Nelson Mandela – The man who lives in

millions of hearts

“Hardship often prepares an ordinary

person for an extraordinary journey”.
- C.S Lewis
This quote wisely said by CS Lewis, accurately
describes Mandela's life. From how he went from
being a troublemaking nuisance to one of the most
respectable leaders worldwide with over 240*
awards including Bharat Ratna and Nobel Peace
Prize.
Childhood
- Nelson Mandela was born as Rolihlahla Mandela to
Chief Gadla Henry Mandela and Nosekeni Fanny on
18thJuly,1918, at Mvezo, a tiny village located on the
banks of Mbhashe River in Umtata District which
was then under Cape Province.
- Gadla was polygamist with 4 wives, four sons and
nine daughters, who lived in different villages.
Nelson was the son of the 3rd Wife.
- Born as a son of Thembu royal family, Nelson
Mandela was exposed to powerful black leadership
especially his great grandfather Ngubengcuka also
known as Vusani who was the king of Thembus
united them before Thembus were subjugated
under colonial rule. This remained a source of
influence throughout his life.
- He lived a simple childhood which was largely based
on his tribal customs. His dad was removed from his
position as chief on the accusation of corruption
which was (according to Thembus) a crime against
Qamatha the creator. Nelson, however was told that
his dad was removed because he stood against the
unreasonable demands of the White legislation.
- 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. He used to eat royal food, play with other
village kids and slept on a mat on the floor of the
hut. Both of his parents were illiterate. Infact he was
the first literate in his family. His mother a devout
 Christian, sent him to a methodologist school where
he was given the English name Nelson.
- He was very emotionally attached to his mother and
always looked upto her but never showed any sign
of affection. Their family owned 3 huts in different
villages. All was going well until an unexpected
tragedy changed his life forever.
- His dad died when he was quite young thanks to a
deadly respiratory disease which reports speculate
might have been TB. This left his family devastated
since they didn’t have any sort of financial support
to raise Nelson and his siblings. The Royal Regent
Jogintaba offered to adopt Nelson as his son.
Jogintaba was also a chief in the village and got to
that position with the help of Nelson’s dad so he was
sort of honour bound to take care of Nelson.
- Jogintaba took great care of Nelson. His son “Justice”
and Nelson became lifelong friends. When he turned
16, Jogintaba decided it was time for Nelson to
transition into adulthood. In Thembu tribe there was
a special custom in which the boy took a dip in the
river and then was beat with a thick stick and was
forced to endure the pain indicating the hardships
they were about to face in adulthood.
 - After all the 16-year-old males were done with the
custom, the head chief then made a speech. For the
first time the head chief addressed the tribe and
gave an awe-inspiring speech about how the
britishers were exploiting their resources and how
they should do something to stop it.

Young Mandela
- Mandela being a bright student knew that he would
defy all odds and discrimination and would stop at
nothing to complete his education.
- He enrolled at the Clarkebury institute which was
located in Transkei. At the time, Clarkebury was the
highest institution of education for Africans in
Thembuland.
- After getting accustomed to the institute culture,
Mandela’s brightness became all the more clear.
- He completed his junior certificate course in just 2
years instead if the regular 3.
- In 1937, when he was 19, he moved to Heald town
and began living with his step-brother Justice.
- Finally, he joined Fort Hare which was considered
the Harvard and Yale of that age which was all rolled
into one.
 - Like the other institutions which Mandela had
attended, this too was a missionary university, aimed
to promote Christianity amongst the common,
gullible and deeply cultural tribals.

