Nelson Mandela

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was born on 18 July 1918 in the small village of Mvezo in the Eastern Cape, into the Thembu royal family. From his early years he was shaped by Xhosa customs, the loss of his father, and the missionary education that gave him the English name Nelson, a name he would later carry worldwide. After secondary schooling at Clarkebury, Healdtown and the University of Fort Hare, he moved to Johannesburg where he trained as a lawyer and joined the African National Congress (ANC) in 1943, quickly becoming a co‑founder of its Youth League in 1944. His legal work and growing political involvement placed him at the forefront of anti‑apartheid campaigns such as the 1952 Defiance Campaign and the 1955 Congress of the People, where he helped draft the Freedom Charter. In 1961 he helped establish Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing of the ANC, and was subsequently arrested in 1962. The Rivonia Trial of 1964 resulted in a life sentence, and he spent 27 years in prisons on Robben Island, Pollsmoor and Victor Verster, where he continued to study law, mentor fellow prisoners, and become a symbol of resistance. International pressure, combined with internal reforms under President F.W. de Klerk, led to his release on 11 February 1990. Mandela then steered negotiations that ended apartheid, culminating in the 1994 multiracial election in which he became South Africa’s first black president. During his five‑year term he promoted reconciliation through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, pursued economic reforms, and championed human rights, while refusing a second term in 1999. After leaving office he founded the Nelson Mandela Foundation, worked tirelessly against HIV/AIDS and poverty, and remained a global moral authority until his death on 5 December 2013 in Johannesburg.