Nelson Mandela

At 95 years old, Nelson Mandela has this physical status:

Nelson Rolihla Mandela (Xhosa) was a South African anti-apartheid protester who served as South Africa's first president from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first black head of state and the first to be elected in a fully democratic election. His administration concentrated on destroying apartheid's legacy by encouraging racial reconciliation. He served as the president of the African National Congress (ANC) party from 1991 to 1997, idemologically a nationalist and socialist.

In Mvezo, South Africa's Union, A Xhosa Mandela was born into the Thembu royal family. He studied law at the University of Fort Hare and the University of Witwatersrand before starting as a solicitor in Johannesburg. He became interested in anti-colonial and African nationalist politics, founding the ANC in 1943 and co-founding the Youth League in 1944. Mandela and the ANC pledged themselves to its overthrowrow after the National Party's white-only government established apartheid, a system of racial segregation that favored whites. He was elected president of the Transvaal faction of the African Union in 1952, as a result of his participation in the Defiance Campaign and the 1955 Congress of the People. He was repeatedly arrested for seditious conduct and was unsuccessfully charged in the 1956 Treason trial. He reportedly joined the outlawed South African Communist Party, despite Marxism's heaviness (SACP). Despite beginning a nonviolent protest in SACP, he co-founded the jihadist uMkhonto we Sizwe in 1961 and led a sabotage movement against the government. In 1962, he was arrested and imprisoned, and convicted of plotting to overthrowrown the state.

Mandela spent 27 years in prison, a split between Robben Island, Pollsmoor Prison, and Victor Verster Prison. President F. W. de Klerk was released in 1990 despite rising domestic and international tensions, as well as fears of a racial civil war. Mandela and de Klerk led attempts to bring an end to apartheid, which resulted in the 1994 multiracial general election in which Mandela led the ANC to victory and became president. Mandela, as the country's racial leaders, emphasized reconciliation among the country's ethnic groups, and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was established to look into past human rights abuses. Despite his own socialist convictions, his administration retained its predecessor's liberal framework, while still promoting land reform, combat hunger, and expanding healthcare services. Mandela acted as mediator in the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial and as the secretary-general of the Non-Aligned Movement from 1998 to 1999. He denied a second term as president and was succeeded by Thabo Mbeki, his deputy. Mandela, the former president of Rhode Island, became an elder statesman and concentrated on battling hunger and HIV/AIDS through the Nelson Mandela Foundation.

Mandela was a controversial figure for a large portion of his life. Despite conservative commentators condemning him as a communist terrorist and those on the far left deemed him too eager to talk and compromise with the nation's allies, he gained international recognition for his activism. He has been lauded around the world for his contributions to democracy and social justice, including the Nobel Peace Prize. He is revered in South Africa, where he is often referred to by his Thembu clan name, Madiba, and is described as the "Father of the Country" by many.

Life

Mandela was born in Umtata, a village that was then part of South Africa's Cape Province, on July 18, 1918. In later years, Rolihlahla, a Xhosa term colloquially meaning "troublemaker," became synonymous with his clan name Madiba. In the Transkeirian Territories of South Africa's modern Eastern Cape province, his patrilineal grandfather, Ngubengcuka, was king of the Thembu kingdom. Nelson's grandfather and the source of his surname, as well as one of Ngubengcuka's sons, named Mandela. Mandela was the king's children by a woman of the Ixhiba clan's "Left-Hand House," and his cadet branch of the royal family were eligible to inherit the throne but not recognized as hereditary royal councillors.

Gadla Henry Mphakanyiswa Mandela (1880–1928), Nelson Mandela's father, was a local chief and councillor to the monarch after his predecessor was accused of dishonesty by a ruling white magistrate. Gadla was fired for 1926, but Nelson was told that his father had lost his career as a result of protesting the magistrate's unreasonable demands. Qamata, Gadla's devotee, had four wives, four sons, and nine children, who lived in separate villages. Nosekeni Fanny, daughter of Nkedama of the Right Hand House and a member of the Xhosa's amaMvu clan, was Nelson's third wife.

Mandela later said that traditional Xhosa customs and taboobo dominated his early life. In Qunu, where he tended herds as a cowboy and spent much time outside with other boys, he grew up with two sisters in his mother's kraal. Both his parents were illiterate, but his mother, a devout Christian, sent him to a local Methodist school when he was about seven years old. Mandela's tutor gave him the English forename "Nelson" in English. Mandela was about nine years old when he died of an undiagnosed lung disease that Mandela suspected to be lung disease. He later said that he inherited his father's "proud rebelliousness" and a "stubborn sense of fairness," despite being "cut adrift."

Mandela's mother took him to Mqhekezweni's "Great Place" palace, where he was entrusted to the Thembu regent's guardianship, Chief Jongintaba Dalindyebo. Though Mandela did not see his mother again for many years, Mandela felt that Jongintaba and his wife Noengland treated him as their own child, raising him with their son, Justice, and daughter, Nomafu. Christianity became a significant part of Mandela's life as he and his guardians attended church services every Sunday. He attended a Methodist mission school in the palace's immediate vicinity, where he studied English, Xhosa, history, and geography. He developed a love of African history after listening to the tales told by elderly visitors to the palace, and was inspired by Joyi's anti-imperialist rhetoric. Nevertheless, at the time, he did not see the European colonizers as oppressors, but as benefactors who had brought education and other benefits to southern Africa. He, Justice, and several other boys travelled to Tyhalarha to experience the ulwaluko circumcision ritual that symbolically marked their transition from boys to men; later, he was given the name Dalibunga.

Mandela began his secondary education at Clarkebury Methodist High School in Engcobo, a Western-style institution that was the country's biggest school for black Africans. He said he lost his "stuck up" attitude, became his best friends with a girl for the first time; he began playing sports and discovered his lifelong passion for gardening, which led to his eventuality. He completed his Junior Certificate in two years, and in 1937, he moved to Healdtown, the Methodist college in Fort Beaufort attended by the majority of Thembu royalty, including Justice. Mandela's headmaster stressed the importance of European culture and leadership, meeting his first non-Xhosa friend, a Sotho speaker, and coming under the influence of one of his favorite teachers, a Xhosa who broke tabo by marrying a Sotho. Mandela spent a significant portion of his spare time at Healdtown as a long-distance runner and boxer, and he was appointed prefect in his second year.

