NELSON MANDELA
“We should look back at the past and select what is good, and leave behind what is bad.” – Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, son of a Xhosa-speaking Thembu chief, was born in 1918 in a place called Umtata, South Africa, in what is now called the Eastern Cape Province. Mandela is an activist who fought for freedom and against racism. He was the winner of the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize. He was the first black president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999.
Mandela’s higher education started when he attended the University of Fort Hare in Alice. However, he became involved in the political struggle against racism in South Africa and was expelled from the university in 1940 for participating in a student demonstration. This did not stop him and he continued his education in Johannesburg by long-distance communication through the University of South Africa and received a bachelor’s degree in 1942. Mandela then furthered his education by studying law at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. He became increasingly involved with the African National Congress which was a movement against racism. This movement sought to bring about social and political changes in South Africa. Mandela helped establish the ANC Youth League in 1944 and became its president in 1951. It was Mandela who helped the ANC to start the Defiance Campaign and the ‘M’ Plan which was actually named after Mandela.
In the last 1950s Mandela, with Oliver Tambo and others, moved the ANC in a more militant direction because the White South African government became more harsh and ruthless against them. Mandela was charged with treason in 1956 because of the ANC’s increased activity particularly in the Defiance Campaign. He was found not guilty after a five-year trial. Mandela continued his struggle in March 1960 and he was involved in a nationwide demonstration against South Africa’s laws which controlled the freedom of blacks and forced them to carry identity papers