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  • Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; Xhosa: [xoliɬaˈɬa manˈdɛla]; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013)

  • was a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, political leader, and philanthropist who served

  • as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first black head

  • of state and the first elected in a fully representative democratic election. His government

  • focused on dismantling the legacy of apartheid by tackling institutionalised racism and fostering

  • racial reconciliation. Ideologically an African nationalist and socialist, he served as President

  • of the African National Congress (ANC) party from 1991 to 1997.

  • A Xhosa, Mandela was born to the Thembu royal family in Mvezo, British South Africa. He

  • studied law at the University of Fort Hare and the University of the Witwatersrand before

  • working as a lawyer in Johannesburg. There he became involved in anti-colonial and African

  • nationalist politics, joining the ANC in 1943 and co-founding its Youth League in 1944.

  • After the National Party's white-only government established apartheid, a system of racial

  • segregation that privileged whites, he and the ANC committed themselves to its overthrow.

  • Mandela was appointed President of the ANC's Transvaal branch, rising to prominence for

  • his involvement in the 1952 Defiance Campaign and the 1955 Congress of the People. He was

  • repeatedly arrested for seditious activities and was unsuccessfully prosecuted in the 1956

  • Treason Trial. Influenced by Marxism, he secretly joined the banned South African Communist

  • Party (SACP). Although initially committed to non-violent protest, in association with

  • the SACP he co-founded the militant Umkhonto we Sizwe in 1961 and led a sabotage campaign

  • against the government. He was arrested and imprisoned in 1962, and subsequently sentenced

  • to life imprisonment for conspiring to overthrow the state following the Rivonia Trial.

  • Mandela served 27 years in prison, split between Robben Island, Pollsmoor Prison, and Victor

  • Verster Prison. Amid growing domestic and international pressure, and with fears of

  • a racial civil war, President F. W. de Klerk released him in 1990. Mandela and de Klerk

  • led efforts to negotiate an end to apartheid, which resulted in the 1994 multiracial general

  • election in which Mandela led the ANC to victory and became President. Leading a broad coalition

  • government which promulgated a new constitution, Mandela emphasised reconciliation between

  • the country's racial groups and created the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate

  • past human rights abuses. Economically, Mandela's administration retained its predecessor's

  • liberal framework despite his own socialist beliefs, also introducing measures to encourage

  • land reform, combat poverty, and expand healthcare services. Internationally, he acted as mediator

  • in the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial and served as Secretary-General of the Non-Aligned

  • Movement from 1998 to 1999. He declined a second presidential term, and in 1999 was

  • succeeded by his deputy, Thabo Mbeki. Mandela became an elder statesman and focused on combating

  • poverty and HIV/AIDS through the charitable Nelson Mandela Foundation.

  • Mandela was a controversial figure for much of his life. Although critics on the right

  • denounced him as a communist terrorist and those on the radical left deemed him too eager

  • to negotiate and reconcile with apartheid's supporters, he gained international acclaim

  • for his activism. Widely regarded as an icon of democracy and social justice, he received

  • more than 250 honoursincluding the Nobel Peace Prizeand became the subject of a

  • cult of personality. He is held in deep respect within South Africa, where he is often referred

  • to by his Xhosa clan name, Madiba, and described as the "Father of the Nation".

  • == Early life ==

  • === Childhood: 1918–1934 === Mandela was born on 18 July 1918 in the village

  • of Mvezo in Umtata, then part of South Africa's Cape Province. Given the forename Rolihlahla,

  • a Xhosa term colloquially meaning "troublemaker", in later years he became known by his clan

  • name, Madiba. His patrilineal great-grandfather, Ngubengcuka, was king of the Thembu people

  • in the Transkeian Territories of South Africa's modern Eastern Cape province. One of Ngubengcuka's

  • sons, named Mandela, was Nelson's grandfather and the source of his surname. Because Mandela

  • was the king's child by a wife of the Ixhiba clan, a so-called "Left-Hand House", the descendants

  • of his cadet branch of the royal family were morganatic, ineligible to inherit the throne

  • but recognised as hereditary royal councillors.Nelson Mandela's father, Gadla Henry Mphakanyiswa

  • Mandela, was a local chief and councillor to the monarch; he was appointed to the position

  • in 1915, after his predecessor was accused of corruption by a governing white magistrate.

  • In 1926, Gadla was also sacked for corruption, but Nelson was told that his father had lost

  • his job for standing up to the magistrate's unreasonable demands. A devotee of the god

  • Qamata, Gadla was a polygamist with four wives, four sons and nine daughters, who lived in

  • different villages. Nelson's mother was Gadla's third wife, Nosekeni Fanny, daughter of Nkedama

  • of the Right Hand House and a member of the amaMpemvu clan of the Xhosa.

  • Mandela later stated that his early life was dominated by traditional Thembu custom and

  • taboo. He grew up with two sisters in his mother's kraal in the village of Qunu, where

  • he tended herds as a cattle-boy and spent much time outside with other boys. Both his

  • parents were illiterate, but being a devout Christian, his mother sent him to a local

  • Methodist school when he was about seven. Baptised a Methodist, Mandela was given the

  • English forename of "Nelson" by his teacher. When Mandela was about nine, his father came

  • to stay at Qunu, where he died of an undiagnosed ailment which Mandela believed to be lung

  • disease. Feeling "cut adrift", he later said that he inherited his father's "proud rebelliousness"

  • and "stubborn sense of fairness".Mandela's mother took him to the "Great Place" palace

  • at Mqhekezweni, where he was entrusted to the guardianship of the Thembu regent, Chief

  • Jongintaba Dalindyebo. Although he 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

  • alongside their son, Justice, and daughter, Nomafu. As Mandela attended church services

  • every Sunday with his guardians, Christianity became a significant part of his life. He

  • attended a Methodist mission school located next to the palace, where he studied English,

  • Xhosa, history and geography. He developed a love of African history, listening to the

  • tales told by elderly visitors to the palace, and was influenced by the anti-imperialist

  • rhetoric of a visiting chief, Joyi. At the time he nevertheless considered the European

  • colonialists not as oppressors but as benefactors who had brought education and other benefits

  • to southern Africa. Aged 16, he, Justice and several other boys travelled to Tyhalarha

  • to undergo the ulwaluko circumcision ritual that symbolically marked their transition

  • from boys to men; afterwards he was given the name Dalibunga.

  • === Clarkebury, Healdtown, and Fort Hare: 1934–1940 ===

  • Intending to gain skills needed to become a privy councillor for the Thembu royal house,

  • in 1933 Mandela began his secondary education at Clarkebury Methodist High School in Engcobo,

  • a Western-style institution that was the largest school for black Africans in Thembuland. Made

  • to socialise with other students on an equal basis, he claimed that he lost his "stuck

  • up" attitude, becoming best friends with a girl for the first time; he began playing

  • sports and developed his lifelong love of gardening. He completed his Junior Certificate

  • in two years, and in 1937 moved to Healdtown, the Methodist college in Fort Beaufort attended

  • by most Thembu royalty, including Justice. The headmaster emphasised the superiority

  • of English culture and government, but Mandela became increasingly interested in native African

  • culture, making his first non-Xhosa friend, a speaker of Sotho, and coming under the influence

  • of one of his favourite teachers, a Xhosa who broke taboo by marrying a Sotho. Mandela

  • spent much of his spare time at Healdtown as a long-distance runner and boxer, and in

  • his second year he became a prefect.With Jongintaba's backing, in 1939 Mandela began work on a BA

  • degree at the University of Fort Hare, an elite black institution in Alice, Eastern

  • Cape, with around 150 students. There he studied English, anthropology, politics, native administration,

  • and Roman Dutch law in his first year, desiring 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 comrade

  • for decades to come. He took up ballroom dancing, performed in a drama society play about Abraham

  • Lincoln, and gave Bible classes in the local community as part of the Student Christian

  • Association. Although he had friends connected to the African National Congress (ANC) who

  • wanted South Africa to be independent of the British Empire, Mandela avoided any involvement

  • with the anti-imperialist movement, and became a vocal supporter of the British war effort

  • when the Second World War broke out. He helped to found a first-year students' house committee

  • which challenged the dominance of the second-years, and at the end of his first year became involved

  • in a Students' Representative Council (SRC) boycott against the quality of food, for which

  • he was suspended from the university; he never returned to complete his degree.

  • === Arriving in Johannesburg: 1941–1943 ===

  • Returning to Mqhekezweni in December 1940, Mandela found that Jongintaba had arranged

  • marriages for him and Justice; dismayed, they fled to Johannesburg via Queenstown, arriving

  • in April 1941. Mandela found work as a night watchman at Crown Mines, his "first sight

  • of South African capitalism in action", but was fired when the induna (headman) discovered

  • that he was a runaway. He stayed with a cousin in George Goch Township, who introduced Mandela

  • to realtor and ANC activist Walter Sisulu. The latter secured Mandela a job as an articled

  • clerk at the law firm of Witkin, Sidelsky and Eidelman, a company run by Lazar Sidelsky,

  • a liberal Jew sympathetic to the ANC's cause. At the firm, Mandela befriended Gaur Radebe—a

  • Xhosa member of the ANC and Communist Partyand Nat Bregman, a Jewish communist who became

  • his first white friend. Mandela attended Communist Party gatherings, where he was impressed that

  • Europeans, Africans, Indians, and Coloureds mixed as equals. He later stated that he did

  • not join the Party because its atheism conflicted with his Christian faith, and because he saw

  • the South African struggle as being racially based rather than as class warfare. To continue

  • his higher education, Mandela signed up to a University of South Africa correspondence

  • course, working on his bachelor's degree at night.Earning a small wage, Mandela rented

  • a room in the house of the Xhoma family in the Alexandra township; despite being rife

  • with poverty, crime and pollution, Alexandra always remained a special place for him. Although

  • embarrassed by his poverty, he briefly dated a Swazi woman before unsuccessfully courting

  • his landlord's daughter. To save money and be closer to downtown Johannesburg, Mandela

  • moved into the compound of the Witwatersrand Native Labour Association, living among miners

  • of various tribes; as the compound was visited by various chiefs, he once met the Queen Regent

  • of Basutoland. In late 1941, Jongintaba visited Johannesburgthere forgiving Mandela for

  • running awaybefore returning to Thembuland, where he died in the winter of 1942. Mandela

  • and Justice arrived a day late for the funeral. After he passed his BA exams in early 1943,

  • Mandela returned to Johannesburg to follow a political path as a lawyer rather than become

  • a privy councillor in Thembuland. He later stated that he experienced no epiphany, but

  • that he "simply found [himself] doing so, and could not do otherwise."