Mandela began studying at the University of Fort Hare, an elite black institution with approximately 150 students in Alice, Eastern Cape, in 1939, with Jongintaba's support. In his first year, he studied English, anthropology, nationalities, "native administration," and Roman Dutch law, and decided to become an interpreter or clerk in the Native Affairs Department. Mandela stayed in the Wesley House dormitory, befriending his own kinsman, K. D. Matanzima, as well as Oliver Tambo, who became a close friend and mentor for decades to come. He took up ballroom dancing, appeared in a drama society drama about Abraham Lincoln, and taught Bible lessons in the local community as part of the Student Christian Association. Mandela, although he had friends who belonged to the African National Congress (ANC) who wanted South Africa to be free of the British Empire, remained a vocal promoter of the British war effort until the Second World War broke out. He helped create a first-year students' house committee, which challenged the second-year's dominance, and then became involved in a student representative council (SRC) boycott against the consistency of food, for which he was suspended from the university; he never returned to complete his education.

Mandela returned to Mqhekezweni in December 1940, discovering that Jongintaba had planned marriages for him and Justice; dismayed, they fled to Johannesburg via Queenstown, arriving in April 1941. Mandela started working as a night watchman at Crown Mines, his "first glimpse of South African capitalism in action," but was dismissed when the induna (headman) learned that he was a ranaway. Mandela was introduced to realtor and ANC activist Walter Sisulu by a cousin in George Goch Township, who introduced him to Mandela. Mandela was granted a job as an articled clerk at Witkin, Sidelsky, and Eidelman, a law firm operated by Lazar Sidelman, a liberal Jew sympathetic to the ANC's cause. Mandela befriended Gaur Radebe, a member of the ANC and Communist Party of Hlubi, and Nat Bregman, a Jewish communist who became his first white colleague. Mandela attended the Communist Party gatherings, where he was amazed that Europeans, Africans, Indians, and Coloreds mixed as equals. He later said that he did not join the party because its atheism opposed to his Christian faith, and because the South African conflict was seen as rather than as class warfare. Mandela enrolled in a University of South Africa correspondence course, doing on his bachelor's degree at night to continue his higher education.

Mandela rented a room in the Xhoma family's home in Alexandra, Zimbabwe; despite being rife with poverty, violence, and pollution, Alexandra has always been a special place for him. Despite being ashamed of his poverty, he briefly courted a Swazi woman before unsuccessfully suing his landlord's daughter. Mandela converted into the Witwatersrand Native Labour Association, where he was among miners of various tribes; when the compound was visited by several chiefs, he once met the Queen Regent of Basutoland. Jongintaba visited Johannesburg in late 1941—forgiving Mandela for running away—before returning to Thembuland, where he died in 1942. Mandela and Justice arrived a day early for the funeral. Mandela returned to Johannesburg in early 1943 to pursue a career as a lawyer rather than becoming a privy councillor in Thembuland. He later admitted that he had no epiphany but that he had "simply discovered [himself] doing so and that he could not do otherwise."

Mandela began studying law at the University of Witwatersrand, where he was the only black African student to face bigotry and bigotry. There, he befriended liberal and communist students, among whom were Joe Slovo and Ruth First. Mandela marched in August 1943 in favour of a fruitful bus boycott in order to reduce fare rises. Since joining the ANC, he was increasingly influenced by Sisulu's Sisulu, including his long friend Oliver Tambo, who was also an activist in Sisulu's Orlando home. Mandela encountered Anton Lembede, an African nationalism activist who was vehemently opposed to a racially united front against colonialism and imperialism, or a solidarity with the communists in 1943. Mandela embraced Lembede's views, insisting that black Africans should be completely autonomous in their struggle for political self-determination. Mandela, one of a delegation that met ANC president Alfred Bitini Xuma on Saturday in Sophiatown, was voted on the need for a youth wing to mass-mobilize Africans in opposition to their subpoena; the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) was established on Easter Sunday, with Lembede as president and Mandela as a member of the executive committee.

Mandela met Evelyn Mase, a trainee nurse and ANC activist from Engcobo, Transkei, at Sisulu's home. They lived with her relatives until settling in a rented house in downtown Orlando, early 1946. Madiba "Thembi" Thembekile, the couple's first child, was born in February 1945; a daughter, Makaziwe, was born in 1947 but died of meningitis nine months later. Mandela loved his mother and sister, Leabie, to remain with him. He ceased working on loans from the Bantu Welfare Trust in early 1947, and in early 1947, he began publishing articles at Witkin, Sidelsky, and Eidelman.

Mandela rushed Lembede, who was sick, to the hospital where he died; he was appointed as ANCYL president by more moderate Peter Mda, who promised to collaborate with communists and non-blacks, appointing Mandela as Mandela's ANCYL secretary in July 1947. Mandela disagreed with Mda's plan, and in December 1947, she supported an unsuccessful attempt to ban communists from the ANCYL, considering their ideology was un-African. Mandela was elected to the executive committee of the Transvaal Province branch of the ANC in 1947, serving under regional president C. S. Ramohanoe. Mandela was one of those who compelled Ramohanoe to abandon the committee by co-operating with Indians and communists.

The Afrikaner-ruled Herenigde Nasionale Party, which only whites were allowed to vote in 1948, took power, subsequently uniting with the Afrikaner Party to form the National Party. The party, which was openly racial, ratified and expanded racial segregation with new apartheid law. Mandela and his party cadre allies, who are increasingly influential in the ANC, began taking direct action against apartheid, including boycotts and strikes, which were inspired by South Africa's Indian community's tactics. In a vote of no confidence, Xuma did not endorse these steps and was booted from the presidency, replaced by James Moroka and a more radical executive committee that included Sisulu, Mda, Tambo, and Godfrey Pitje. Mandela later admitted that he and his colleagues had "guided the ANC to a more radical and revolutionary path." Mandela failed his final year at Witwatersrand three times, but he was eventually denied his degree in December 1949.