Espousal Escapade
- Now that he was an adult and was finally for the first
time thriving in his life, fortunately or unfortunately
his stepdad Jogintaaba had arranged marriages for
both Nelson and Justice (his stepbrother not the law
“Justice”)
- Nelson and his brother had no interest in such an
early* marriage. To make matters worse Nelson
bride-to-be was actually Justice’s dearest.
- Upon finding out about this Nelson became ever the
more outspoken and rebellious. But to oppose a
man with the status of Jogintaaba, they both knew,
wasn’t going to be a cake walk.
- Quite secretively they begin hatching an escapade
and were soon of to another city.
- Upon finding about this Jogintaaba places a curfew
on the whole city. All the streets, buildings, pens,
and even train stations are searched.
 - When Nelson and Justice arrive at the train station,
they realize the whole city is in cohorts with
Jogintaaba.
- With sheer luck and determination, they somehow
successfully sneak onto a train and arrive at the
bustling city of Johannesburg.
- There they find jobs in a goldmine. Justice works as a
clerk and Nelson works as a guard. All seems well for
the dynamic duo. That is until Jogintaaba gets the
wind of the situation of his sons. He then contacts
the chief guard and persuades him to send the boys
back.
- Nelson, being quite the lawyer he was, argues with
sensible points. The chief lets him off the hook but
he and Justice are forced to resign.

Rise in politics
- Mandela’s ambition in politics along with the disgust
of forced marriage and urge to end apartheid paved
his way to meet A.B.Xuma, a friend of Jogintaaba
and the president/general of the African National
Congress (ANC).
- Finally, Jogintaaba realizes his mistake and the
dispute ends. Now the brothers part ways with
Mandela shifting to Alexandria.
- Life in Alexandria was not, what one would call
“luxurious” or even close to that. In fact, it was
nicknamed the “dark city” due to its frequent power
cuts and heavy pollution and the smoke laden sky.
- Nelson rented out an apartment and began trying
his hand at politics. The widespread poverty along
with lack of food supplies and inability to afford
clothes makes life miserable.
- He had to wear his one suit for many months,
washing it every day and sewing its cuts just to look
decent and keep going.
Dedication for country
- He began giving speeches and stirred people up for
non-violent protests. To achieve this at a nation level
scale, he formed the Youth League whose primary
objective was to incorporate new members into the
freedom struggle.
- His speeches were incredible and served their
purpose of rousing people up. Many of his speeches
were inspired by the Indian freedom struggle.
- In fact his one of the most famous speeches of all
time “No easy walk to freedom” was inspired by
Jawaharlal Nehru.
- This Youth League movement was launched on the
Easter Sunday of 1944. With the help of Transvaal
Indian Congress* he conducted mass protests and
boycotts against the Asiatic Land Tenure Act which
basically separated whites from other “inferior
races”.
- In other words, all the fertile, industrially profitable
lands were restricted to whites whereas the barren
deadlands were given to other races. They were
basically ghettoing all the non-whites.
- Meanwhile, during 1940 he married Evelyn Mase.
Then in 1958, she divorced him pressing false
charges against him such as verbal and physical
abuse.
- The year of 1958 was a particularly dangerous year
for Mandela because many charges were pressed
against him.
 - Then in 1948, D.F. Malan’s Party called National
Party (Whites Only) came to power via voting (but
only whites were allowed to vote so obviously they
would vote a white leader) and began the policy of
Apartheid on 4th June, 1948.

An Awe-inspiring National Leader

- In 1949, the ANC adopted the Youth League’s
policies of boycott, strike, civil disobedience, and
non-cooperation with aims of full citizenship,
redistribution of land, trade union rights, and free
compulsory education for all.
- In March 1950, the Defend Free Speech Convention
was held in Johannesburg, bringing together
Africans, Indians, and communist activists to call a
May Day general strike.
- This resulted in increased police repression, frequent
use of guerilla warfare (by the protestors) and the
creation of Suppression of Communism Act,1950
which sought to arrest all communist ideologists via
hook or crook
- ANC along with many other parties were arrested for
“spreading of violence” and “treason against the
state”.
- However, Mandela being a learned man and a jolly
good lawyer on top of that argued with reasonable
points which prevented their disbanding.
- This is why the police always tried their best to find
out any small evidence to link Mandela to terrorism
and treason so that he could be done with.
- Finally, in 1956 Nelson Mandela along with 150
others were arrested and charged with treason
against State and “humanity”.
- Eventually with the help of Oswald Pirow and
Vermon Berrange who were the defense lawyers for
the case, all were acquitted.