  • == Revolutionary activity ==

  • === Law studies and the ANC Youth League: 1943–1949 ===

  • Mandela began studying law at the University of the Witwatersrand, where he was the only

  • black African student and faced racism. There, he befriended liberal and communist European,

  • Jewish, and Indian students, among them Joe Slovo and Ruth First. Becoming increasingly

  • politicised, in August 1943 Mandela marched in support of a successful bus boycott to

  • reverse fare rises. Joining the ANC, he was increasingly influenced by Sisulu, spending

  • time with other activists at Sisulu's Orlando house, including his old friend Oliver Tambo.

  • In 1943, Mandela met Anton Lembede, an ANC member affiliated with the "Africanist" branch

  • of African nationalism, which was virulently opposed to a racially united front against

  • colonialism and imperialism or to an alliance with the communists. Despite his friendships

  • with non-blacks and communists, Mandela embraced Lembede's views, believing that black Africans

  • should be entirely independent in their struggle for political self-determination. Deciding

  • on the need for a youth wing to mass-mobilise Africans in opposition to their subjugation,

  • Mandela was among a delegation that approached ANC President Alfred Bitini Xuma on the subject

  • at his home in Sophiatown; the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) was founded

  • on Easter Sunday 1944 in the Bantu Men's Social Centre, with Lembede as President and Mandela

  • as a member of its executive committee.

  • At Sisulu's house, Mandela met Evelyn Mase, a trainee nurse and ANC activist from Engcobo,

  • Transkei. Entering a relationship and marrying in October 1944, they initially lived with

  • her relatives until moving into a rented house in the township of Orlando in early 1946.

  • Their first child, Madiba "Thembi" Thembekile, was born in February 1945; a daughter, Makaziwe,

  • was born in 1947 but died of meningitis nine months later. Mandela enjoyed home life, welcoming

  • his mother and his sister, Leabie, to stay with him. In early 1947, his three years of

  • articles ended at Witkin, Sidelsky and Eidelman, and he decided to become a full-time student,

  • subsisting on loans from the Bantu Welfare Trust.In July 1947, Mandela rushed Lembede,

  • who was ill, to hospital, where he died; he was succeeded as ANCYL president by the more

  • moderate Peter Mda, who agreed to co-operate with communists and non-blacks, appointing

  • Mandela ANCYL secretary. Mandela disagreed with Mda's approach, and in December 1947

  • supported an unsuccessful measure to expel communists from the ANCYL, considering their

  • ideology un-African. In 1947, Mandela was elected to the executive committee of the

  • ANC's Transvaal Province branch, serving under regional president C. S. Ramohanoe. When Ramohanoe

  • acted against the wishes of the committee by co-operating with Indians and communists,

  • Mandela was one of those who forced his resignation.In the South African general election in 1948,

  • in which only whites were permitted to vote, the Afrikaner-dominated Herenigde Nasionale

  • Party under Daniel François Malan took power, soon uniting with the Afrikaner Party to form

  • the National Party. Openly racialist, the party codified and expanded racial segregation

  • with new apartheid legislation. Gaining increasing influence in the ANC, Mandela and his party

  • cadre allies began advocating direct action against apartheid, such as boycotts and strikes,

  • influenced by the tactics already employed by South Africa's Indian community. Xuma did

  • not support these measures and was removed from the presidency in a vote of no confidence,

  • replaced by James Moroka and a more militant executive committee containing Sisulu, Mda,

  • Tambo, and Godfrey Pitje. Mandela later related that he and his colleagues had "guided the

  • ANC to a more radical and revolutionary path." Having devoted his time to politics, Mandela

  • failed his final year at Witwatersrand three times; he was ultimately denied his degree

  • in December 1949.

  • === Defiance Campaign and Transvaal ANC Presidency: 1950–1954 ===

  • Mandela took Xuma's place on the ANC national executive in March 1950, and that same year

  • was elected national president of the ANCYL. In March, the Defend Free Speech Convention

  • was held in Johannesburg, bringing together African, Indian, and communist activists to

  • call a May Day general strike in protest against apartheid and white minority rule. Mandela

  • opposed the strike because it was multi-racial and not ANC-led, but a majority of black workers

  • took part, resulting in increased police repression and the introduction of the Suppression of

  • Communism Act, 1950, affecting the actions of all protest groups. At the ANC national

  • conference of December 1951, he continued arguing against a racially united front, but

  • was outvoted.Thereafter, Mandela rejected Lembede's Africanism and embraced the idea

  • of a multi-racial front against apartheid. Influenced by friends like Moses Kotane and

  • by the Soviet Union's support for wars of national liberation, his mistrust of communism

  • broke down and he began reading literature by Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, and Mao Zedong,

  • eventually embracing the Marxist philosophy of dialectical materialism. Commenting on

  • communism, he later stated that he "found [himself] strongly drawn to the idea of a

  • classless society which, to [his] mind, was similar to traditional African culture where

  • life was shared and communal." In April 1952, Mandela began work at the H.M. Basner law

  • firm, which was owned by a communist, although his increasing commitment to work and activism

  • meant he spent less time with his family.In 1952, the ANC began preparation for a joint

  • Defiance Campaign against apartheid with Indian and communist groups, founding a National

  • Voluntary Board to recruit volunteers. The campaign was designed to follow the path of

  • nonviolent resistance influenced by Mahatma Gandhi; some supported this for ethical reasons,

  • but Mandela instead considered it pragmatic. At a Durban rally on 22 June, Mandela addressed

  • an assembled crowd of 10,000, initiating the campaign protests, for which he was arrested

  • and briefly interned in Marshall Square prison. These events established Mandela as one of

  • the best-known black political figures in South Africa. With further protests, the ANC's

  • membership grew from 20,000 to 100,000; the government responded with mass arrests and

  • introduced the Public Safety Act, 1953 to permit martial law. In May, authorities banned

  • Transvaal ANC President J. B. Marks from making public appearances; unable to maintain his

  • position, he recommended Mandela as his successor. Although Africanists opposed his candidacy,

  • Mandela was elected regional president in October.

  • In July 1952, Mandela was arrested under the Suppression of Communism Act and stood trial

  • as one of the 21 accusedamong them Moroka, Sisulu, and Yusuf Dadooin Johannesburg.

  • Found guilty of "statutory communism", a term that the government used to describe most

  • opposition to apartheid, their sentence of nine months' hard labour was suspended for

  • two years. In December, Mandela was given a six-month ban from attending meetings or

  • talking to more than one individual at a time, making his Transvaal ANC presidency impractical,

  • and during this period the Defiance Campaign petered out. In September 1953, Andrew Kunene

  • read out Mandela's "No Easy Walk to Freedom" speech at a Transvaal ANC meeting; the title

  • was taken from a quote by Indian independence leader Jawaharlal Nehru, a seminal influence

  • on Mandela's thought. The speech laid out a contingency plan for a scenario in which

  • the ANC was banned. This Mandela Plan, or M-Plan, involved dividing the organisation

  • into a cell structure with a more centralised leadership.Mandela obtained work as an attorney

  • for the firm Terblanche and Briggish, before moving to the liberal-run Helman and Michel,

  • passing qualification exams to become a full-fledged attorney. In August 1953, Mandela and Tambo

  • opened their own law firm, Mandela and Tambo, operating in downtown Johannesburg. The only

  • African-run law firm in the country, it was popular with aggrieved blacks, often dealing

  • with cases of police brutality. Disliked by the authorities, the firm was forced to relocate

  • to a remote location after their office permit was removed under the Group Areas Act; as

  • a result, their clientele dwindled. As a lawyer of aristocratic heritage, Mandela was part

  • of Johannesburg's elite black middle-class, and accorded much respect from the black community.

  • Although a second daughter, Makaziwe Phumia, was born in May 1954, Mandela's relationship

  • with Evelyn became strained, and she accused him of adultery. He may have had affairs with

  • ANC member Lillian Ngoyi and secretary Ruth Mompati; various individuals close to Mandela

  • in this period have stated that the latter bore him a child. Disgusted by her son's behaviour,

  • Nosekeni returned to Transkei, while Evelyn embraced the Jehovah's Witnesses and rejected

  • Mandela's preoccupation with politics.

  • === Congress of the People and the Treason Trial: 1955–1961 ===

  • After taking part in the unsuccessful protest to prevent the forced relocation of all black

  • people from the Sophiatown suburb of Johannesburg in February 1955, Mandela concluded that violent

  • action would prove necessary to end apartheid and white minority rule. On his advice, Sisulu

  • requested weaponry from the People's Republic of China, which was denied. Although the Chinese

  • government supported the anti-apartheid struggle, they believed the movement insufficiently

  • prepared for guerilla warfare. With the involvement of the South African Indian Congress, the

  • Coloured People's Congress, the South African Congress of Trade Unions and the Congress

  • of Democrats, the ANC planned a Congress of the People, calling on all South Africans

  • to send in proposals for a post-apartheid era. Based on the responses, a Freedom Charter

  • was drafted by Rusty Bernstein, calling for the creation of a democratic, non-racialist

  • state with the nationalisation of major industry. The charter was adopted at a June 1955 conference

  • in Kliptown; 3,000 delegates attended the event, which was forcibly closed down by police.

  • The tenets of the Freedom Charter remained important for Mandela, and in 1956 he described

  • it as "an inspiration to the people of South Africa".Following the end of a second ban

  • in September 1955, Mandela went on a working holiday to Transkei to discuss the implications

  • of the Bantu Authorities Act, 1951 with local tribal leaders, also visiting his mother and

  • Noengland before proceeding to Cape Town. In March 1956 he received his third ban on

  • public appearances, restricting him to Johannesburg for five years, but he often defied it. Mandela's

  • marriage broke down and Evelyn left him, taking their children to live with her brother. Initiating

  • divorce proceedings in May 1956, she claimed that Mandela had physically abused her; he

  • denied the allegations, and fought for custody of their children. She withdrew her petition

  • of separation in November, but Mandela filed for divorce in January 1958; the divorce was

  • finalised in March, with the children placed in Evelyn's care. During the divorce proceedings,

  • he began courting a social worker, Winnie Madikizela, whom he married in Bizana in June

  • 1958. She later became involved in ANC activities, spending several weeks in prison. Together

  • they had two children: Zenani, born in February 1959, and Zindziswa, born in December 1960.