Mandela took Xuma's place on the ANC national executive in March 1950, and the ANC's national president was elected the same year. The Defend Free Speech Convention, which brought together African, Indian, and communist activists in Johannesburg in March, bringing together African, Indian, and communist activists to call a general strike against apartheid and white minority rule. Mandela condemned the strike because it was multi-ethnic and not ANC-led, but a majority of black workers took part, leading to increased police brutality and the enactment of the Suppression of Communism Act, 1950, which affected all protest groups. He continued to protest against a racially united front at the ANC national conference of December 1951, but was defeated.

Mandela later denied Lembede's Africanism and embraced the prospect of a multi-racial front against apartheid. His mistrust of communism sparked after being inspired by colleagues such as Moses Kotane and the Soviet Union's support for wars of national liberation, and Mao Zedong started reading literature by Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, and Mao Zedong, eventually adopting the Marxist tradition of dialectical materialism. He later expressed surprise at his "intentionally drawn" to the notion of a classless society, which, to [his] mind, was similar to traditional African cultures, where life was shared and communal." Mandela started working at the H.M. Basner law firm in April 1952, but he spent less time with his family because of his growing dedication to work and activism.

The ANC began planning a joint Defiance Campaign against apartheid, which included Indian and communist organisations, and established a National Voluntary Board to recruit volunteers in 1952. The campaign was planned to follow Mahatma Gandhi's nonviolent resistance; some supported this for religious reasons, but Mandela kept it pragmatic. Mandela spoke to an assembled crowd of 10,000 people at a Durban rally on June 22nd, launching the campaign against which he was arrested and briefly interned in Marshall Square jail. Mandela was one of South Africa's most prominent black political figures at these events. With further demonstrations, the ANC's membership increased from 20,000 to 100,000 individuals; the government responded with mass arrests and the passage of the Public Safety Act, 1953, which authorizes martial law. Authorities banned Transvaal ANC president J. in May. B. a. Marks are discouraged from attending public appearances; unable to hold his position, he suggested Mandela as his successor. Mandela was elected to be the country's president in October despite Africans' rejection of his candidature.

Mandela was arrested under the Suppression of Communism Act in July 1952 and pleaded guilty as one of the 21 defendants, including Moroka, Sisulu, and Yusuf Dadoo, in Johannesburg. The guilty of "statutory communism," a term used by the government to describe the majority of resistance to apartheid, has been suspended for two years. Mandela was banned from attending meetings or speaking to more than one person at a time in December, extending his Transvaal ANC presidency's impracticality to this time. Andrew Kunene read out Mandela's "No Easy Walk to Freedom" address at a Transvaal ANC gathering in September 1953, a seminal influence on Mandela's thinking. The address lay out a contingency plan for a situation in which the ANC was barred from serving. This Mandela Project, or M-Plan, called for dividing the organization into a cell system with a more centralized leadership.

Mandela began working as an advocate for Terblanche and Briggish before switching to Helman and Michel, passing qualification exams to become a full-fledged attorney. Mandela and Tambo, a Johannesburg law firm, established in August 1953, established Mandela and Tambo, which also operated in downtown Johannesburg. It was the country's only African-run law firm, especially dealing with police brutality cases. Following the removal of their office license under the Group Areas Act, the corporation was forced to relocate to a remote location, causing the firm's clientele to dwindle. Mandela, a lawyer of aristocratic origins, was part of Johannesburg's wealthy black middle-class and was regarded with skepticism by the black community. Although Mandela's relationship with Evelyn became strained, she accused him of adultery. He may have had affairs with Lillian Ngoyi and Ruth Mompati, an ANC member; several people close to Mandela in this period have claimed that the former bore him a child. Nosekeni returned to Transkei, despite her son's behaviour, while Evelyn accepted the Jehovah's Witnesses and dismissed Mandela's political obsessions.

Mandela, who participated in a bitter struggle to prevent the forced removal of all black people from the Sophiatown suburb of Johannesburg in February 1955, has decided that violent action would be necessary to bring an end to apartheid and white minority rule. Sisulu requested weapons from the People's Republic of China, which was refused on his advice. Although the Chinese government embraced the anti-apartheid campaign, they believe the campaign is insufficiently prepared for guerrilla warfare. The ANC planned a Congress of the People, urging South Africans to submit plans for a post-apartheid period with the help of the South African Indian Congress, the Coloured People's Congress, and the Congress of Democrats. Rusty Bernstein's Freedom Charter was drafted based on the feedback, calling for the establishment of a democratic, non-racial republic with the nationalization of major industries. The charter was adopted at a conference in Kliptown in June 1955; over 3,000 participants attended the ceremony, which was forcibly closed down by police. Mandela's tenets of the Freedom Charter remained essential, and in 1956 he described it as "an inspiration to South Africa's people."

Mandela arrived in Transkei on a working holiday in September 1955 to investigate the effects of the Bantu Authorities Act, 1951, alongside local Xhosa chiefs, who were also visiting his mother and Noengland, before heading to Cape Town. In March 1956, he was granted his third ban on public appearances, banning him from appearing in Johannesburg for five years, but he defied it. Mandela's marriage ended when Evelyn separated him, leaving their children to live with her brother. She argued that Mandela had physically assaulted her while fighting for their children's custody in May 1956. She filed for divorce in November, but Mandela filed for divorce in January 1958, leaving the children in Evelyn's custody. During the divorce process, he began suing Winnie Madikizela, a social worker who married in Bizana in June 1958. She became involved in ANC activities later in life, and she spent several weeks in jail. They had two children together, Zenani, born in February 1959, and Zindziswa (1960-2020).

Mandela was arrested along with the majority of the ANC national executive in December 1956 and charged with "high treason" against the state. They were detained in Johannesburg prison as a result of widespread street demonstrations, and they underwent a preparatory examination before being allowed bail. The defence's refutation started in January 1957, was headed by defence counsel Vernon Berrangé, and continued until the trial was postponed in September. In January 1958, Oswald Pirow was appointed to prosecute the lawsuit, but the judge found that there was "sufficient reason" for the defendants to stand in the Transvaal Supreme Court. The formal Treason Trial began in Pretoria in August 1958, with the defendants successfully requesting to have the three judges — all members of the ruling National Party—replaced. One charge was dismissed in August, but the prosecution pled guilty in October, submitting a reformulated version in November that charged that the ANC leadership displayed high treason by calling for a violent revolution, which the defendants denied.

