Biography: Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela

As we all know, there are many people that made important movements long or

short time ago. Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was one of those men that made a big

change in were he lived, and that at the same time, changed how people saw black

people. He, as many others, has to be remembered because of what he did and how he

did it. It is our history and we should all know about it.

Rolihlahla Mandela was born on 18 July 1918. He lived in a small village called

Mvevzo, located in the Transkei capital, in South Africa. Gadla Henry Mphakanyswa,

Mandela´s father, was a chief from the Thembu people. He didn’t only was married to

Mandel’as mother, but also to other three women that in total gave him thirteen

children. When Gadla was deprived from his position, he lost his title, his fortune, and

they had to move to Qunu.

Mandela was baptized, under the Methodist Church, and was also the first of

Gadla’s children to attend a school. There, his teacher called Miss Mdingane, gave him

the name of Nelson. Later, when Nelson was only nine years-old his father died because

of tuberculosis. Jongintaba, the “paramount chief of the Thembu”, informally adopted

him. Jongintaba ruled over the Thembu people, so Nelson was provided with an

education following Tembu custom.

Mandela attended Clarkebury missionary school, Healdtown, and finally the

University of Fort Hare, were he met Oliver Tambo. While studying, Mandela started to

feel interest about the differences between black and white people in his country. In the

University of Fort Hare, the best university of his country for blacks, he was elected to

the student representative council. By the time he resigned the position he was expelled.
 Nelson went back to Transkei. When he got there, his guardian Jongintaba told

Mandela that he had arranged a marriage for him. He felt trapped and escaped to

Johannesburg. He worked at Wtikin, Sidelsky and Edelma. He finished his B.A. degree

and then started studying law in the University of Witwatersrand. He married Evelyn

Mase and the joined the ANC (African National Congress) against the apartheid.

Mandela joined the anti-apartheid cause. He, Tambo, and Sisulu, a friend from

Johannesburg, took the power of the ANC around 1952. Their principal goals were:

“redistribution of land, trade union rights, and free and compulsory education for all

children”. What they wanted was equality. He got so involved into the fight against

apartheid that he started having trouble with his wife and got divorced.

The ANC was supported by black African people. The leaders were Oliver

Tambo, Walter Sisulu, and of course, Mandela. His campaign of anti-apartheid was

peaceful and had the ideal of non-violence, or satyograha, according to Mahatma

Gandhi. Mandela made the law firm that gave low-cost and free legal counsel of blacks.

This was called the Mandela and Tambo law firm, because Oliver was also part of this.

Nelson started to believe that non-violent protests were not working. He made

sabotage campaigns against government and military targets. After this, ANC party

member and Mandela were considered terrorists. He was sentenced to be in prison for 5

years and sent to Robben Island. Later, he was sentenced to lifetime with other ANC

leaders. Even in prison, Nelson said that he had the ideal “of a democratic and free

society in which all persons could live together in harmony and with equal

opportunities”.

Mandela spent 18 years in Robben Island and was discriminated by the guards

and even by other prisoners. He became more famous in prison and was known as “the

most significant black leader in South Africa” because of all he was trying to do for
black people in his country. He was moved to Pollsmoor Prison, with some other senior

ANC leader. In this prison Mandela refused President Botha’s offer of being released

and having to renounce to armed struggle. Then he was moved to Victor Verster Prison.

President de Klerk released Mandela under international pressure on February of

1990. After 27 years of being a prisoner Mandela said that he wanted black people to

have the right to vote in local and national elections. In 1991 Mandela became the

president of the ANC and continued with armed struggle. Because of his negotiations

with president de Klerk they received the Noble Price in 1993. These negotiations made

the first democratic elections in the country possible in April 27, 1994.

In conclusion I think that Nelson Mandela was an incredible man for human

kind history. He made the first multi-racial elections in South Africa and became the

first black president of the country. Mandela is a good example of how people should be

because he refused even to be released from prison because he wanted to continue

fighting for equality. He made national reconciliation possible by encouraging sports,

worked hard for his country’s economy, signed the new South African constitution and

made freedom of expression possible in his country.