  • In December 1956, Mandela was arrested alongside most of the ANC national executive, and accused

  • of "high treason" against the state. Held in Johannesburg Prison amid mass protests,

  • they underwent a preparatory examination before being granted bail. The defence's refutation

  • began in January 1957, overseen by defence lawyer Vernon Berrangé, and continued until

  • the case was adjourned in September. In January 1958, Oswald Pirow was appointed to prosecute

  • the case, and in February the judge ruled that there was "sufficient reason" for the

  • defendants to go on trial in the Transvaal Supreme Court. The formal Treason Trial began

  • in Pretoria in August 1958, with the defendants successfully applying to have the three judgesall

  • linked to the governing National Partyreplaced. In August, one charge was dropped, and in

  • October the prosecution withdrew its indictment, submitting a reformulated version in November

  • which argued that the ANC leadership committed high treason by advocating violent revolution,

  • a charge the defendants denied.In April 1959, Africanists dissatisfied with the ANC's united

  • front approach founded the Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC); Mandela disagreed with the

  • PAC's racially exclusionary views, describing them as "immature" and "naïve". Both parties

  • took part in an anti-pass campaign in early 1960, in which Africans burned the passes

  • that they were legally obliged to carry. One of the PAC-organised demonstrations was fired

  • upon by police, resulting in the deaths of 69 protesters in the Sharpeville massacre.

  • The incident brought international condemnation of the government and resulted in rioting

  • throughout South Africa, with Mandela publicly burning his pass in solidarity.Responding

  • to the unrest, the government implemented state of emergency measures, declaring martial

  • law and banning the ANC and PAC; in March, they arrested Mandela and other activists,

  • imprisoning them for five months without charge in the unsanitary conditions of the Pretoria

  • Local prison. Imprisonment caused problems for Mandela and his co-defendants in the Treason

  • Trial; their lawyers could not reach them, and so it was decided that the lawyers would

  • withdraw in protest until the accused were freed from prison when the state of emergency

  • was lifted in late August 1960. Over the following months, Mandela used his free time to organise

  • an All-In African Conference near Pietermaritzburg, Natal, in March 1961, at which 1,400 anti-apartheid

  • delegates met, agreeing on a stay-at-home strike to mark 31 May, the day South Africa

  • became a republic. On 29 March 1961, six years after the Treason Trial began, the judges

  • produced a verdict of not guilty, ruling that there was insufficient evidence to convict

  • the accused of "high treason", since they had advocated neither communism nor violent

  • revolution; the outcome embarrassed the government.

  • === MK, the SACP, and African tour: 1961–62 ===

  • Disguised as a chauffeur, Mandela travelled around the country incognito, organising the

  • ANC's new cell structure and the planned mass stay-at-home strike. Referred to as the "Black

  • Pimpernel" in the press—a reference to Emma Orczy's 1905 novel The Scarlet Pimpernel—a

  • warrant for his arrest was put out by the police. Mandela held secret meetings with

  • reporters, and after the government failed to prevent the strike, he warned them that

  • many anti-apartheid activists would soon resort to violence through groups like the PAC's

  • Poqo. He believed that the ANC should form an armed group to channel some of this violence

  • in a controlled direction, convincing both ANC leader Albert Luthuliwho was morally

  • opposed to violenceand allied activist groups of its necessity.Inspired by the actions

  • of Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement in the Cuban Revolution, in 1961 Mandela, Sisulu,

  • and Slovo co-founded Umkhonto we Sizwe ("Spear of the Nation", abbreviated MK). Becoming

  • chairman of the militant group, Mandela gained ideas from literature on guerilla warfare

  • by Marxist militants Mao and Che Guevara as well as from the military theorist Carl von

  • Clausewitz. Although initially declared officially separate from the ANC so as not to taint the

  • latter's reputation, MK was later widely recognised as the party's armed wing. Most early MK members

  • were white communists who were able to conceal Mandela in their homes; after hiding in communist

  • Wolfie Kodesh's flat in Berea, Mandela moved to the communist-owned Liliesleaf Farm in

  • Rivonia, there joined by Raymond Mhlaba, Slovo, and Bernstein, who put together the MK constitution.

  • Although in later life Mandela denied, for political reasons, ever being a member of

  • the Communist Party, historical research published in 2011 strongly suggested that he had joined

  • in the late 1950s or early 1960s. This was confirmed by both the SACP and the ANC after

  • Mandela's death. According to the SACP, he was not only a member of the party, but also

  • served on its Central Committee.

  • Operating through a cell structure, MK planned to carry out acts of sabotage that would exert

  • maximum pressure on the government with minimum casualties; they sought to bomb military installations,

  • power plants, telephone lines, and transport links at night, when civilians were not present.

  • Mandela stated that they chose sabotage because it was the least harmful action, did not involve

  • killing, and offered the best hope for racial reconciliation afterwards; he nevertheless

  • acknowledged that should this have failed then guerrilla warfare might have been necessary.

  • Soon after ANC leader Luthuli was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, MK publicly announced

  • its existence with 57 bombings on Dingane's Day (16 December) 1961, followed by further

  • attacks on New Year's Eve.The ANC decided to send Mandela as a delegate to the February

  • 1962 meeting of the Pan-African Freedom Movement for East, Central and Southern Africa (PAFMECSA)

  • in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Leaving South Africa in secret via Bechuanaland, on his way Mandela

  • visited Tanganyika and met with its president, Julius Nyerere. Arriving in Ethiopia, Mandela

  • met with Emperor Haile Selassie I, and gave his speech after Selassie's at the conference.

  • After the symposium, he travelled to Cairo, Egypt, admiring the political reforms of President

  • Gamal Abdel Nasser, and then went to Tunis, Tunisia, where President Habib Bourguiba gave

  • him £5,000 for weaponry. He proceeded to Morocco, Mali, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia,

  • and Senegal, receiving funds from Liberian President William Tubman and Guinean President

  • Ahmedkou Touré. He left Africa for London, England, where he met anti-apartheid activists,

  • reporters, and prominent politicians. Upon returning to Ethiopia, he began a six-month

  • course in guerrilla warfare, but completed only two months before being recalled to South

  • Africa by the ANC's leadership.

  • == Imprisonment ==

  • === Arrest and Rivonia trial: 1962–1964 ===

  • On 5 August 1962, police captured Mandela along with fellow activist Cecil Williams

  • near Howick. Many MK members suspected that the authorities had been tipped off with regard

  • to Mandela's whereabouts, although Mandela himself gave these ideas little credence.

  • In later years, Donald Rickard, a former American diplomat revealed that the Central Intelligence

  • Agency, who feared Mandela's associations with communists, had informed the South African

  • police of his location. Jailed in Johannesburg's Marshall Square prison, Mandela was charged

  • with inciting workers' strikes and leaving the country without permission. Representing

  • himself with Slovo as legal advisor, Mandela intended to use the trial to showcase "the

  • ANC's moral opposition to racism" while supporters demonstrated outside the court. 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. His hearing began in October,

  • but he disrupted proceedings by wearing a traditional kaross, refusing to call any witnesses,

  • and turning his plea of mitigation into a political speech. Found guilty, he was sentenced

  • to five years' imprisonment; as he left the courtroom, supporters sang "Nkosi Sikelel

  • iAfrika".

  • In July 1963, police raided Liliesleaf Farm, arresting those they found there and uncovering

  • paperwork documenting MK's activities, some of which mentioned Mandela. The Rivonia Trial

  • began at Pretoria Supreme Court in October, with Mandela and his comrades charged with

  • four counts of sabotage and conspiracy to violently overthrow the government; their

  • chief prosecutor was Percy Yutar. Judge Quartus de Wet soon threw out the prosecution's case

  • for insufficient evidence, but Yutar reformulated the charges, presenting his new case from

  • December 1963 until February 1964, calling 173 witnesses and bringing thousands of documents

  • and photographs to the trial.Although four of the accused denied involvement with MK,

  • Mandela and the other five accused admitted sabotage but denied that they had ever agreed

  • to initiate guerrilla war against the government. They used the trial to highlight their political

  • cause; at the opening of the defence's proceedings, Mandela gave his three-hour "I Am Prepared

  • to Die" speech. That speechwhich was inspired by Castro's "History Will Absolve Me"—was

  • widely reported in the press despite official censorship. The trial gained international

  • attention; there were global calls for the release of the accused from the United Nations

  • and World Peace Council, while the University of London Union voted Mandela to its presidency.

  • On 12 June 1964, justice De Wet found Mandela and two of his co-accused guilty on all four

  • charges; although the prosecution had called for the death sentence to be applied, the

  • judge instead condemned them to life imprisonment.

  • === Robben Island: 1964–1982 === Mandela and his co-accused were transferred

  • from Pretoria to the prison on Robben Island, remaining there for the next 18 years. Isolated

  • from non-political prisoners in Section B, Mandela was imprisoned 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. Verbally

  • and physically harassed by several white prison wardens, the Rivonia Trial prisoners spent

  • their days breaking rocks into gravel, until being reassigned in January 1965 to work in

  • a lime quarry. Mandela was initially forbidden to wear sunglasses, and the glare from the

  • lime permanently damaged his eyesight. At night, he worked on his LLB degree which he

  • was obtaining from the University of London through a correspondence course with Wolsey

  • Hall, Oxford, but newspapers were forbidden, and he was locked in solitary confinement

  • on several occasions for the possession of smuggled news clippings. He was initially

  • classified as the lowest grade of prisoner, Class D, meaning that he was permitted one

  • visit and one letter every six months, although all mail was heavily censored.

  • The political prisoners took part in work and hunger strikesthe latter considered

  • largely ineffective by Mandelato improve prison conditions, viewing this as a microcosm

  • of the anti-apartheid struggle. ANC prisoners elected him to their four-man "High Organ"

  • along with Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, and Raymond Mhlaba, and he involved himself in a group

  • representing all political prisoners (including Eddie Daniels) on the island, Ulundi, through

  • which he forged links with PAC and Yu Chi Chan Club members. Initiating the "University

  • of Robben Island", whereby prisoners lectured on their own areas of expertise, he debated

  • socio-political topics with his comrades.Though attending Christian Sunday services, Mandela

  • studied Islam. He also studied Afrikaans, hoping to build a mutual respect with the

  • warders and convert them to his cause. Various official visitors met with Mandela, most significantly

  • the liberal parliamentary representative Helen Suzman of the Progressive Party, who championed

  • Mandela's cause outside of prison. In September 1970, he met British Labour Party politician

  • Dennis Healey. South African Minister of Justice Jimmy Kruger visited in December 1974, but

  • he and Mandela did not get along with each other. His mother visited in 1968, dying shortly

  • after, and his firstborn son Thembi died in a car accident the following year; Mandela

  • was forbidden from attending either funeral. His wife was rarely able to see him, being

  • regularly imprisoned for political activity, and his daughters first visited in December

  • 1975. Winnie was released from prison in 1977 but was forcibly settled in Brandfort and

  • remained unable to see him.From 1967 onwards, prison conditions improved; black prisoners

  • were given trousers rather than shorts, games were permitted, and the standard of their

  • food was raised. In 1969, an escape plan for Mandela was developed by Gordon Bruce, but

  • it was abandoned after the conspiracy was infiltrated by an agent of the South African

  • Bureau of State Security (BOSS), who hoped to see Mandela shot during the escape. In

  • 1970, Commander Piet Badenhorst became commanding officer. Mandela, seeing an increase in the

  • physical and mental abuse of prisoners, complained to visiting judges, who had Badenhorst reassigned.