Africanists dissatisfied with the ANC's united front strategy formed the Pan-African Congress (PAC), which Mandela condemned the PAC's racially exclusionary views, calling them "immature" and "nave" in April 1959. Both groups took part in an anti-pass movement in early 1960, in which Africans burned the passes that they were legally bound to carry. Police opened fire on one of the PAC-organised demonstrations, resulting in the deaths of 69 demonstrators in the Sharpeville massacre. Mandela publicly burnt his pass in solidarity after the incident sparked international condemnation of the government and culminated in protesting across South Africa.

Responding to the uprising, the government introduced state of emergency steps, announcing martial law and banning the ANC and PAC; in March, they arrested Mandela and other activists, deposing them for five months without charge in the Pretoria Local jail's unsanitary conditions. Mandela and his co-defendants were arrested in the Treason Trial, but their lawyers were unable to contact them, and so the lawyers were forbidden from practising until the state of emergency was released in late August 1960. Mandela travelled to Pietermaritzburg, Natal, in March 1961, where 1,400 anti-apartheid delegates met, decided on a stay-at-home protest to mark the day South Africa became a republic for the day. The judges delivered a verdict of not guilty on 29 March 1961, six years since the Treason Trial began, finding that there were no reasons to convict the suspect of "high treason" since they had not endorsed neither communism nor violent revolution; the government was taken aback.

Mandela, who was disguised as a chauffeur, travelled around the country incognito, orchestrating the ANC's latest cell system and the planned mass stay-at-home protest. In the press, the Black Pimpernel" was referred to as Emma Orczy's 1905 book "The Scarlet Pimpernel"—a warrant for his arrest was refused by the police. Mandela held private meetings with reporters, and after the government failed to prevent the attack, he told them that many anti-apartheid activists would soon resort to violence by groups like the PAC's Poqo. He believed that the ANC should form an armed group to channel some of this brutality in a controlled manner, alerting both ANC leader Albert Luthuli—who was morally opposed to violence—and concerned civil society groups of its importance.

In 1961, Mandela, Sisulu, and Slovo co-founded Umkhonto we Sizwe ("Spear of the Nation," abbreviated MK), inspired by Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement in the Cuban Revolution. Mandela, the incoming chairman of the Marxist militant Mao and Che Guevara, received insights from literature on guerrilla warfare by Marxist militants Mao and Che Guevara, as well as military theorist Carl von Clausewitz. Although MK first declared officially separate from the ANC in order not to damage the latter's image, the party's armed wing was later branded as the party's armed wing. Mandela was able to conceal Mandela in their homes after hiding in communist Wolfie Kodesh's apartment in Berea; after escaping in communist Wolfie Kodesh's flat, Mandela moved to Rivonia's communist-owned Liliesleaf Farm, where Raymond Mhlaba, Slovo, and Bernstein joined them in drafting the MK constitution, the majority of early MK members were able to conceal Mandela. Despite the fact that Mandela denied it later in life for political reasons, never being a member of the Communist Party, recent analysis published in 2011 shows he never participated in the late 1950s or early 1960s. Mandela's death was announced by both the SACP and the ANC after Mandela's death. He wasn't just a member of the party but also served on the SACP's Central Committee, according to the SACP.

MK planned to carry out acts of sabotage that would place the most strain on the government with minimum casualties; at night, they planned to bomb military installations, power plants, telephone lines, and transportation links; civilians were not present. Mandela said they chose sabotage because it was the least costly option, did not involve killing, and offered the greatest chance of racial reconciliation afterward; but he also acknowledged that if this had failed, guerrilla warfare might have been required. MK declared its existence on Dingane's Day (16 December) 1961, shortly after ANC leader Luthuli was lauded with the Nobel Peace Prize, MK announced its presence with 57 bombings on the island's Day (16 December) 1961, followed by further attacks on New Year's Eve.

Mandela was delegated to the Pan-African Freedom Movement for East, Central, and Southern Africa (PAFMECSA) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on February 22, 1962. Mandela traveled to Tanganyika and spoke with its president, Julius Nyerere, before leaving South Africa in secrecy via Bechuanaland. Mandela arrived in Ethiopia and spoke with Emperor Haile Selassie I and delivered his address after Selassie's address at the conference. After the symposium, he travelled to Cairo, Egypt, celebrating President Gamal Nasser's political changes, and then headed to Tunis, Tunisia, where he gave him £5,000 for arms. He went to Morocco, Mali, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Senegal, where Liberian president William Tubman and Guinean President Ahmed Sékou Touré received funds from Liberian President William Tubman and Guinean President Ahmed Sékou Touré. He left Africa for London, England, where he met anti-apartheid activists, journalists, and influential politicians. On returning to Ethiopia, he started a six-month course in guerrilla warfare, but only two months later was recalled to South Africa by the ANC's leadership.

Mandela and fellow activist Cecil Williams near Howick were arrested on August 5, 1962. Many MK members suspected that the police had been tipped off about Mandela's whereabouts, but Mandela denied this claims. Donald Rickard, a former American diplomat, revealed that the Central Intelligence Agency, which feared Mandela's links with communists, had warned the South African police of his location in later years. Mandela was arrested in Johannesburg's Marshall Square jail with inciting workers' protests and leaving the country without authorization. Mandela, who appeared as legal counsel for Slovo, hoped to use the trial to highlight "the ANC's moral opposition to racism" in South Africa, even though supporters protested outside the courthouse. Moved to Pretoria, where Winnie could visit him, he began correspondence studies for a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree from the University of London International Programmes. He began in October, but his trial was interrupted by wearing a traditional kaross, refusing to call any witnesses, and turning his plea of apology into a political statement. He was sentenced to five years in prison, but supporters chanted "Nkosi Sikelel iAfrika" as he left the courthouse.

On July 11, 1963, police searched Liliesle Farm, arresting those who were not present and finding papers establishing MK's activities, some of which included Mandela. Mandela and his allies were charged with four counts of sabotage and conspiracy to violently overthrowen the government in October at Pretoria Supreme Court; the government's chief prosecutor was Percy Yutar. Judge Quartus de Wet dismissed the prosecution's evidence for insufficient evidence shortly, but Yutar reformulated the charges, inviting 173 witnesses and carrying thousands of documents and photos to the courthouse, citing thousands of witnesses and photographs.