African Tour of 1961-62

- Disguised as a chauffeur, Mandela travelled around
the country incognito, organizing 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.
- To prevent this, he persuaded ANC’s then leader
Albert Luthuli (who was a pacifist), to form a small
armed group to channel this hot violence in a
controlled direction.
- 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 guerrilla 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.
- Operating through a cell structure, MK planned to
carry out acts of sabotage that would exert
maximum pressure on the government with
minimum casualties.
- . 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.
- They sought to bomb military installations, power
plants, telephone lines, and transport links at night,
when civilians were not present basically causing
mild, controlled chaos.
- 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 in secret, Mandela met up with the leaders
of Tanganyika, Egypt, Senegal, Tunisia, Ethiopia. He
even met up with anti-apartheidists based in London
to discuss their steps forward.
Arrest and Life Imprisonment
- On 5 August 1962, police captured Mandela along
with fellow activist Cecil Williams near Howick.
- This time they were charged for hate crimes and
spread of violence. The Liliesleaf Farm which served
as the secret Headquarters for the MK was raided.
- Many documents which contained plans for future
sabotage were taken as evidence.
- The court then sentenced Mandela to life
imprisonment which he served for 27 years of his
life.
Robben Island 1964-1982 (18 years)
- The Robben Island boasts some of the harshest and
hard to break, high security prisons in the world.
- The living conditions of prisons were brutal. The
inmates weren't given any bed or blanket so at night
when the temperature was down to 10 degrees the
inmates had to endure the literal spine-chilling cold.
- The food was meagre and stale which would have
been fine if not for the hardships faced by them
during the day.
- They couldn’t even stand in the cell but through
immense will power he somehow endured living in
these brutal conditions.
- During this term, he also got infected with
tuberculosis, but being a black
politician/revolutionary, he received the lowest form
of treatment.
- 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.
- 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.
- In 1982, Mandela and the other ANC leaders were
moved to Pollsmoor prison. In 1985, President P.W.
Botha offered Mandela’s release on the condition
that he would stop the freedom struggle to which
Mandela flatly refused and endured the torture of
the new prison.
Pollsmoor Prison (1982-1988 ) 6 years
- 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 being 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
Colored 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Meanwhile, he faced personal problems. Turns out
his second wife Winnie, was now head of a gang
called “Mandela United Football Club” which beat up
 political opponents (including children) as a manner
of anti-apartheidism.
- 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, Mandela was moved to
Victor Verster Prison, near Paarl, in December 1988.
- He was housed in the relative comfort of a warder's
house with a personal cook, and he used the time to
complete his LLB degree.
- While there, he was permitted many visitors and
organized 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.
- 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
legalizing 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 legalizing all formerly banned political parties
in February 1990 and announcing Mandela's
unconditional release.
Presidency, Death and Honours

- In 1991, Mandela was elected as the president of

ANC, with lifelong friend and ANC colleague Oliver
Tambo serving as the national chairperson.
- In 1993, Nelson Mandela and president De Klerk
were jointly awarded Nobel Peace prize for their
work of dismantling apartheid in SA.
- On May 10 ,1994, he was inaugurated as the first
Black South African president. During his term from
1994-1999 he worked to bring about the transition
from black minority rule to one of black majority rule
whilst keeping in mind the harmony between all
races.
- In February 2011, Mandela was briefly hospitalized
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
hospitalized in Pretoria.
- After suffering from a prolonged respiratory
infection, Mandela died on 5 December 2013 at the
age of 95, at around 20:50 local time at his home in
Houghton, surrounded by his family.
- Zuma publicly announced his death upon which a
10-day national mourning, prayer and reflection was
announced.
- He was given a state funeral with representatives
from around the globe attending his service.
- By the time of his death, he received 250+ awards
worldwide including Nobel Peace prize and Bharat
Ratna award (which is the highest civilian award
given by govt. Of India).
- He is remembered as the father of South Africa and
his life is an inspiration to all. He showed the world
that be sheer will and dedication any injustice no
matter how mighty or oppressive can be and should
be overcome.