  • He was replaced by Commander Willie Willemse, who developed a co-operative relationship

  • with Mandela and was keen to improve prison standards.

  • By 1975, Mandela had become a Class A prisoner, which allowed him greater numbers of visits

  • and letters. He corresponded with anti-apartheid activists like Mangosuthu Buthelezi and Desmond

  • Tutu. That year, he began his autobiography, which was smuggled to London, but remained

  • unpublished at the time; prison authorities discovered several pages, and his LLB study

  • privileges were revoked for four years. Instead, he devoted his spare time to gardening and

  • reading until the authorities permitted him to resume his LLB degree studies in 1980.By

  • the late 1960s, Mandela's fame had been eclipsed by Steve Biko and the Black Consciousness

  • Movement (BCM). Seeing the ANC as ineffectual, the BCM called for militant action, but following

  • the Soweto uprising of 1976, many BCM activists were imprisoned on Robben Island. Mandela

  • tried to build a relationship with these young radicals, although he was critical of their

  • racialism and contempt for white anti-apartheid activists. Renewed international interest

  • in his plight came in July 1978, when he celebrated his 60th birthday. He was awarded an honorary

  • doctorate in Lesotho, the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding in India

  • in 1979, and the Freedom of the City of Glasgow, Scotland in 1981. In March 1980, the slogan

  • "Free Mandela!" was developed by journalist Percy Qoboza, sparking an international campaign

  • that led the UN Security Council to call for his release. Despite increasing foreign pressure,

  • the government refused, relying on its Cold War allies US President Ronald Reagan and

  • UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher; both considered Mandela's ANC a terrorist organisation

  • sympathetic to communism, and supported its suppression.

  • === Pollsmoor Prison: 1982–1988 === In April 1982, Mandela was transferred to

  • Pollsmoor Prison in Tokai, Cape Town, along with senior ANC leaders Walter Sisulu, Andrew

  • Mlangeni, Ahmed Kathrada, and Raymond Mhlaba; they believed that they were being isolated

  • to remove their influence on younger activists at Robben Island. Conditions at Pollsmoor

  • were better than at Robben Island, although Mandela missed the camaraderie and scenery

  • of the island. Getting on well with Pollsmoor's commanding officer, Brigadier Munro, Mandela

  • was permitted to create a roof garden; he also read voraciously and corresponded widely,

  • now permitted 52 letters a year. He was appointed patron of the multi-racial United Democratic

  • Front (UDF), founded to combat reforms implemented by South African President P. W. Botha. Botha's

  • National Party government had permitted Coloured and Indian citizens to vote for their own

  • parliaments, which had control over education, health, and housing, but black Africans were

  • excluded from the system; like Mandela, the UDF saw this as an attempt to divide the anti-apartheid

  • movement on racial lines.

  • The early 1980s witnessed an escalation of violence across the country, and many predicted

  • civil war. This was accompanied by economic stagnation as various multinational banksunder

  • pressure from an international lobbyhad stopped investing in South Africa. Numerous

  • banks and Thatcher asked Botha to release Mandelathen at the height of his international

  • fameto defuse the volatile situation. Although considering Mandela a dangerous "arch-Marxist",

  • in February 1985 Botha offered him a release from prison if he "unconditionally rejected

  • violence as a political weapon". Mandela spurned the offer, releasing a statement through his

  • daughter Zindzi stating, "What freedom am I being offered while the organisation of

  • the people [ANC] remains banned? Only free men can negotiate. A prisoner cannot enter

  • into contracts."In 1985, Mandela underwent surgery on an enlarged prostate gland, before

  • being given new solitary quarters on the ground floor. He was met by "seven eminent persons",

  • an international delegation sent to negotiate a settlement, but Botha's government refused

  • to co-operate, calling a state of emergency in June and initiating a police crackdown

  • on unrest. The anti-apartheid resistance fought back, with the ANC committing 231 attacks

  • in 1986 and 235 in 1987. The violence escalated as the government used the army and police

  • to combat the resistance, and provided covert support for vigilante groups and the Zulu

  • nationalist movement Inkatha, which was involved in an increasingly violent struggle with the

  • ANC. Mandela requested talks with Botha but was denied, instead secretly meeting with

  • Minister of Justice Kobie Coetsee in 1987, and having a further 11 meetings over the

  • next three years. Coetsee organised negotiations between Mandela and a team of four government

  • figures starting in May 1988; the team agreed to the release of political prisoners and

  • the legalisation of the ANC on the condition that they permanently renounce violence, break

  • links with the Communist Party, and not insist on majority rule. Mandela rejected these conditions,

  • insisting that the ANC would only end its armed activities when the government renounced

  • violence.Mandela's 70th birthday in July 1988 attracted international attention, including

  • a tribute concert at London's Wembley Stadium that was televised and watched by an estimated

  • 200 million viewers. Although presented globally as a heroic figure, he faced personal problems

  • when ANC leaders informed him that Winnie had set herself up as head of a gang, the

  • "Mandela United Football Club", which had been responsible for torturing and killing

  • opponentsincluding childrenin Soweto. Though some encouraged him to divorce her,

  • he decided to remain loyal until she was found guilty by trial.

  • === Victor Verster Prison and release: 1988–1990 ===

  • Recovering from tuberculosis exacerbated by the damp conditions in his cell, in December

  • 1988 Mandela was moved to Victor Verster Prison near Paarl. He was housed in the relative

  • comfort of a warder's house with a personal cook, and used the time to complete his LLB

  • degree. While there, he was permitted many visitors and organised secret communications

  • with exiled ANC leader Oliver Tambo.In 1989, Botha suffered a stroke; although he would

  • retain the state presidency, he stepped down as leader of the National Party, to be replaced

  • by F. W. de Klerk. In a surprise move, Botha invited Mandela to a meeting over tea in July

  • 1989, an invitation Mandela considered genial. Botha was replaced 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 debate legalising the ANC and freeing Mandela. Although some

  • were deeply opposed to his plans, de Klerk met with Mandela in December to discuss the

  • situation, a meeting both men considered friendly, before legalising all formerly banned political

  • parties in February 1990 and announcing Mandela's unconditional release. Shortly thereafter,

  • for the first time in 20 years, photographs of Mandela were allowed to be published in

  • South Africa.Leaving Victor Verster Prison on 11 February, Mandela held Winnie's hand

  • in front of amassed crowds and the press; the event was broadcast live across the world.

  • Driven to Cape Town's City Hall through crowds, he gave a speech declaring his commitment

  • to peace and reconciliation with the white minority, but made it clear that the ANC's

  • armed struggle was not over, and would continue as "a purely defensive action against the

  • violence of apartheid". He expressed hope that the government would agree to negotiations,

  • so that "there may no longer be the need for the armed struggle", and insisted that his

  • main focus was to bring peace to the black majority and give them the right to vote in

  • national and local elections. Staying at Tutu's home, in the following days Mandela met with

  • friends, activists, and press, giving a speech to an estimated 100,000 people at Johannesburg's

  • Soccer City.

  • == End of apartheid ==

  • === Early negotiations: 1990–91 ===

  • Mandela proceeded on an African tour, meeting supporters and politicians in Zambia, Zimbabwe,

  • Namibia, Libya and Algeria, and continuing to Sweden, where he was reunited with Tambo,

  • and London, where he appeared at the Nelson Mandela: An International Tribute for a Free

  • South Africa concert at Wembley Stadium in Wembley Park. Encouraging foreign countries

  • to support sanctions against the apartheid government, in France he was welcomed by President

  • François Mitterrand, in Vatican City by Pope John Paul II, and in the United Kingdom by

  • Thatcher. In the United States, he met President George H.W. Bush, addressed both Houses of

  • Congress and visited eight cities, being particularly popular among the African-American community.

  • In Cuba, he became friends with President Castro, whom he had long admired. He met President

  • R. Venkataraman in India, President Suharto in Indonesia, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad

  • in Malaysia, and Prime Minister Bob Hawke in Australia. He visited Japan, but not the

  • Soviet Union, a longtime ANC supporter.In May 1990, Mandela led a multiracial ANC delegation

  • into preliminary negotiations with a government delegation of 11 Afrikaner men. Mandela impressed

  • them with his discussions of Afrikaner history, and the negotiations led to the Groot Schuur

  • Minute, in which the government lifted the state of emergency. In August, Mandelarecognising

  • the ANC's severe military disadvantageoffered a ceasefire, the Pretoria Minute, for which

  • he was widely criticised by MK activists. He spent much time trying to unify and build

  • the ANC, appearing at a Johannesburg conference in December attended by 1600 delegates, many

  • of whom found him more moderate than expected. At the ANC's July 1991 national conference

  • in Durban, Mandela admitted that the party had faults and announced his aim to build

  • a "strong and well-oiled task force" for securing majority rule. At the conference, he was elected

  • ANC President, replacing the ailing Tambo, and a 50-strong multiracial, mixed gendered

  • national executive was elected.Mandela was given an office in the newly purchased ANC

  • headquarters at Shell House, Johannesburg, and moved into Winnie's large Soweto home.

  • Their marriage was increasingly strained as he learned of her affair with Dali Mpofu,

  • but he supported her during her trial for kidnapping and assault. He gained funding

  • for her defence from the International Defence and Aid Fund for Southern Africa and from

  • Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, but in June 1991 she was found guilty and sentenced to

  • six years in prison, reduced to two on appeal. On 13 April 1992, Mandela publicly announced

  • his separation from Winnie. The ANC forced her to step down from the national executive

  • for misappropriating ANC funds; Mandela moved into the mostly white Johannesburg suburb

  • of Houghton. Mandela's prospects for a peaceful transition were further damaged by an increase

  • in "black-on-black" violence, particularly between ANC and Inkatha supporters in KwaZulu-Natal,

  • which resulted in thousands of deaths. Mandela met with Inkatha leader Buthelezi, but the

  • ANC prevented further negotiations on the issue. Mandela argued that there was a "third

  • force" within the state intelligence services fuelling the "slaughter of the people" and

  • openly blamed de Klerkwhom he increasingly distrustedfor the Sebokeng massacre. In

  • September 1991, a national peace conference was held in Johannesburg at which Mandela,

  • Buthelezi and de Klerk signed a peace accord, though the violence continued.