Although four of the accused denied being involved with MK, Mandela, and the other five accused confessed sabotage, but denied that they had ever agreed to start a resistance campaign against the government. They used the trial to highlight their political cause; Mandela gave his three-hour "I Am Prepared to Die" address at the start of the defence's proceedings. Despite official censorship, the speech, which was inspired by Castro's "History Will Absolve Me," was widely distributed in the media. The trial attracted international attention; there had been calls for the removal of the accused from the United Nations and World Peace Council, as well as the University of London Union's acceptance of Mandela to the presidency. Justice De Wet found Mandela and two of his co-accused guilty on all four charges on June 12th, 1964; though the trial had requested for the death sentence to be levied, the judge instead sentenced them to life imprisonment.

Mandela and his co-accused were moved from Pretoria to Robben Island's jail in 1964, where they remained there for the next 18 years. Mandela was held in a damp concrete cell measuring 8 feet (2.4 m) by 7 feet (2.1 m), with a straw mat on which to sleep. The Rivonia Trial prisoners spent their days turning rocks into gravel before being recalled in January 1965 to work in a lime quarry, verbally and physically. Mandela was forbidden to wear sunglasses at first, and the glare from the lime glare had permanently damaged his eyesight. He worked on his LLB degree, which he obtained from the University of London via a correspondence course with Wolsey Hall, Oxford, but newspapers were banned, and he was held in solitary confinement on several occasions for the possession of smuggled news clippings. He was first classified as the lowest grade of prisoner, meaning he was allowed one visit and one letter every six months, but all mail was heavily restricted.

The political prisoners took part in both work and hunger strikes, the latter being largely ineffective by Mandela, in order to improve prison conditions, the former being viewed as a microcosm of the anti-apartheid war. Together with Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, and Raymond Mhlaba, ANC prisoners elected him to their four-man "High Organ," and he participated in the creation of Ulundi, which represented all political prisoners (including Eddie Daniels) on the island, which helped him establish links with PAC and Yu Chi Chan Club members. He initiated the "University of Robben Island," where prisoners discussed their own fields of expertise.

Mandela studied Islam while attending Christian Sunday services. He also researched Afrikaans in the hopes of creating a common understanding of the warders and converting them to his cause. Various official visitors met Mandela, most notably liberal parliamentary representative Helen Suzman of the Progressive Party, who spoke out against Mandela's cause outside of jail. Denis Healey, a British Labour Party politician, met him in September 1970. Justice Jimmy Kruger, the South African minister of Justice, visited South Africa in December 1974, but Mandela and Mandela did not get along well together. Mandela's mother visited in 1968, died shortly after, and his firstborn son Thembi died in a car crash the next year; Mandela was forbidden from attending either funeral. His wife was never allowed to see him, and his children were first visiting in December 1975. Winnie was released from jail in 1977, but he was forcibly incarcerated in Brandfort, and he was still unable to see him.

Prison conditions have improved from 1967 to 2000. Black prisoners were handed trousers rather than shorts, games were allowed, and the quality of their food was improved. Gordon Bruce's escape plan for Mandela was devised in 1969, but it was ended after the scheme was uncovered by an agent of the South African Bureau of State Security (BOSS), who wanted to see Mandela shot during the escape. Commander Piet Badenhorst was the first commanding officer in 1970. Mandela, who is witnessing an increase in physical and mental abuse of prisoners, has complained to visiting judges who had Badenhorst dismissed. Commander Willie Willemse, who began a co-operative relationship with Mandela and was eager to raise prison conditions, was named in his place.

Mandela had been a Class A prisoner by 1975, giving him more visits and letters. He corresponded with anti-apartheid campaigners such as Mangosu Buthelezi and Desmond Tutu. He began his autobiography, which was smuggled to London, in 2001, but police discovered several pages on his LLB research privileges were revoked for four years; prison officials discovered many pages. Rather, he spent his spare time gardening and reading until the authorities allowed him to resurrect his LLB degree studies in 1980.

Mandela's fame by the late 1960s had been eclipsed by Steve Biko and the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM). The BCM's call for violent protestation became ineffective, but many BCM campaigners were arrested on Robben Island following the 1976 Soweto uprising. Mandela tried to establish a friendship with these young people, but he was critical of their racial stymie and contempt for white anti-apartheid protesters. His revived foreign interest in his plight came in July 1978, when he commemorated his 60th birthday. In Lesotho, the Jawaharl Nehru Award for International Understanding in India, was given to him in 1979, and the City of Glasgow, Scotland, 1981. The slogan "Free Mandela" appeared on March 1980. Percy Qoboza, a writer, campaigned internationally for his freedom, prompting the UN Security Council to demand his release. Despite rising international pressures, the government refused, relying on its Cold War allies, US president Ronald Reagan and British prime minister Margaret Thatcher; both thought Mandela's ANC was a terrorist group sympathetic to communism and supports its suppression.

Mandela and senior ANC leaders Walter Sisulu, Andrew Mlangeni, Ahmed Kathrada, and Raymond Mhlaba were arrested in Tokai, Cape Town, in April 1982; they felt they were being held hostage to remove their influence on younger activists at Robben Island. Conditions on Pollsmoor were better than those on Robben Island, but Mandela skipped the island's camaraderie and scenery. Getting to know well with Pollsmoor's commanding officer, Brigadier Munro, Mandela was allowed to design a roof garden; he also read voraciously and corresponded regularly, and was now receiving 52 letters a year. He was the patron of the multiracial United Democratic Front (UDF), which was established to combat changes introduced by South African President P. W. Botha. Botha's National Party government had allowed Colored and Indian citizens to vote for their own parliaments, which had power over education, health, and housing, but black Africans were banned from the system. The UDF saw this as an attempt to divide the anti-apartheid movement on racial lines, as did Mandela.

