as the Tambookie tribe.
Nelson Mandela spent his childhood with two sisters in his mother's country in the village of Qunu, South Africa as cattle herders with friends. He was the first child to experience school among his family. All of his brothers were mostly illiterate.
Nelson Mandela is the only child of his brother who has a good education from his family. At the age of 7, he was admitted to methodist school. He was baptized as a methodist and named Nelson by his teacher. But he himself was more popularly called Madiba, if he was among the groups. The name of the clan of the Thembu kings is Madiba.
When he was 9 years old, his father died of an unknown disease, but Nelson Mandela believed that his father had lung problems. After the departure of his father, Nelson Mandela felt neglected. Finally, his mother sent him to the Palace of "Great Place" in Mqhekezweni, then cared for by the regent of Thembu, Chief of the Jongintaba Dalindyebo Tribe.
Nelson Mandela felt that Jongintaba and his wife Noengland treated him like a child himself, raising him lovingly with their children, Justice and Nomafu. He often attended mass every Sunday with his foster parents, Christianity became a major part of his life.
In Mqhekezweni, Nelson Mandela studied English, Xhosa, history, and geography. He began to be interested in African history, listening to stories told by visitors to the old palace, and influenced by the anti-imperialist rhetoric of the Joyi Tribal Chief. At that time, he still considered European colonialists as helpers, not oppressors.
At the age of 16, he, Justice, and his friends left for Tyhalarha to undergo circumcision rituals which symbolically indicated they were adults. After the ritual, Mandela was given the name "Dalibunga".
Nelson Mandela's education
At the age of 16, Nelson Mandela attended the Clarkebury Boarding Institute to study western culture, a Western-style secondary education institution. This educational institution became the largest black African school in Tembuland. There, he learns to socialize each day.
After finishing his secondary school for two years, in 1937 he moved to Healdtown, the Methodist college in Fort Beaufort which was also attended by most of the family members of Thembu king, including Justice. Education in Healdtown teaches more about British cultural superiority and government. But Nelson Mandela is increasingly interested in indigenous African culture.
Then Nelson Mandela took a BA (Bachelor of Arts) program at Fort Hare University, an elite black institution in Alice, Eastern Cape. There he studied English, anthropology, politics, indigenous government, and Roman Dutch law in his first year, and wanted to become a translator or clerk in the Department of Indigenous Affairs.
Nelson Mandela lives in the Wesley House dorm, making friends with Oliver Tambo and his fellow tribe members, K.D. Matanzima. He took a ballroom dance class, and was involved in the drama play about Abraham Lincoln. As a member of the Students Christian Association, he led gospel classes for the local community and became a supporter of the United Kingdom when the Second World War broke out.
But at the end of his first year he was involved in boycotting the SRC (Students' Representative Council) on the quality of food, so he was sentenced temporarily from university, he left his college without a degree. Nelson Mandela then moved to Johannesburg and continued his studies at the University of the Witswatersrand to take law. He then resumed his study at the University of South Africa.
Political Activities
Previously Nelson Mandela did not consider Britain, which at that time occupied South Africa as a colonialist, but after he saw for himself how the white treatment of blacks was famous for the apartheid movement, he finally realized and joined the ANC (African National Congress) which is an organization that fighting for South African independence.
After joining ANC (African National Congress), Nelson Mandela increasingly influenced Sisulu and spent time with other activists at Sisulu's home in Orlando, including his old friend Oliver Tambo. In 1943 he met Anton Lembede, an African nationalist who strongly opposed the united racial front to colonialism and imperialism or alliances with the communists.
Although friends with non-blacks and communists, Nelson Mandela supported Lembede's view, believing that black Africans must be completely free in the struggle for political self-determination.
At Sisulu's house, Mandela meets Evelyn Mase, an ANC activist and nurse from Engcobo, Transkei. They were both married on October 5, 1944. Their first child, Madiba "Thembi" Thembekile, was born in February 1946, while a daughter named Makaziwe was born in 1947 but died nine months later from meningitis.
At the Durban rally, Nelson Mandela delivered a speech before 10,000 people, began campaign protests, so he was arrested and detained temporarily in Marshall Square prison. As protests continued, ANC members rose from 20,000 to 100,000, the government responded with mass arrests and introduced the 1953 Public Safety Act to be able to implement martial law.
In May, authorities banned Transvaal ANU President J. B. Marks from appearing publicly, for failing to maintain his position, he suggested that Nelson Mandela replace him. Although the ultra-Africanist Bafabegiya opposed his candidacy, Mandela remained elected regional president in October.
Nelson Mandela was repeatedly detained for inciting activities and was tried in the Treason Court in 1956 until 1961, but was eventually convicted of innocence. Although initially demonstrating without violence. In 1961, he and the South Afrikas Communist Party founded the Umkhonto we Sizwe militants.