  • === CODESA talks: 1991–92 === The Convention for a Democratic South Africa

  • (CODESA) began in December 1991 at the Johannesburg World Trade Centre, attended by 228 delegates

  • from 19 political parties. Although Cyril Ramaphosa led the ANC's delegation, Mandela

  • remained a key figure, and after de Klerk used the closing speech to condemn the ANC's

  • violence, he took to the stage to denounce de Klerk as the "head of an illegitimate,

  • discredited minority regime". Dominated by the National Party and ANC, little negotiation

  • was achieved. CODESA 2 was held in May 1992, at which de Klerk insisted that post-apartheid

  • South Africa must use a federal system with a rotating presidency to ensure the protection

  • of ethnic minorities; Mandela opposed this, demanding a unitary system governed by majority

  • rule. Following the Boipatong massacre of ANC activists by government-aided Inkatha

  • militants, Mandela called off the negotiations, before attending a meeting of the Organisation

  • of African Unity in Senegal, at which he called for a special session of the UN Security Council

  • and proposed that a UN peacekeeping force be stationed in South Africa to prevent "state

  • terrorism". Calling for domestic mass action, in August the ANC organised the largest-ever

  • strike in South African history, and supporters marched on Pretoria.

  • Following the Bisho massacre, in which 28 ANC supporters and one soldier were shot dead

  • by the Ciskei Defence Force during a protest march, Mandela realised that mass action was

  • leading to further violence and resumed negotiations in September. He agreed to do so on the conditions

  • that all political prisoners be released, that Zulu traditional weapons be banned, and

  • that Zulu hostels would be fenced off, the latter two measures intended to prevent further

  • Inkatha attacks; de Klerk reluctantly agreed. The negotiations 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 influence. The

  • ANC also conceded to safeguarding the jobs of white civil servants; such concessions

  • brought fierce internal criticism. The duo agreed on an interim constitution based on

  • a liberal democratic model, guaranteeing separation of powers, creating a constitutional court,

  • and including a US-style bill of rights; it also divided the country into nine provinces,

  • each with its own premier and civil service, a concession between de Klerk's desire for

  • federalism and Mandela's for unitary government.The democratic process was threatened by the Concerned

  • South Africans Group (COSAG), an alliance of black ethnic-secessionist groups like Inkatha

  • and far-right Afrikaner parties; in June 1993, one of the latterthe Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging

  • (AWB)—attacked the Kempton Park World Trade Centre. Following the murder of ANC activist

  • Chris Hani, Mandela made a publicised speech to calm rioting, soon after appearing at a

  • mass funeral in Soweto for Tambo, who had died of a stroke. In July 1993, both Mandela

  • and de Klerk visited the US, independently meeting President Bill Clinton and each receiving

  • the Liberty Medal. Soon after, Mandela and de Klerk were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace

  • Prize in Norway. Influenced by Thabo Mbeki, Mandela began meeting with big business figures,

  • and played down his support for nationalisation, fearing that he would scare away much-needed

  • foreign investment. Although criticised by socialist ANC members, he had been encouraged

  • to embrace private enterprise by members of the Chinese and Vietnamese Communist parties

  • at the January 1992 World Economic Forum in Switzerland.

  • === General election: 1994 ===

  • With the election set for 27 April 1994, the ANC began campaigning, opening 100 election

  • offices and orchestrating People's Forums across the country at which Mandela could

  • appear, as a popular figure with great status among black South Africans. The ANC campaigned

  • on a Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) to build a million houses in five years,

  • introduce universal free education and extend access to water and electricity. The party's

  • slogan was "a better life for all", although it was not explained how this development

  • would be funded. With the exception of the Weekly Mail and the New Nation, South Africa's

  • press opposed Mandela's election, fearing continued ethnic strife, instead supporting

  • the National or Democratic Party. Mandela devoted much time to fundraising for the ANC,

  • touring North America, Europe and Asia to meet wealthy donors, including former supporters

  • of the apartheid regime. He also urged a reduction in the voting age from 18 to 14; rejected

  • by the ANC, this policy became the subject of ridicule.Concerned that COSAG would undermine

  • the election, particularly in the wake of the conflict in Bophuthatswana and the Shell

  • House Massacreincidents of violence involving the AWB and Inkatha, respectivelyMandela

  • met with Afrikaner politicians and generals, including P. W. Botha, Pik Botha and Constand

  • Viljoen, persuading many to work within the democratic system. With de Klerk, he also

  • convinced Inkatha's Buthelezi to enter the elections rather than launch a war of secession.

  • As leaders of the two major parties, de Klerk and Mandela appeared on a televised debate;

  • although de Klerk was widely considered the better speaker at the event, Mandela's offer

  • to shake his hand surprised him, leading some commentators to deem it a victory for Mandela.

  • The election went ahead with little violence, although an AWB cell killed 20 with car bombs.

  • As widely expected, the ANC won a sweeping victory, taking 63% of the vote, just short

  • of the two-thirds majority needed to unilaterally change the constitution. The ANC was also

  • victorious in seven provinces, with Inkatha and the National Party each taking another.

  • Mandela voted at the Ohlange High School in Durban, and though the ANC's victory assured

  • his election as President, he publicly accepted that the election had been marred by instances

  • of fraud and sabotage.

  • == Presidency of South Africa: 1994–1999 ==

  • The newly elected National Assembly's first act was to formally elect Mandela as South

  • Africa's first black chief executive. His inauguration took place in Pretoria on 10

  • May 1994, televised to a billion viewers globally. The event was attended by four thousand guests,

  • including world leaders from a wide range of geographic and ideological backgrounds.

  • Mandela headed a Government of National Unity dominated by the ANCwhich had no experience

  • of governing by itselfbut containing representatives from the National Party and Inkatha. Under

  • the Interim Constitution, Inkatha and the National Party were entitled to seats in the

  • government by virtue of winning at least 20 seats. In keeping with earlier agreements,

  • both de Klerk and Thabo Mbeki were given the position of Deputy President. Although Mbeki

  • had not been his first choice for the job, Mandela grew to rely heavily on him throughout

  • his presidency, allowing him to shape policy details. Moving into the presidential office

  • at Tuynhuys in Cape Town, Mandela allowed de Klerk to retain the presidential residence

  • in the Groote Schuur estate, instead settling into the nearby Westbrooke manor, which he

  • renamed "Genadendal", meaning "Valley of Mercy" in Afrikaans. Retaining his Houghton home,

  • he also had a house built in his home village of Qunu, which he visited regularly, walking

  • around the area, meeting with locals, and judging tribal disputes.Aged 76, he faced

  • various ailments, and although exhibiting continued energy, he felt isolated and lonely.

  • He often entertained celebrities, such as Michael Jackson, Whoopi Goldberg, and the

  • Spice Girls, and befriended ultra-rich businessmen, like Harry Oppenheimer of Anglo-American.

  • He also met with Queen Elizabeth II on her March 1995 state visit to South Africa, which

  • earned him strong criticism from ANC anti-capitalists. Despite his opulent surroundings, Mandela

  • lived simply, donating a third of his R 552,000 annual income to the Nelson Mandela Children's

  • Fund, which he had founded in 1995. Although dismantling press censorship, speaking out

  • in favour of freedom of the press, and befriending many journalists, Mandela was critical of

  • much of the country's media, noting that it was overwhelmingly owned and run by middle-class

  • whites and believing that it focused too heavily on scaremongering about crime.In December

  • 1994, Mandela published Long Walk to Freedom, an autobiography based around a manuscript

  • he had written in prison, augmented by interviews conducted with American journalist Richard

  • Stengel. In late 1994, he attended the 49th conference of the ANC in Bloemfontein, at

  • which a more militant national executive was elected, among them Winnie Mandela; although

  • she expressed an interest in reconciling, Nelson initiated divorce proceedings in August

  • 1995. By 1995, he had entered into a relationship with Graça Machel, a Mozambican political

  • activist 27 years his junior who was the widow of former president Samora Machel. They had

  • first met in July 1990 when she was still in mourning, but their friendship grew into

  • a partnership, with Machel accompanying him on many of his foreign visits. She turned

  • down Mandela's first marriage proposal, wanting to retain some independence and dividing her

  • time between Mozambique and Johannesburg.

  • === National reconciliation ===

  • Presiding over the transition from apartheid minority rule to a multicultural democracy,

  • Mandela saw national reconciliation as the primary task of his presidency. Having seen

  • other post-colonial African economies damaged by the departure of white elites, Mandela

  • worked to reassure South Africa's white population that they were protected and represented in

  • "the Rainbow Nation". Although his Government of National Unity would be dominated by the

  • ANC, he attempted to create a broad coalition by appointing de Klerk as Deputy President

  • and appointing other National Party officials as ministers for Agriculture, Energy, Environment,

  • and Minerals and Energy, as well as naming Buthelezi as Minister for Home Affairs. The

  • other cabinet positions were taken by ANC members, many of whomlike Joe Modise, Alfred

  • Nzo, Joe Slovo, Mac Maharaj and Dullah Omarhad long been comrades of Mandela, although others,

  • such as Tito Mboweni and Jeff Radebe, were far younger. Mandela's relationship with de

  • Klerk was strained; Mandela thought that de Klerk was intentionally provocative, and de

  • Klerk felt that he was being intentionally humiliated by the president. In January 1995,

  • Mandela heavily chastised him for awarding amnesty to 3,500 police officers just before

  • the election, and later criticised him for defending former Minister of Defence Magnus

  • Malan when the latter was charged with murder.Mandela personally met with senior figures of the

  • apartheid regime, including Hendrik Verwoerd's widow, Betsie Schoombie, and lawyer Percy

  • Yutar, also laying a wreath by the statue of Afrikaner hero Daniel Theron. Emphasising

  • personal forgiveness and reconciliation, he announced that "courageous people do not fear

  • forgiving, for the sake of peace." He encouraged black South Africans to get behind the previously

  • hated national rugby team, the Springboks, as South Africa hosted the 1995 Rugby World

  • Cup. Mandela wore a Springbok shirt at the final against New Zealand, and after the Springboks

  • won the match, Mandela presented the trophy to captain Francois Pienaar, an Afrikaner.