The early 1980s saw an increase in brutality throughout the region, with many anticipating civil war. This was followed by economic stagnation as a result of international lobby pressure, many multinational banks had stopped investing in South Africa. Botha and several other banks and Thatcher have begged Mandela to be released, despite the fact that the situation is tense. Though Mandela was a "fragile "arch-Marxist," Botha suggested in February 1985, a freedom from jail if he "unconditionally opposed violence as a political weapon." Mandela spurned the offer after his daughter Zindzi gave a statement that "what freedom am I getting if the organisation of the people [ANC] is still banned? Only free men can negotiate. "A jailer is forbidden from entering into contracts."

Mandela underwent surgery on an enlarged prostate gland in 1985 before being given new solitary quarters on the ground floor. He was welcomed by "seven eminent individuals" a multinational delegation sent to reach a deal, but Botha's government refused to cooperate, citing a state of emergency in June and starting a crackdown on unrest. The anti-apartheid resistance fought back, with the ANC having launched 231 attacks in 1986 and 235 in 1987. The brutality escalated as the government used the army and police to combat the resistance and provided covert help for vigilante groups and the Zulu nationalist movement Inkatha, which was embedded in a tense fight with the ANC. Mandela requested talks with Botha but was refused, instead secretly speaking with Justice Kobie Coetsee in 1987 and having a further 11 meetings over the next three years. Coetsee negotiated with Mandela and a team of four government officials beginning in May 1988; the pair agreed to the freeing of political prisoners and the ANC's recognition on the condition that they no longer identify with the Communist Party and not insist on majority rule. Mandela protested these conditions, saying that the ANC will cease its military service only after the government has condemned violence.

Mandela's birthday in July 1988 attracted worldwide notice, including a tribute concert at Wembley Stadium in London that was televised and watched by an estimated 200 million viewers. Despite being lauded globally as a hero, Winnie found herself as the leader of a faction, the "Mandela United Football Club," which had been blamed for torturing and killing opponents, including children, in Soweto. Despite some's urging him to divorce her, he kept loyal until she was found guilty by trial.

Mandela was transferred to Victor Verster Prison, near Paarl, in December 1988, after recovering from tuberculosis due to the hot weather in his cells. He was housed in relative safety of a warder's house with a personal cook, and he used the time to complete his LLB degree. Although there, he was welcomed many visitors and arranged clandestine communications with exiled ANC leader Oliver Tambo.

Botha died of a stroke in 1989; although he would keep the state presidency, he resigned as the party's leader, with F. W. de Klerk replacing him. Botha invited Mandela to a tea party in July 1989, a request Mandela regarded as generous. Botha was deposed as state president by de Klerk six weeks later; the new president believed that apartheid was unsustainable and released a number of ANC prisoners. Following the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, de Klerk called his cabinet together to discuss legalising the ANC and liberating Mandela. Despite some of his opponents' strong opposition to his plans, de Klerk met with Mandela in December to discuss the situation, a meeting that the two men deemed friendly prior to legalizing all political parties and announcing Mandela's unconditional release in February 1990. Photographs of Mandela were published in South Africa shortly after, for the first time in 20 years.

Mandela held Winnie's hand in front of packed audiences and the media on Sunday as she left Victor Verster Prison. He led a speech in Cape Town pledging peace and reconciliation with the white majority, but he made it clear that the ANC's violent conflict was not over and would persist as "purely defensive measures against apartheid violence." He expressed hope that the government will compromise to talks so that "there will no longer be a need for the armed conflict," and that his main goal was to bring peace to the black majority and allow them the ability to vote in national and municipal elections. Mandela stayed at Tutu's house in the days after, visiting colleagues, activists, and journalists, giving a address to an estimated 100,000 people at Johannesburg's FNB Stadium.

Mandela continued on an African tour, meeting supporters and politicians in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Libya, and Algeria, before heading to Sweden, where he was reunited with Tambo and London, where he appeared at the Nelson Mandela tribute at Wembley Stadium. Encouraging foreign countries to support sanctions against the imperialist government. In France, he met President François Mitterrand, Pope John Paul II, and Thatcher in the United Kingdom. He visited President George H. W. Bush in the United States and visited eight towns, being particularly popular in the African-American community. He became friends with President Castro, whom he had long admired in Cuba. President R. Venkataraman in India, President Suharto in Indonesia, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in Malaysia, and Prime Minister Bob Hawke in Australia met Prime Minister Bob Hawke. He visited Japan but not the Soviet Union, but not the Soviet Union, as a long-serving ANC supporter.

Mandela led a multiracial ANC delegation into preliminary talks with a government delegation made up of 11 Afrikaner men in May 1990. Mandela wowed them with his Afrikan history, and the talks culminated in the Groot Schuur Minute, in which the government declared the state of emergency. Mandela, recognizing the ANC's profound military handicap, declared a truce in August, the Pretoria Minute, which was widely condemned by MK activists. He spent much time trying to unify and develop the African nation after being at a Johannesburg conference in December that attracted 1,600 people, many of whom found him more moderate than expected. Mandela admitted that the party had faults and declared the intention to develop a "strong and well-oiled task force" for securing majority rule at the ANC's national conference in Durban in July 1991. He was elected ANC president at the conference, replacing the incapactible Tambo, and a 50-strong multiracial, mixed national executive were elected.

Mandela was given an office in the newly purchased ANC headquarters in Shell House, Johannesburg, and moved into Winnie's massive Soweto home. As she learned of her affair with Dali Mpofu, she became more vulnerable, but he defended her during her kidnapping and assault hearings. She obtained funds for her defense from the International Defence and Aid Fund for Southern Africa and former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, but she was found guilty and sentenced to six years in jail in June 1991, shortened to two on appeal. Mandela declared his exile from Winnie on May 13, 1992. Mandela moved to Houghton, the ANC's predominantly white Johannesburg suburb, after she was asked to resign from the national executive for misappropriating ANC funds. Mandela's chances for a peaceful transition were shattered by an increase in "black-on-black" violence in KwaZulu-Natal, which resulted in thousands of deaths. Mandela spoke with Inkatha chief Buthelezi, but the ANC suspended further talks on the subject. Mandela argued that inside the state intelligence services fuelling the "slaughter of the people" and openly blamed De Klerk—who is increasingly mistrustful—for the Sebokeng massacre. Mandela, Buthelezi, and de Klerk all signed a peace deal in Johannesburg in September 1991, but the unrest continued.

