Nelson Mandela at 95
Posted on 18 July 2013 by Thandisizwe Mgudlwa
The world’s most loved and the greatest historical figure Dr. Nelson Mandela, turned 95 years of age on July 18, 2013.
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was born on the 18th of July 1918 in Mvezo in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa.
He is a South African lawyer,
anti-Apartheid revolutionary and politician who served as President of
South Africa from 1994 to 1999.
Before then, Dr. Mandela was the first
black South African to hold the office, and the first elected in a fully
representative, multiracial election in 1994.
Under the African National Congress
(ANC) government, he focused on dismantling the legacy of Apartheid
through tackling institutionalized racism, poverty and inequality, and
fostering racial reconciliation.
Politically, an African nationalist and
democratic socialist, he served as the President of the ANC from 1991 to
1997. Internationally, Mandela was the Secretary General of the
Non-Aligned Movement from 1998 to 1999.
Born to the aba-Thembu royal family,
Mandela attended Fort Hare University, University of South Africa
(UNISA) and the University of Witwatersrand, where he studied law.
Through UNISA he graduated for his first degree.
Living in Johannesburg in the 1940s, he became involved in anti-colonial
politics, joining the ANC and becoming a founding member of its Youth
League.
And after the Afrikaner nationalists of
the National Party came to power in 1948 and began implementing the
policy of Apartheid (Separate Development), he rose to prominence in the
ANC’s 1952 Defiance Campaign, was elected President of the Transvaal
ANC Branch and oversaw the 1955 Congress of the People.
Working as a lawyer, he was repeatedly
arrested for seditious activities and, with the ANC leadership, was
prosecuted in the Treason Trial from 1956 to 1961 but was found not
guilty. He was also the first Black lawyer to start his own law firm.
Although initially committed to
non-violent protest, in association with the South African Communist
Party he co-founded the militant Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) (Spear of the
nation) in 1961, leading a bombing campaign against government targets.
In 1962 he was arrested, convicted of skipping the country without
permission and inciting workers to strike.
While still on Robben Island Prison, in
1964, in another trial with his senior comrades, he faced a trail on
conspiracy to overthrow the government, and sentenced for sabotage to
life imprisonment in the Rivonia Trial. He and his comrades were
incarcerated on Robben Island.
Mandela served 27 years in prison, first
on Robben Island, and later with few other comrades went to Pollsmoor
Prison and then Madiba finished his sentence at the Victor Verster
Prison, Paarl. In the 1980s an international campaign lobbied for his
release, which was granted in 1990 amid escalating civil strife.
Becoming ANC President, Mandela went on
to publish his International Best-Seller autobiography Long Walk to
Freedom around 1995 after successfully leading negotiations with
President F.W. de Klerk to abolish Apartheid and establish multiracial
elections in 1994, in-which he led the ANC to victory.
Mandela was elected President and formed a Government of National Unity in an attempt to defuse ethnic tensions.
Furthermore, as President, he
established a new constitution and initiated the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission to investigate past human rights abuses.
Dr. Mandela’s government introduced measures to encourage land reform, combat poverty and expand healthcare services.
Internationally, he acted as mediator
between Libya and the United Kingdom in the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing
trial, and oversaw military intervention in Lesotho.
He declined to run for a second term,
and was succeeded by his deputy Thabo Mbeki, subsequently becoming an
elder statesman, focusing on charitable work in combating poverty and
HIV/AIDS through the Nelson Mandela Foundation, the Nelson Mandela
Children’s Fund, including other foundations which later emerged.
Madiba, as he is affectionately known by
his Clan name, gained international acclaim for his anti-colonial and
anti-Apartheid stance, having received over 250 awards, including the
1993 Nobel Peace Prize, the US Presidential Medal of Freedom and the
Soviet Order of Lenin. Many other awards & honors he received while
incarcerated have not yet been found.
He is held in very high esteem in South
Africa where he is called as Tata meaning Father; he is often
described as “The Father of the Nation”.
Coming into office in 2009 President
Jacob Zuma spearheaded the mission to have the United Nations declaring
Madiba’s birthday on July 18, as the Mandela Day.
Every year on 18 July — the day Nelson
Mandela was born — the UN joins a call by the Nelson Mandela Foundation
to devote 67 minutes of our time to helping others, as a way to mark
Nelson Mandela International Day.
For 67 years Nelson Mandela devoted his
life to the service of humanity — as a human rights lawyer, a prisoner
of conscience, an international peacemaker and the first democratically
elected president of a free South Africa.
“We can change the world and make it a better place. It is in your hands to make a difference.” – Nelson Mandela
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