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Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela. History’s Greatest Leaders. Early Life. *Rolihlahla Mandela was born in Mvezo , a village near Mthatha in the Transkei, on July 18, 1918. *At a local mission school , he was given the name Nelson

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Nelson Mandela

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  1. Nelson Mandela History’s Greatest Leaders

  2. Early Life • *Rolihlahla Mandela was born in Mvezo, a village near Mthatha in the Transkei, on July 18, 1918. • *At a local mission school, he was given the name Nelson • *University College of Fort Hare for the Bachelor of Arts Degree where he was elected onto the Students’ Representative Council. He was suspended from college for joining in a protest boycott. • *Completing his BA through the University of South Africa (Unisa) in 1942. • *He entered politics in earnest while studying, and joined the African National Congress in 1943. • *African National Congress: Founded in 1912 in response to injustice against black South Africans at the hands of the government then in power • *1944- young people set themselves the formidable task of transforming the ANC into a more radical mass movement. Mandela is one of the organizers

  3. Racism in South Africa • *Dutch arrived in 17th Century, soon after arrival conflict arose between the and the native Khoisan, whom they would enslave. • *Anglo-Boer War (1880s-1902)- British vs. Dutch, British win and now rule the territory. However, they allow the Dutch (Afrikaners) to assume enormous positions of authority. Indirect Rule System. • *The Afrikaners desired large plots of land, so they partitioned South Africa in a equitable way (Africans= 80% of the population, 14% land). • *Apartheid- system of racial segregation enforced through the National Party from 1948-1994. Legalized racial discrimination that removed rights of the majority Africans, maintaining minority Afrikaner rule. • *Established Bantustans (homelands) for Africans, once they would leave homelands Africans were considered foreigners, this created a system of government passes for travel. Also, created a cheap system migratory labor. • *Afrikaners become the richest group in the world, per capita.

  4. Emerging Leader • *Spurred on by the victory of the National Party which won the 1948 all-white elections on the platform of apartheid, Youth League advocated the weapons of boycott, strike, civil disobedience and non-co-operation, was accepted as official ANC policy in 1949. • *ANC launched its Campaign for the Defiance of Unjust Laws in 1952, which was conceived as a mass civil disobedience campaign that would snowball from a core of selected volunteers to involve more and more ordinary people, culminating in mass defiance. • *Mandela, by then President of the Youth League, was elected National Volunteer-in-Chief travelled the country organizing resistance to discriminatory legislation. • *He was eventually arrested. Shortly after the campaign ended, he was also prohibited from attending gatherings and confined to Johannesburg for six months. • In the 1950s, Mandela played an important part in leading the resistance to the Western Areas removals, and to the introduction of Bantu Education. He also played a significant role in popularizing the Freedom Charter

  5. Trials • *He was one of the 156 accused in the mammoth Treason Trial • *After the Sharpeville Massacre (peaceful protestors shot) on March 21. 1960, the ANC was outlawed, and Mandela, still on trial, was detained, along with hundreds of others. Mandela goes underground • *Pushes for a new constitution and government, failure to do so would result in a mass strike. The government responds by rapid mobilization of armed forces. • *He, together with other leaders of the ANC, constituted a new section of the liberation movement, with a view to preparing for armed struggle, with Mandela as its commander in chief. • *”violence was inevitable.”

  6. Prisoner #466/64 • *Mandela was arrested, on August 5, and charged with illegal exit from the country, and incitement to strike. • *He considered the prosecution a trial of the aspirations of the African people, Mandela decided to conduct his own defense. convicted and sentenced to five years imprisonment. He was transferred to Robben Island in May 1963, but later punishment would be extended to life in prison. • *Mandela’s statement in court during the trial is a classic in the history of the resistance to apartheid, and has been an inspiration to all who have opposed it. He ended with these words: • “I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”

  7. Prisoner #466/64 and Freedom • *Nelson Mandela’s time in prison, which amounted to just over 27 and a half years • *Mandela flatly rejected offers made by his jailers for remission of sentence in exchange for accepting the Bantustan policy. Again in the ‘80s Mandela and others rejected an offer of release on condition that he renounce violence. Prisoners cannot enter into contracts – only free men can negotiate, he said. • *Mandela did initiate talks with the apartheid regime in 1985. • *Released on February 11, 1990, Mandela plunged wholeheartedly into his life’s work, striving to attain the goals he and others had set out almost four decades earlier. In 1991, at the first national conference of the ANC held inside South Africa after being banned for decades, Nelson Mandela was elected President of the ANC while his lifelong friend and colleague, Oliver Tambo, became the organisation’s National Chairperson.

  8. Negotiating Peace • *In a life that symbolizes the triumph of the human spirit, Nelson Mandela accepted the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize (along with FW de Klerk) on behalf of all South Africans who suffered and sacrificed so much to bring peace to our land. • *The era of apartheid formally came to an end on the April 27, 1994, when Nelson Mandela voted for the first time in his life – along with his people. • *Rolihlahla Nelson Dalibunga Mandela was inaugurated as President of a democratic South Africa on May 10, 1994. Adopted a new constitution written in 9 languages. • *Nelson Mandela never wavered in his devotion to democracy, equality and learning. Despite terrible provocation, he has never answered racism with racism. His life has been an inspiration, in South Africa and throughout the world, to all who are oppressed and deprived, to all who are opposed to oppression and deprivation. • *Process of Truth and Reconciliation • *Umbuntu • **Today, a stable country with a robust economy

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