  • This was widely seen as a major step in the reconciliation of white and black South Africans;

  • as de Klerk later put it, "Mandela won the hearts of millions of white rugby fans." Mandela's

  • efforts at reconciliation assuaged the fears of whites, but also drew criticism from more

  • militant blacks. Among the latter was his estranged wife, Winnie, who accused the ANC

  • of being more interested in appeasing the white community than in helping the black

  • majority.Mandela oversaw the formation of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate

  • crimes committed under apartheid by both the government and the ANC, appointing Tutu as

  • its chair. To prevent the creation of martyrs, the Commission granted individual amnesties

  • in exchange for testimony of crimes committed during the apartheid era. Dedicated in February

  • 1996, it held two years of hearings detailing rapes, torture, bombings, and assassinations,

  • before issuing its final report in October 1998. Both de Klerk and Mbeki appealed to

  • have parts of the report suppressed, though only de Klerk's appeal was successful. Mandela

  • praised the Commission's work, stating that it "had helped us move away from the past

  • to concentrate on the present and the future".

  • === Domestic programmes ===

  • Mandela's administration inherited a country with a huge disparity in wealth and services

  • between white and black communities. Of a population of 40 million, around 23 million

  • lacked electricity or adequate sanitation, and 12 million lacked clean water supplies,

  • with 2 million children not in school and a third of the population illiterate. There

  • was 33% unemployment, and just under half of the population lived below the poverty

  • line. Government financial reserves were nearly depleted, with a fifth of the national budget

  • being spent on debt repayment, meaning that the extent of the promised Reconstruction

  • and Development Programme (RDP) was scaled back, with none of the proposed nationalisation

  • or job creation. In 1996, the RDP was replaced with a new policy, Growth, Employment and

  • Redistribution (GEAR), which maintained South Africa's mixed economy but placed an emphasis

  • on economic growth through a framework of market economics and the encouragement of

  • foreign investment; many in the ANC derided it as a neo-liberal policy that did not address

  • social inequality, no matter how Mandela defended it. In adopting this approach, Mandela's government

  • adhered to the "Washington consensus" advocated by the World Bank and International Monetary

  • Fund.Under Mandela's presidency, welfare spending increased by 13% in 1996/97, 13% in 1997/98,

  • and 7% in 1998/99. The government introduced parity in grants for communities, including

  • disability grants, child maintenance grants, and old-age pensions, which had previously

  • been set at different levels for South Africa's different racial groups. In 1994, free healthcare

  • was introduced for children under six and pregnant women, a provision extended to all

  • those using primary level public sector health care services in 1996. By the 1999 election,

  • the ANC could boast that due to their policies, 3 million people were connected to telephone

  • lines, 1.5 million children were brought into the education system, 500 clinics were upgraded

  • or constructed, 2 million people were connected to the electricity grid, water access was

  • extended to 3 million people, and 750,000 houses were constructed, housing nearly 3

  • million people.

  • The Land Reform Act 3 of 1996 safeguarded the rights of labour tenants living on farms

  • where they grew crops or grazed livestock. This legislation ensured that such tenants

  • could not be evicted without a court order or if they were over the age of 65. Recognising

  • that arms manufacturing was a key industry for the South African economy, Mandela endorsed

  • the trade in weapons but brought in tighter regulations surrounding Armscor to ensure

  • that South African weaponry was not sold to authoritarian regimes. Under Mandela's administration,

  • tourism was increasingly promoted, becoming a major sector of the South African economy.Critics

  • like Edwin Cameron accused Mandela's government of doing little to stem the HIV/AIDS pandemic

  • in the country; by 1999, 10% of South Africa's population were HIV positive. Mandela later

  • admitted that he had personally neglected the issue, in part due to public reticence

  • in discussing issues surrounding sex in South Africa, and that he had instead left the issue

  • for Mbeki to deal with. Mandela also received criticism for failing to sufficiently combat

  • crime; South Africa had one of the world's highest crime rates, and the activities of

  • international crime syndicates in the country grew significantly throughout the decade.

  • Mandela's administration was also perceived as having failed to deal with the problem

  • of corruption.Further problems were caused by the exodus of thousands of skilled white

  • South Africans from the country, who were escaping the increasing crime rates, higher

  • taxes, and the impact of positive discrimination toward blacks in employment. This exodus resulted

  • in a brain drain, and Mandela criticised those who left. At the same time, South Africa experienced

  • an influx of millions of illegal migrants from poorer parts of Africa; although public

  • opinion toward these illegal immigrants was generally unfavourable, characterising them

  • as disease-spreading criminals who were a drain on resources, Mandela called on South

  • Africans to embrace them as "brothers and sisters".

  • === Foreign affairs === Mandela expressed the view that "South Africa's

  • future foreign relations [should] be based on our belief that human rights should be

  • the core of international relations". Following the South African example, Mandela encouraged

  • other nations to resolve conflicts through diplomacy and reconciliation. In September

  • 1998, Mandela was appointed Secretary-General of the Non-Aligned Movement, who held their

  • annual conference in Durban. He used the event to criticise the "narrow, chauvinistic interests"

  • of the Israeli government in stalling negotiations to end the IsraeliPalestinian conflict

  • and urged India and Pakistan to negotiate to end the Kashmir conflict, for which he

  • was criticised by both Israel and India. Inspired by the region's economic boom, Mandela sought

  • greater economic relations with East Asia, in particular with Malaysia, although this

  • was prevented by the 1997 Asian financial crisis. He extended diplomatic recognition

  • to the People's Republic of China (PRC), who were growing as an economic force, and initially

  • also to Taiwan, who were already longstanding investors in the South African economy. However,

  • under pressure from the PRC, in November 1996 he cut recognition of Taiwan, and in May 1999

  • paid an official visit to Beijing.

  • Mandela attracted controversy for his close relationship with Indonesian president Suharto,

  • whose regime was responsible for mass human rights abuses, although on a July 1997 visit

  • to Indonesia he privately urged Suharto to withdraw from the occupation of East Timor.

  • He also faced similar criticism from the West for his government's trade links to Syria,

  • Cuba, and Libya, and for his personal friendships with Castro and Gaddafi. Castro visited in

  • 1998 to widespread popular acclaim, and Mandela met Gaddafi in Libya to award him the Order

  • of Good Hope. When Western governments and media criticised these visits, Mandela lambasted

  • such criticism as having racist undertones, and stated that "the enemies of countries

  • in the West are not our enemies." Mandela hoped to resolve the long-running dispute

  • between Libya and the US and Britain over bringing to trial the two Libyans, Abdelbaset

  • al-Megrahi and Lamin Khalifah Fhimah, who were indicted in November 1991 and accused

  • of sabotaging Pan Am Flight 103. Mandela proposed that they be tried in a third country, which

  • was agreed to by all parties; governed by Scots law, the trial was held at Camp Zeist

  • in the Netherlands in April 1999, and found one of the two men guilty.Mandela echoed Mbeki's

  • calls for an "African Renaissance", and was greatly concerned with issues on the continent.

  • He took a soft diplomatic approach to removing Sani Abacha's military junta in Nigeria but

  • later became a leading figure in calling for sanctions when Abacha's regime increased human

  • rights violations. In 1996, he was appointed Chairman of the Southern African Development

  • Community (SADC) and initiated unsuccessful negotiations to end the First Congo War in

  • Zaire. He also played a key role as a mediator in the ethnic conflict between Tutsi and Hutu

  • political groups in the Burundian Civil War, helping to initiate a settlement which brought

  • increased stability to the country but did not end the ethnic violence. In South Africa's

  • first post-apartheid military operation, troops were ordered in September 1998 into Lesotho

  • to protect the government of Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili after a disputed election

  • prompted opposition uprisings. The action was not authorised by Mandela himself, who

  • was out of the country at the time, but by Buthelezi, who was serving as acting president

  • during Mandela's absence.

  • === Withdrawing from politics ===

  • The new Constitution of South Africa was agreed upon by parliament in May 1996, enshrining

  • a series of institutions to place checks on political and administrative authority within

  • a constitutional democracy. De Klerk opposed the implementation of this constitution, and

  • that month he and the National Party withdrew from the coalition government in protest,

  • claiming that the ANC were not treating them as equals. The ANC took over the cabinet positions

  • formerly held by the Nationalists, with Mbeki becoming sole Deputy President. Inkatha remained

  • part of the coalition, and when both Mandela and Mbeki were out of the country in September

  • 1998, Buthelezi was appointed "Acting President", marking an improvement in his relationship

  • with Mandela. Although Mandela had often governed decisively in his first two years as President,

  • he had subsequently increasingly delegated duties to Mbeki, retaining only a close personal

  • supervision of intelligence and security measures. During a 1997 visit to London, he said that

  • "the ruler of South Africa, the de facto ruler, is Thabo Mbeki" and that he was "shifting

  • everything to him".Mandela stepped down as ANC President at the party's December 1997

  • conference. He hoped that Ramaphosa would succeed him, believing Mbeki to be too inflexible

  • and intolerant of criticism, but the ANC elected Mbeki regardless. Mandela and the Executive

  • supported Jacob Zuma, a Zulu who had been imprisoned on Robben Island, as Mbeki's replacement

  • for Deputy President. Zuma's candidacy was challenged by Winnie, whose populist rhetoric

  • had gained her a strong following within the party, although Zuma defeated her in a landslide

  • victory vote at the election.Mandela's relationship with Machel had intensified; in February 1998,

  • he publicly stated that he was "in love with a remarkable lady", and under pressure from

  • Tutu, who urged him to set an example for young people, he organised a wedding for his

  • 80th birthday, in July that year. The following day, he held a grand party with many foreign

  • dignitaries. Although the 1996 constitution allowed the president to serve two consecutive

  • five-year terms, Mandela had never planned to stand for a second term in office. He gave

  • his farewell speech to Parliament on 29 March 1999 when it adjourned prior to the 1999 general

  • elections, after which he retired. Although opinion polls in South Africa showed wavering

  • support for both the ANC and the government, Mandela himself remained highly popular, with

  • 80% of South Africans polled in 1999 expressing satisfaction with his performance as president.

