NELSON MANDELA A c t i v i s t f o r B l a c k R i g h t s

1. NELSONMANDELA ActivistforBlackRights

2. Nelson Mandela is an activist for black rights in, and was the President of, South Africa. After spending years in prison for treason, he was released, and became the first black President of South Africa. After abolishing Apartheid, he asked the Springboks, the South African Rugby team, to compete in the 1995 World Cup. The Springboks were previously seen as a symbol of Apartheid, and as such, the black community was not impressed with Mandela’s decision. The Springboks eventually went on to win the World Cup. These events are the subject of the 2009 film, ‘Invictus.’ Just in case you didn’t know, Invictus is a Latin word, translating literally as ‘Unconquered.’ Cover of the 2009 film ‘Invictus’

3. Rolihlahla Mandela was born in Mvezo, a village located close to Umtata in the Transkei on the 18th of July, 1918. His father was the main councillor to the Acting Paramount Chief of Thembuland. After the death of his father, Rolihlahla became the Paramount Chief’s ward to be trained and educated in order to attain high office. However, he had been influenced by the cases that were brought to the Chief’s court, and decided to become a lawyer. Hearing the stories of his ancestor’s valour during the wars of resistance from his elders, he dreamed of freeing his people from the oppression that was aimed at them from the white folk. Nelson Mandela, age 19

4. He received a primary education at a local mission school, where he was given an English name, Nelson, and later went on to Clarkebury Boarding Institute to gain his Junior Certificate, then to Healdtown, a Wesleyan secondary school of some reputation. He then enrolled at the University College of Fort Hare for the Bachelor of Arts Degree, where he was elected onto the Students Representative Council. He was suspended from college for joining in a protest boycott, along with Oliver Tambo.

5. He and his cousin Justice ran away to Johannesburg to avoid arranged marriages and, for a short while, he worked as a mine policeman. Mandela was introduced to Walter Sisulu in 1941 and it was Sisulu who arranged for him to do his articles at Lazar Sidelsky’s law firm. Completing his BA through the University of South Africa, Unisa, in 1942, he commenced study for his LLB shortly afterwards, though he left the University of the Witwatersrand without graduating in 1948. He entered politics in earnest while studying, and joined the African National Congress in 1943. Even with his increasing political awareness and activities, Mandela also had time for other things. “It was in the lounge of the Sisulu’s home that I met Evelyn Mase. She was a quiet, pretty girl from the countryside who did not seem over-awed by the comings and goings. Within a few months I had asked her to marry me, and she accepted.” They married in a civil ceremony at the Native Commissioner’s Court in Johannesburg, “for we could not afford a traditional wedding or feast”. Mase and Mandela went on to have four children; Thembikile, Makaziwe, who died at nine months, Makgatho and Makaziwe. The couple divorced in 1958. At the height of the Second World War, in 1944, a small group of young Africans who were members of the African National Congress, banded together under the leadership of Anton Lembede. Among them were William Nkomo, Sisulu, Oliver R Tambo, Ashby P Mda and Nelson Mandela. Starting out with 60 members, who were all residing around the Witwatersrand, these young people set themselves the formidable task of transforming the ANC into a more radical mass movement. Their chief contention was that the political tactics of the “old guard” leadership of the ANC, reared in the tradition of constitutionalism and polite petitioning of the government of the day, were proving inadequate to the tasks of national emancipation. In opposition to the old guard, Lembede and his colleagues adopted a radical African nationalism grounded in the principle of national self-determination. In September 1944 they came together to found the African National Congress Youth League. Mandela soon impressed his peers by his disciplined work and consistent effort and was elected as the league’s National Secretary in 1948. By painstaking work, campaigning at the very roots of the government, and through its mouthpiece Inyaniso, meaning Truth, the ANCYL was able to gather support for its policies amongst the ANC membership.