In December 1991 at the Johannesburg World Trade Centre, the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) began, receiving 228 delegates from 19 political parties. Though Cyril Ramaphosa led the ANC's delegation, Mandela remained a central figure. After de Klerk used the closing address to condemn the ANC's brutality, he took to the stage to condemn De Klerk as the "head of an illegitimate, discredited minority monarchy." No talks were made between the National Party and the ANC, who were dominated by the National Party and ANC. In May 1992, CODESA 2 was held; de Klerk insisted that post-apartheid South Africa must use a rotating presidency to ensure the security of ethnic minorities; Mandela opposed this, insisting that a unitary government run by majority rule. Mandela called off the talks following the murder of ANC activists by government-aided Inkatha militants in Boipatong, Senegal, before attending a special session of the UN Security Council in Senegal, where he called for a special session of the UN Security Council and recommended that a UN peacekeeping force be stationed in South Africa to combat "state terrorism." In August, the ANC orchestrated the largest-ever strike in South Africa history, and supporters marched on Pretoria.

Mandela realized that mass action was contributing to more violence and restarted negotiations in September after the Bisho massacre, in which 28 ANC supporters and one soldier were killed by the Ciskei Defence Force during a protest march. He promised to do so on the terms that all political prisoners be released, that Zulu traditional weapons be banned, and that Zulu hostels would be walled off, among other Inkatha terrors; de Klerk reluctantly agreed. The talks agreed that a multiracial general election would be held, resulting in a five-year coalition government of national unity and a constitutional assembly that gave the National Party continuing clout. The ANC has also agreed to guaranteeing the careers of white civil servants; white civil servants' jobs were also vulnerable; such compromises were met with skepticism inside. The pair settled on an interim constitution based on a liberal democratic model, guaranteeing the separation of powers, establishing a constitutional court, and containing a US-style bill of rights; de facto divided the country into nine provinces, each with its own premier and civil service, a compromise between de Klerk's call for federalism and Mandela's for unitary government.

The Concerned South African Group (COSAG), a coalition of black ethnic groups such as Inkatha and far-right Afrikaner parties; one of the latter, the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB), attacked the Kempton Park World Trade Centre in June 1993. Mandela made a public address to calm rioting following the assassination of ANC activist Chris Hani, who had died of a stroke shortly after arriving at a mass funeral in Soweto. Mandela and de Klerk traveled to the United States in July 1993, visiting President Bill Clinton on a private basis and each receiving the Liberty Medal. Mandela and de Klerk were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Norway a few years ago. Mandela was influenced by Thabo Mbeki's influence, and he began speaking with key business figures, fearing that it would discourage much-needed foreign investment and driving away much-needed foreign investment. Although socialist ANC members had condemned him, he had been encouraged to pursue private enterprise by members of the Chinese and Vietnamese Communist parties at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland in January 1992.

With the 1994 election scheduled for 27 April, the ANC began campaigning, opening 100 poll offices and orchestrating People's Forums around the region, where Mandela could be seen as a leading figure among black South Africans. The ANC ran on a five-year Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) to build a million houses in five years, universal free education, and expanded access to water and electricity. The party's slogan was "a better life for all," but it was not specified how this expansion would be funded. South Africa's media, with the exception of the Weekly Mail and the New Nation, has opposed Mandela's election, fearing ethnic strife, instead supporting the National or Democratic Party. Mandela spent a long time on raising money for the ANC while touring North America, Europe, and Asia to visit wealthy donors, including former supporters of the revolution. He recommended a change in the voting age from 18 to 14; this proposal, which was rejected by the ANC, became the object of ridicule.

M. Mandela, Pik Botha, and Constand Viljoen, fearing that COSAG would jeopardize the election, especially in the aftermath of the Bophuthatswana and the Shell House massacre—in the aftermath of the bloodshed surrounding the AWB and Inkatha, respectively—but they did meet with Afrikaner politicians and generals, including P. W. Botha and Constand Viljoen, persuading several to work within the adoutput: With de Klerk, he persuaded Buthelezi of Inkatha to vote rather than embarking on a war of secession. Mandela's hand shaken him at a televised debate between the two main parties, prompting some commentators to call it a win for Mandela. With little violence, the election was held, but an AWB cell killed 20 people with car bombs. The ANC won a landslide, taking 63% of the vote, just shy of the majority needed to unilaterally amend the constitution. In seven provinces, the ANC was also victorious, with Inkatha and the National Party winning one each. Mandela voted at the Ohlange High School in Durban, and although the ANC's victory as president had promised his aspirations, the election had been marred by evidence of fraud and sabotage.

Mandela was officially elected as South Africa's first black chief executive in the newly elected National Assembly's first act. On May 10, 1994, his inauguration took place in Pretoria, and global broadcasters watched it. Four thousand guests attended the festival, including world leaders from a variety of geographic and ideological backgrounds. Mandela led a National Unity government led by the ANC, which had no expertise in governing by itself, but the National Party and Inkatha all included representatives from the National Party and Inkatha. Inkatha and the National Party were eligible to seats in the cabinet under Interim Constitution by virtue of winning at least 20 seats. Both de Klerk and Thabo Mbeki were given the position of Deputy President in accordance with earlier agreements. Despite the fact that Mbeki was not his first pick for the position, Mandela came to rely heavily on him throughout his presidency, allowing him to influence policy decisions. Mandela allowed de Klerk to keep the presidential residence in the Groote Schuur estate but later settled into the nearby Westbrooke manor, which he renamed "Valley of Mercy" in Afrikaans. He also owned a house in Qunu, which he visited regularly, walking around the neighborhood, meeting with locals, and determining tribal conflicts.

He suffered with various illnesses, and although displaying high energy, he felt lonely and lonely. He regularly entertained celebrities, including Michael Jackson, Whoopi Goldberg, and the Spice Girls, as well as Befriended ultra-rich businessmen, such as Anglo American Harry Oppenheimer. On her return to South Africa in March 1995, he also met with Queen Elizabeth II, who received a scathing reaction from ANC anti-capitalists. Mandela lived simply, donating a portion of his R 552,000 annual income to the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, which he founded in 1995. Mandela was unashamed of much of the country's media, protesting that it was mainly focused on fearmongering about crime, defaming press censorship, speaking out in favor of press freedom, and befriending many journalists.