  • == Retirement ==

  • === Continued activism and philanthropy: 1999–2004 ===

  • Retiring in June 1999, Mandela aimed to lead a quiet family life, divided between Johannesburg

  • and Qunu. Although he set about authoring a sequel to his first autobiography, to be

  • titled The Presidential Years, it was abandoned before publication. Mandela found such seclusion

  • difficult and reverted to a busy public life involving daily programme of tasks, meetings

  • with world leaders and celebrities, andwhen in Johannesburgworking with the Nelson

  • Mandela Foundation, founded in 1999 to focus on rural development, school construction,

  • and combating HIV/AIDS. Although he had been heavily criticised for failing to do enough

  • to fight the HIV/AIDS pandemic during his presidency, he devoted much of his time to

  • the issue following his retirement, describing it as "a war" that had killed more than "all

  • previous wars"; affiliating himself with the Treatment Action Campaign, he urged Mbeki's

  • government to ensure that HIV-positive South Africans had access to anti-retrovirals. Meanwhile,

  • Mandela was successfully treated for prostate cancer in July 2001.In 2002, Mandela inaugurated

  • the Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture, and in 2003 the Mandela Rhodes Foundation was created

  • at Rhodes House, University of Oxford, to provide postgraduate scholarships to African

  • students. These projects were followed by the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory and the

  • 46664 campaign against HIV/AIDS. He gave the closing address at the XIII International

  • AIDS Conference in Durban in 2000, and in 2004, spoke at the XV International AIDS Conference

  • in Bangkok, Thailand, calling for greater measures to tackle tuberculosis as well as

  • HIV/AIDS. Mandela publicised AIDS as the cause of his son Makgatho's death in January 2005,

  • to defy the stigma about discussing the disease.Publicly, Mandela became more vocal in criticising Western

  • powers. He strongly opposed the 1999 NATO intervention in Kosovo and called it an attempt

  • by the world's powerful nations to police the entire world. In 2003, he spoke out against

  • the plans for the US and UK to launch a war in Iraq, describing it as "a tragedy" and

  • lambasting US President George W. Bush and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair for undermining

  • the UN, saying, "All that (Mr. Bush) wants is Iraqi oil". He attacked the US more generally,

  • asserting that it had committed more "unspeakable atrocities" across the world than any other

  • nation, citing the atomic bombing of Japan; this attracted international controversy,

  • although he later improved his relationship with Blair. Retaining an interest in Libyan-UK

  • relations, he visited Megrahi in Barlinnie prison and spoke out against the conditions

  • of his treatment, referring to them as "psychological persecution".

  • === "Retiring from retirement": 2004–2013 ===

  • In June 2004, aged 85 and amid failing health, Mandela announced that he was "retiring from

  • retirement" and retreating from public life, remarking, "Don't call me, I will call you."

  • Although continuing to meet with close friends and family, the Foundation discouraged invitations

  • for him to appear at public events and denied most interview requests.

  • He retained some involvement in international affairs. In 2005, he founded the Nelson Mandela

  • Legacy Trust, travelling to the US to speak before the Brookings Institution and the NAACP

  • on the need for economic assistance to Africa. He spoke with US Senator Hillary Clinton and

  • President George W. Bush and first met the then-Senator Barack Obama. Mandela also encouraged

  • Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe to resign over growing human rights abuses in the country.

  • When this proved ineffective, he spoke out publicly against Mugabe in 2007, asking him

  • to step down "with residual respect and a modicum of dignity." That year, Mandela, Machel,

  • and Desmond Tutu convened a group of world leaders in Johannesburg to contribute their

  • wisdom and independent leadership to some of the world's toughest problems. Mandela

  • announced the formation of this new group, The Elders, in a speech delivered on his 89th

  • birthday.Mandela's 90th birthday was marked across the country on 18 July 2008, with the

  • main celebrations held at Qunu, and a concert in his honour in Hyde Park, London. In a speech

  • marking the event, Mandela called for the rich to help the poor across the world. Throughout

  • Mbeki's presidency, Mandela continued to support the ANC, usually overshadowing Mbeki at any

  • public events that the two attended. Mandela was more at ease with Mbeki's successor, Zuma,

  • although the Nelson Mandela Foundation was upset when his grandson, Mandla Mandela, flew

  • him out to the Eastern Cape to attend a pro-Zuma rally in the midst of a storm in 2009.In 2004,

  • Mandela successfully campaigned for South Africa to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup, declaring

  • that there would be "few better gifts for us" in the year marking a decade since the

  • fall of apartheid. Despite maintaining a low profile during the event due to ill-health,

  • Mandela made his final public appearance during the World Cup closing ceremony, where he received

  • much applause. Between 2005 and 2013, Mandela, and later his family, were embroiled in a

  • series of legal disputes regarding money held in family trusts for the benefit of his descendants.

  • In mid-2013, as Mandela was hospitalised for a lung infection in Pretoria, his descendants

  • were involved in an intra-family legal dispute relating to the burial place of Mandela's

  • children, and ultimately Mandela himself.

  • === Illness and death: 2011–2013 ===

  • In February 2011, Mandela was briefly hospitalised with a respiratory infection, attracting international

  • attention, before being re-admitted for a lung infection and gallstone removal in December

  • 2012. After a successful medical procedure in early March 2013, his lung infection recurred

  • and he was briefly hospitalised in Pretoria. In June 2013, his lung infection worsened

  • and he was readmitted to a Pretoria hospital in serious condition. The Archbishop of Cape

  • Town Thabo Makgoba visited Mandela at the hospital and prayed with Machel, while Zuma

  • cancelled a trip to Mozambique to visit him the following day. In September 2013, Mandela

  • was discharged from hospital, although his condition remained unstable.After suffering

  • from a prolonged respiratory infection, Mandela died on 5 December 2013 at the age of 95,

  • at around 20:50 local time (UTC+2) at his home in Houghton, surrounded by his family.

  • Zuma publicly announced his death on television, proclaiming ten days of national mourning,

  • a memorial service held at Johannesburg's FNB Stadium on 10 December 2013, and 8 December

  • as a national day of prayer and reflection. Mandela's body lay in state from 11 to 13

  • December at the Union Buildings in Pretoria and a state funeral was held on 15 December

  • in Qunu. Approximately 90 representatives of foreign states travelled to South Africa

  • to attend memorial events. It was later revealed that 300 million rand originally earmarked

  • for humanitarian development projects had been redirected to finance the funeral. The

  • media was awash with tributes and reminiscences, while images of and tributes to Mandela proliferated

  • across social media. His US$4.1 million estate was left to his widow, other family members,

  • staff, and educational institutions.

  • == Political ideology ==

  • Mandela was a practical politician, rather than an intellectual scholar or political

  • theorist. According to biographer Tom Lodge, "for Mandela, politics has always been primarily

  • about enacting stories, about making narratives, primarily about morally exemplary conduct,

  • and only secondarily about ideological vision, more about means rather than ends." Mandela

  • identified as both an African nationalist, an ideological position he held since joining

  • the ANC, and as a socialist.The historian Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni described Mandela

  • as a "liberal African nationalistdecolonial humanist", while political analyst Raymond

  • Suttner cautioned against labelling Mandela a liberal and stated that Mandela displayed

  • a "hybrid socio-political make-up". Mandela took political ideas from other thinkersamong

  • them Indian independence leaders like Gandhi and Nehru, African-American civil rights activists,

  • and African nationalists like Nkrumahand applied them to the South African situation.

  • At the same time he rejected other aspects of their thought, such as the anti-white sentiment

  • of many African nationalists. In doing so he synthesized both counter-cultural and hegemonic

  • views, for instance by drawing upon ideas from the then-dominant Afrikaner nationalism

  • in promoting his anti-apartheid vision.His political development was strongly influenced

  • by his legal training and practice, in particular his hope to achieve change not through violence

  • but through "legal revolution". Over the course of his life, he began by advocating a path

  • of non-violence, later embracing violence, and then adopting a non-violent approach to

  • negotiation and reconciliation. When endorsing violence, he did so because he saw no alternative,

  • and was always pragmatic about it, perceiving it as a means to get his opponent to the negotiating

  • table. He sought to target symbols of white supremacy and racist oppression rather than

  • white people as individuals, and was anxious not to inaugurate a race war in South Africa.

  • This willingness to use violence distinguishes Mandela from the ideology of Gandhism, with

  • which some commentators have sought to associate him.

  • === Democracy === Although he presented himself in an autocratic

  • manner in several speeches, Mandela was a devout believer in democracy and abided by

  • majority decisions even when deeply disagreeing with them. He had exhibited a commitment to

  • the values of democracy and human rights since at least the 1960s. He held a conviction that

  • "inclusivity, accountability and freedom of speech" were the fundamentals of democracy,

  • and was driven by a belief in natural and human rights. Suttner argued that there were

  • "two modes of leadership" that Mandela adopted. On one side he adhered to ideas about collective

  • leadership, although on the other believed that there were scenarios in which a leader

  • had to be decisive and act without consultation to achieve a particular objective.According

  • to Lodge, Mandela's political thought reflected tensions between his support for liberal democracy

  • and pre-colonial African forms of consensus decision making. He was an admirer of British-style

  • parliamentary democracy, stating that "I regard the British Parliament as the most democratic

  • institution in the world, and the independence and impartiality of its judiciary never fail

  • to arouse my admiration." In this he has been described as being committed to "the Euro-North

  • American modernist project of emancipation", something which distinguishes him from other

  • African nationalist and socialist leaders like Nyerere who were concerned about embracing

  • styles of democratic governance that were Western, rather than African, in origin. Mandela

  • nevertheless also expressed admiration for what he deemed to be indigenous forms of democracy,

  • describing Xhosa traditional society's mode of governance as "democracy in its purest

  • form". He also spoke of an influential African ethical tenet, Ubuntu, which was a Ngnuni

  • term meaning "A person is a person through other persons" or "I am because we are."

  • === Socialism and Marxism ===

  • Mandela advocated the ultimate establishment of a classless society, with Sampson describing

  • him as being "openly opposed to capitalism, private land-ownership and the power of big

  • money". Mandela was influenced by Marxism, and during the revolution he advocated scientific

  • socialism. He denied being a communist at the Treason Trial, and maintained this stance

  • both when later talking to journalists, and in his autobiography. According to the sociologist

  • Craig Soudien, "sympathetic as Mandela was to socialism, a communist he was not." Conversely,

  • the biographer David Jones Smith stated that Mandela "embraced communism and communists"

  • in the late 1950s and early 1960s, while the historian Stephen Ellis commented that Mandela

  • had assimilated much of the MarxistLeninist ideology by 1960.Ellis also found evidence

  • that Mandela had been an active member of the South African Communist Party during the

  • late 1950s and early 1960s, something that was confirmed after his death by both the

  • ANC and the SACP, the latter of which claimed that he was not only a member of the party,

  • but also served on its Central Committee. His membership had been hidden by the ANC,

  • aware that knowledge of Mandela's former SACP involvement might have been detrimental to

  • his attempts to attract support from Western countries. Mandela's view of these Western

  • governments differed from those of MarxistLeninists, for he did not believe that they were anti-democratic

  • or reactionary and remained committed to democratic systems of governance.The 1955 Freedom Charter,

  • which Mandela had helped create, called for the nationalisation of banks, gold mines and

  • land, to ensure equal distribution of wealth. Despite these beliefs, Mandela initiated a

  • programme of privatisation during his presidency in line with trends in other countries of

  • the time. It has been repeatedly suggested that Mandela would have preferred to develop

  • a social democratic economy in South Africa but that this was not feasible as a result

  • of the international political and economic situation during the early 1990s. This decision

  • was in part influenced by the fall of the socialist states in the Soviet Union and Eastern

  • Bloc during the early 1990s.