In 1962, Nelson Mandela was detained and imprisoned at Marshall Square Johannesburg Fort, because he was accused of inciting labor and outside strikes without permission. Two months later he was sentenced to 5 years in prison. Mandela and his activist group were sentenced to life on June 12, 1964.
Nelson Mandela underwent the first confinement on Robben Island, then at Pollsmoor Jail and Victor Verster Prison. The international campaign demanding his release made Mandela released in 1990. After becoming ANC President, Mandela published an autobiography and negotiated with President F.W. de Klerk to abolish apartheid and carry out multiracial elections in 1994.
End of Apartheid
Nelson Mandela met many supporters and politicians in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Libya and Algeria, then to Sweden to reunite with Tambo, then London, where he performed at the Nelson Mandela concert: An International Tribute for a Free South Africa at Wembley Stadium.
When he encouraged foreign countries to support sanctions against the apartheid government, in France he was welcomed by President François Mitterrand, in Vatican City he was welcomed by Pope John Paul II, and in England he met Margaret Thatcher. In the United States, he met President George H.W. Bush, gave a speech in Congress, and visited eight cities; he was popular with the African-American community. In Cuba, he met President Fidel Castro who had long been fond of him, both friends. In Asia he met President R. Venkataraman in India, President Suharto in Indonesia and Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in Malaysia, before visiting Australia and Japan.
In May 1990, Nelson Mandela led the ANC multiracial delegation in preliminary negotiations with a delegation of 11 government Afrikaner men. Mandela impressed them with his discussion of Afrikaner history, and this negotiation led to the Groot Schuur Minute, namely the government revoked the emergency.
At the July 1991 ANC national conference in Durban, Nelson Mandela acknowledged that the party's shortcomings announced its plans to build a "strong and strong task force" to gain majority power. At the conference, he was appointed as ANC President, replacing the sick Tambo, and multigender and multiracial national executives were chosen together. He was given an office at the new ANC headquarters purchased at Shell House, central Johannesburg.
The CODESA (Convention for a Democratic South Africa) was held in December 1991 at the Johannesburg World Trade Center, attended by 228 delegates from 19 political parties. The ANC delegation was led by Cyril Ramaphosa. De Klerk used his closing speech to condemn ANC violence.
CODESA 2 was held in May 1992. De Klerk forced post-apartheid South Africa to adopt a federal system with a presidential rotation to ensure the safety of ethnic minorities, Nelson Mandela refused and demanded a system of unity controlled by the majority. After the Boipatong massacre by Inkatha militants assisted by the government against ANC activists, Nelson Mandela canceled the negotiations before attending the Organization of African Unity meeting in Senegal.
In July 1993, Mandela and de Klerk both visited the United States, met President Bill Clinton separately and each received a Liberty Medal. Not long after, they both got the Nobel Peace Prize in Norway.
Become President of South Africa
South Africa held a direct election followed by multi-race citizens to elect the President of South Africa. In this election Nelson Mandela came out as the winner and was named the first South African President who was black and was directly elected by multi-race citizens. He served as President for five years, May 1994 to June 1999.
Nelson Mandela's inauguration took place in Pretoria on May 10, 1994. In addition to the first black South African President, he also became head of the ANC-dominated National Unity Government, which had no experience in government. In accordance with the previous agreement, de Klerk became the first Vice President, while Thabo Mbeki represented the second term.
Retired in June 1999, Nelson Mandela chose a quiet family life, divided between Johannesburg and Qunu. He wanted to write his autobiography entitled The Presidential Years, but was abandoned before publication.
Nelson Mandela considered life itself difficult, he turned to public life busy with daily full-time programs, meeting world leaders and celebrities, and in Johannesburg working with the Nelson Mandela Foundation which was founded in 1999 to focus on eradicating HIV / AIDS, rural development, and school construction.
In 2002, Nelson Mandela inaugurated the Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture, and the Mandela Rhodes Foundation was formed in 2003 at Rhodes House, University of Oxford, to provide postgraduate scholarships to African students. These projects were followed by the Nelson Mandela Center of Memory and the 46664 campaign against HIV / AIDS. He delivered a closing speech at the XIII International AIDS Conference in Durban in 2000, and in 2004, he spoke at the XV International AIDS Conference in Bangkok, Thailand.
Family Life
Nelson Mandela married three times.
First, Nelson Mandela is married to Evelyn Ntoko Mase. They have four children. The death of his second child at the age of nine months affected Evelyn, who became increasingly religious while Mandela became increasingly political. They divorced in 1957.
Second, Nelson Mandela married Winnie Madikizela, who at that time was his younger wife than 16 years old. They have 2 children. They divorced in 1996.
Third, Nelson Mandela married Graca Machel, a widow from former Mozambil President Samora Machel died in a plane crash in 1986.
Die
In June 2004, Nelson Mandela finally decided to retire, because deteriorating health led him to withdraw from public life. On December 5, 2013 it was announced that Nelson Mandela, the anti-apartheid fighter, died at the age of 85. Jacob Zuma, as President of South Africa at the time announced officially the death of the former president.
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