Mandela's Long Walk to Freedom, an autobiography based on a manuscript he had written in jail, was augmented by interviews with American journalist Richard Stengel in December 1994. Nelson attended the 49th conference of the ANC in Bloemfontein in late 1994, among them Winnie Mandela; although she expressed an interest in reconciling, Nelson initiated divorce talks in August 1995. He had entered a friendship with Graça Machel, a Mozambican political activist who was the widow of former President Samora Machel, by 1995. They first met in July 1990 when she was still in mourning, but their friendship soon developed into a family unit, with Machel accompanying him on many of his overseas visits. Mandela's first marriage plan was turned down by the woman, who wanted to keep some autonomy while still dividing her time between Mozambique and Johannesburg.

Mandela, the king of a nation of apartheid minorities, saw national reconciliation as the main task of his presidency. Mandela continued to remind South Africa's white people that they were safe and represented in "the Rainbow Country" after other post-colonial African economies were devastated by the departure of white elites. Despite the fact that his government of National Unity would be ruled by the ANC, he attempted to form a large coalition by naming de Klerk as Deputy President and naming other National Party ministers for Agriculture, Environment, and Minerals and Electricity, as well as designing Buthelezi as Minister for Home Affairs. The other cabinet positions were filled by ANC members, some of whom, such as Joe Modise, Alfred Nzo, Mac Maharaj, and Dullah Omar, had long been Mandela comrades, although others, such as Tito Mboweni and Jeff Radebe, were much younger. Mandela's friendship with de Klerk was tense; Mandela believed that Klerk was intentionally provocative, and de Klerk thought he was being deliberately humiliated by the president. Mandela chastised de Klerk for giving amnesty to 3,500 police officers just before the election, and later chastised him for defending former Defense Minister Magnus Malan when he was charged with murder.

Mandela personally met with senior figures of the apartheid regime, including lawyer Percy Yutar and Hendrik Verwoerd's widow, Betsie Schoombie, who also laid a wreath at the statue of Afrikaner hero Daniel Theron. He emphasized personal forgiveness and reconciliation, saying that "courageous people do not hesitate to give for the sake of peace." As South Africa hosted the 1995 Rugby World Cup, he encouraged black South Africans to get behind the now hated national rugby team, the Springboks, who had been banned from the sport long ago. Mandela wore a Springbok shirt in the final against New Zealand, and after the Springboks won the tournament, Mandela awarded the trophy to captain Francois Pienaar, an Afrikaner. This was widely regarded as a major step in the reconciliation of white and black South Africans; as de Klerk later explained, "Mandela captured the hearts of millions of white rugby fans." Mandela's attempts at conciliation assuaged white people's trepidation, but more radical black people were also critical of his work. Winnie, his estranged wife, who accused the ANC of being more concerned with appeasing the white community than assisting the black majority.

Mandela oversaw the establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to look at crimes committed under apartheid by both the government and the ANC, naming Tutu as the chair. The commission gave individual amnesties in exchange for evidence of crimes committed during the apartheid period to avoid the creation of martyrs. It was launched in February 1996 and took two years of hearings focusing rapes, torture, bombings, and assassinations before releasing its final report in October 1998. Both Klerk and Mbeki appealed to have portions of the report dismissed, but only De Klerk's appeal was successful. Mandela lauded the commission's work, saying that it "had helped us move away from the past to concentrate on the present and future."

Mandela's administration inherited a world with a significant divide in income and services between white and black groups. With 2 million children not in school and a third of the population illiterate, a total of 40 million people lacks electricity or adequate sanitation, and 12 million adults lack clean water sources. There was 33% unemployment, and just over half of the population lived below the poverty line. Government financial reserves were nearly depleted, with a fifth of the national budget being invested on debt repayment, implying that the scope of the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) was cut back, with no one of the proposed nationalization or job creation. The RDP was upgraded in 1996 with a new strategy, Growth, Employment, and Redistribution (GEAR), which maintained South Africa's mixed economy but placed more emphasis on job growth and job creation; some in the ANC slammed it as a neo-liberal policy that did not address social inequality, no matter how Mandela defended it. Mandela's government followed the "Washington consensus" advocated by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in adopting this strategy.

Welfare spending increased by 13% in 1996-97, 13% in 1997/98, and 7% in 1998/99, according to Mandela's presidency. The government brought parity in grants for communities, including disability grants, child care services, and elderly pensions, which had previously been set at different levels for South Africa's various ethnic groups. Free healthcare was provided to children under the age of six and pregnant women in 1994, which was extended to all those using primary level public sector health care services. By the 1999 election, the ANC could boast that 3 million people were connected to phone lines, 1.5 million were converted to the education system, 500 clinics were renovated or installed, 2 million people were connected to the electricity grid, water supply was extended to nearly 3 million people, and 750,000 houses were built, housing nearly 3 million people.

The Land Reform Act of 1996 preserved the right of labour tenants who lived on farms where they grew crops or grazed livestock. This law ensured that such landlords would not be evicted without a court order or if they were over the age of 65. Mandela endorsed arms trade as a key industry in South Africa's economy, but tighter controls regarding Armscor were introduced to ensure that South African arms were not sold to authoritarian regimes. Tourism was increasingly promoted under Mandela's administration, becoming a key sector of the South African economy.

By 1999, only 10% of South Africa's population were HIV positive, according to critics such as Edwin Cameron. Mandela later confessed that he had personally ignored the topic, owing to public outrage in addressing sex in South Africa, and that he had instead left the problem for Mbeki to deal with. Mandela was also chastised for failing to sufficiently combat crime; South Africa had one of the world's highest murder rates, and the presence of international crime syndicates in the region increased strongly throughout the decade. Mandela's government had also been accused of failing to cope with the corruption epidemic.

The exodus of thousands of young white South Africans from the country, who were fleeing rising crime rates, higher taxes, and the effects of positive discrimination against black people in jobs, has created more challenges. Mandela chastised those who left due to this exodus, which culminated in a brain drain. At the same time, South Africa saw an influx of millions of illegal migrants from poorer areas of Africa; however, public opinion against these migrants was generally hostile, describing them as disease-spreading criminals who were a drain on African resources, Mandela encouraged South Africans to embrace them as "brothers and sisters."

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