  • == Personality and personal life ==

  • Mandela was widely considered a charismatic leader, described by biographer Mary Benson

  • as "a born mass leader who could not help magnetizing people". He was highly image conscious

  • and throughout his life always sought out fine quality clothes, with many commentators

  • believing that he carried himself in a regal manner. His aristocratic heritage was repeatedly

  • emphasised by supporters, thus contributing to his "charismatic power". While living in

  • Johannesburg in the 1950s, he cultivated the image of the "African gentleman", having "the

  • pressed clothes, correct manners, and modulated public speech" associated with such a position.

  • In doing so, Lodge argued that Mandela became "one of the first media politicians [...] embodying

  • a glamour and a style that projected visually a brave new African world of modernity and

  • freedom". Mandela was known to change his clothes several times a day, and he became

  • so associated with highly coloured Batik shirts after assuming the presidency that they came

  • to be known as "Madiba shirts".For political scientists Betty Glad and Robert Blanton,

  • Mandela was an "exceptionally intelligent, shrewd, and loyal leader". His official biographer,

  • Anthony Sampson, commented that he was a "master of imagery and performance", excelling at

  • presenting himself well in press photographs and producing sound bites. His public speeches

  • were presented in a formal, stiff manner, and often consisted of clichéd set phrases.

  • He typically spoke slowly, and carefully chose his words. Although he was not considered

  • a great orator, his speeches conveyed "his personal commitment, charm and humour".Mandela

  • was a private person who often concealed his emotions and confided in very few people.

  • Privately, he lived an austere life, refusing to drink alcohol or smoke, and even as President

  • made his own bed. Renowned for his mischievous sense of humour, he was known for being both

  • stubborn and loyal, and at times exhibited a quick temper. He was typically friendly

  • and welcoming, and appeared relaxed in conversation with everyone, including his opponents. A

  • self-described Anglophile, he claimed to have lived by the "trappings of British style and

  • manners". Constantly polite and courteous, he was attentive to all, irrespective of their

  • age or status, and often talked to children or servants. He was known for his ability

  • to find common ground with very different communities. In later life, he always looked

  • for the best in people, even defending political opponents to his allies, who sometimes thought

  • him too trusting of others. He was fond of Indian cuisine, and had a lifelong interest

  • in archaeology and boxing.

  • He was raised in the Methodist denomination of Christianity; the Methodist Church of Southern

  • Africa claimed that he retained his allegiance to them throughout his life. On analysing

  • Mandela's writings, the theologian Dion Forster described him as a Christian humanist, although

  • added that his thought relied to a greater extent on the Southern African concept of

  • Ubuntu than on Christian theology. According to Sampson, Mandela never had "a strong religious

  • faith" however, while Boehmer stated that Mandela's religious belief was "never robust".Mandela

  • was very self-conscious about being a man and regularly made references to manhood.

  • He was heterosexual, and biographer Fatima Meer said that he was "easily tempted" by

  • women. Another biographer, Martin Meredith, characterised him as being "by nature a romantic",

  • highlighting that he had relationships with various women. Mandela was married three times,

  • fathered six children, and had seventeen grandchildren and at least seventeen great-grandchildren.

  • He could be stern and demanding of his children, although he was more affectionate with his

  • grandchildren. His first marriage was to Evelyn Ntoko Mase in October 1944; they divorced

  • in March 1958 under the multiple strains of his adultery and constant absences, devotion

  • to revolutionary agitation, and the fact that she was a Jehovah's Witness, a religion requiring

  • political neutrality. Mandela's second wife was the social worker Winnie Madikizela-Mandela,

  • whom he married in June 1958, although they divorced in March 1996. Mandela married his

  • third wife, Graça Machel, on his 80th birthday in July 1998.

  • == Reception and legacy ==

  • By the time of his death, within South Africa Mandela was widely considered both "the father

  • of the nation" and "the founding father of democracy". Outside of South Africa, he was

  • a "global icon", with the scholar of South African studies Rita Barnard describing him

  • as "one of the most revered figures of our time". One biographer considered him "a modern

  • democratic hero", while his popularity resulted in a cult of personality building up around

  • him. Some have portrayed Mandela in messianic terms, in contrast to his own statement that

  • "I was not a messiah, but an ordinary man who had become a leader because of extraordinary

  • circumstances." He is often cited alongside Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.

  • as one of the 20th century's exemplary anti-racist and anti-colonial leaders. Boehmer described

  • him as "a totem of the totemic values of our age: toleration and liberal democracy" and

  • "a universal symbol of social justice".Mandela's international fame had emerged during his

  • incarceration in the 1980s, when he became the world's most famous prisoner, a symbol

  • of the anti-apartheid cause, and an icon for millions who embraced the ideal of human equality.

  • In 1986, Mandela's biographer characterised him as "the embodiment of the struggle for

  • liberation" in South Africa. Meredith stated that in becoming "a potent symbol of resistance"

  • to apartheid during the 1980s, he had gained "mythical status" internationally. Sampson

  • commented that even during his life, this myth had become "so powerful that it blurs

  • the realities", converting Mandela into "a secular saint". Within a decade of the end

  • of his Presidency, Mandela's era was being widely thought of as "a golden age of hope

  • and harmony", with much nostalgia being expressed for it. His name was often invoked by those

  • criticising his successors like Mbeki and Zuma. Across the world, Mandela earned international

  • acclaim for his activism in overcoming apartheid and fostering racial reconciliation, coming

  • to be viewed as "a moral authority" with a great "concern for truth". Mandela's iconic

  • status has been blamed for concealing the complexities of his life.Mandela generated

  • controversy throughout his career as an activist and politician, having detractors on both

  • the right and the radical left. During the 1980s, Mandela was widely labelled a terrorist

  • by prominent political figures in the Western world for his embrace of political violence.

  • According to Thatcher, for instance, the ANC was "a typical terrorist organisation". The

  • US government's State and Defense departments officially designated the ANC as a terrorist

  • organisation, resulting in Mandela remaining on their terrorism watch-list until 2008.

  • On the left, some voices in the ANCamong them Frank B. Wilderson IIIaccused him

  • of selling out for agreeing to enter negotiations with the apartheid government and for not

  • implementing the reforms of the Freedom Charter during his Presidency. According to Barnard,

  • "there is also a sense in which his chiefly bearing and mode of conduct, the very respect

  • and authority he accrued in representing his nation in his own person, went against the

  • spirit of democracy", and concerns were similarly expressed that he placed his own status and

  • celebrity above the transformation of his country. His government would be criticised

  • for its failure to deal with both the HIV/AIDS pandemic and the high levels of poverty in

  • South Africa. Mandela was also criticised for his friendship with political leaders

  • such as Castro, Gaddafi, and Suhartodeemed dictators by criticsas well as his refusal

  • to condemn their governments' human rights violations.

  • === Orders, decorations, monuments, and honours ===

  • Over the course of his life, Mandela was given over 250 awards, accolades, prizes, honorary

  • degrees and citizenships in recognition of his political achievements.

  • Among his awards were the Nobel Peace Prize, the US Presidential Medal of Freedom, the

  • Soviet Union's Lenin Peace Prize, and the Libyan Al-Gaddafi International Prize for

  • Human Rights. In 1990, India awarded him the Bharat Ratna, and in 1992 Pakistan gave him

  • their Nishan-e-Pakistan. The same year, he was awarded the Atatürk Peace Award by Turkey;

  • he at first refused the award, citing human rights violations committed by Turkey at the

  • time, but later accepted the award in 1999. He was appointed to the Order of Isabella

  • the Catholic and the Order of Canada, and was the first living person to be made an

  • honorary Canadian citizen. Queen Elizabeth II appointed him as a Bailiff Grand Cross

  • of the Order of St. John and granted him membership in the Order of Merit.In 2004, Johannesburg

  • granted Mandela the Freedom of the City, and in 2008 a Mandela statue was unveiled at the

  • spot where Mandela was released from prison. On the Day of Reconciliation 2013, a bronze

  • statue of Mandela was unveiled at Pretoria's Union Buildings.

  • In November 2009, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed Mandela's birthday, 18

  • July, as "Mandela Day", marking his contribution to the anti-apartheid struggle. It called

  • on individuals to donate 67 minutes to doing something for others, commemorating the 67

  • years that Mandela had been a part of the movement. In 2015 the UN General Assembly

  • named the amended Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners as "the Mandela

  • Rules" to honour his legacy.

  • === Biographies and popular media === The first biography of Mandela was authored

  • by Mary Benson, based on brief interviews with him that she had conducted in the 1960s.

  • Two authorised biographies were later produced by friends of Mandela. The first was Fatima

  • Meer's Higher Than Hope, which was heavily influenced by Winnie and thus placed great

  • emphasis on Mandela's family. The second was Anthony Sampson's Mandela, published in 1999.

  • Other biographies included Martin Meredith's Mandela, first published in 1997, and Tom

  • Lodge's Mandela, brought out in 2006.Since the late 1980s, Mandela's image began to appear

  • on a proliferation of items, among them "photographs, paintings, drawings, statues, public murals,

  • buttons, t-shirts, refrigerator magnets, and more", items that have been characterised

  • as "Mandela kitsch". In the 1980s he was the subject of several songs, such as The Special

  • AKA's "Free Nelson Mandela" and Hugh Masekela's "Bring Him Back Home (Nelson Mandela)", which

  • helped to bring awareness of his imprisonment to an international audience. Following his

  • death, there appeared many internet memes featuring images of Mandela with his inspirational

  • quotes superimposed onto them. Mandela has also been depicted in films on multiple occasions.

  • Some of these, such as the 2013 feature film Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom and the 1996

  • documentary Mandela, have focused on covering his long life, whereas others, such as the

  • 2009 feature film Invictus and the 2010 documentary The 16th Man, have focused on specific events

  • in his life. It has been argued that in Invictus and other films, "the America film industry"

  • has played a significant part in "the crafting of Mandela's global image".

  • == See also ==

  • Mandela effect

  • == References ==

  • === Footnotes ===

  • === Bibliography ===

  • == External links ==

  • Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory Nelson Mandela Children's Fund

  • Nelson Mandela Foundation Mandela Rhodes Foundation

  • The Elders Nelson Mandela Museum

  • Nelson Mandela Day Nelson Mandela's family tree

  • Works by or about Nelson Mandela in libraries (WorldCat catalog)

  • Nelson Mandela at Curlie Nelson Mandela on IMDb

  • Appearances on C-SPAN

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; Xhosa: [xoliɬaˈɬa manˈdɛla]; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013)

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