FREE ESSAY ON NELSON ROLIHLAHLA MANDELA

NELSON ROLIHLAHLA MANDELA

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela may well be the man of the century. Courage, and commitment,
dignity and grace, selflessness and endurance- a hero beyond description. A man who spent
almost twenty- seven years in prison. A man who was able to lead his people to freedom,
shake the pillars of apartheid state of South Africa from his jail cell.
I believe that Gondi is a great individual and I will demonstrate that through the
following sequence of events.
Nelson Mandela was born July 18, 1918 in Qunu, a tiny village in the valley of Transkei,
the old tribal homeland of the Xhosh people. His father was a chief of the Tembu clan.
Mandela was brought up in African traditions.
Between 1934 and 1941 Mandela attended tribal school, then the university college of Fort
Hare in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. Here he formed a life long friendship with
Oliver Tambo. In his first step into politics he was elected to the Fort Hare student
council and participated in a student boycott for which he was suspended.
In 1942 Mandela lived with Walter and Albertina Sisulu in what is now Soweto and began
articling with a white Johannesburg law firm. 
In 1944 Mandela married a lady named Evelyn by whom he had three children. This year he
joined the Africa National Congress and with his associates Sisulu and Tambo formed the
A.N.C. Youth League to be the brains, trust and power station of the spirit of African
nationalism.
In 1948 the Afrikaner National Party came into power in South Africa on the platform of
apartheid, a system of legalize discrimination. This legalize the white minorities
political and economic dominance and completely segregated the whites from all colours
(people of mixed race), Asians and Africans. (Schiller, 1998, p. F4).
Between 1948 and 1951 major apartheid legislation was passed.
Wallace's research (1998) found that in 1952 Mandela was a key strategist in the A.N.C's
defiance campaign against the apartheid laws. More than 8500 people were arrested. Twenty
organizers including Mandela were given nine months suspended sentences .
In 1953 Mandela was elected president of the A.N.C. in Transnaal. He was also banned
which restricted his movements and barred him from political activity.
In the mid 1950's with Tambo, Mandela ran a succesful legal practice in Johannesburg.
With 155 others Mandela is held between 1956 - 1961 on treason charges. The famous
treason trails lasted five years and ended in acquittals. Midway through the trial in
1958 Mandela divorced Ntoko and married Nomzamo Winifred Madikezela. (Freeman, 1998, p.
A17).
In 1960 occured the Sharpeville massacre. Police opened fire on unarmed demonstraters and
killed 69 black people. This resulted in a political and economic crisis in South Africa.
It also caused world attention to be focused on the country (Schiller, 1998, p. A5).
White South Africans voted to break all ties with Britain and became an independant
republic. 
In 1961 Mandela and others began an armed struggle. On the day of his acquittal in the
treason trial he went underground.
Meanwhile Canada lead the drive to expel South Africa from the Commonwealth.
In 1962 after visiting London England and several African nations trying to get support,
Mandela was arrested on charges of inciting a strike and leaving the country illegally.
He was sentenced for five years. (Wong, 1998, p.A12).
In 1963 the first of several black home lands was established. Over the next twenty years
millions of blacks were resettled.
In 1964 the imprisoned Mandela was tried for sabotage, treason, and violent conspiracy.
During this famous Rivonia trial Mandela gave a speech which demonstrated his integrity
of principals. He talked of his desire for equal rights for people of all colours but
particularily the black people of South Africa. He was also talked of his ongoing
condemnation of the white domination existing in his homeland.
For almost twenty years the rest of the world heard nothing of Mandela. Then, a few weeks
before Archbishop Desmond Tutu was to receive his Nobel Peace Prize in February 1985,
South Africa president Botha made a very publicized offer to release 66 year old Mandela
if he would promise that the A.N.C would lay down its arms (Wallace, 1998, p.60). To
everybodys surprise Mandela's daughter Zindi took the stage during Tutu's Nobel
celebration. She said she had a message to read from her father which was his response to
Botha's offer.  I cherish my own freedom dearly, but I care even more for your freedom.
I'm not less lifeloving then you are but I can't sell my birthright nor am I prepared to
sell the birthright of the people to be free... only free men can negotiate. I cannot and
will not give any undertaking at a time when you and I , the people are not free. Your
freedom and mine cannot be seperated. (Mandela, 1985).
The audience sat stunned. They had not heard from him in twenty years but he was still
the great person they had thought he was. He was true to his ideas and principles.
In a few minutes Mandela had moved from the past to be very much in the present. He had
done it from behind bars. 
In 1990 Mandela was released from prison and chosen as deputy president of the A.N.C.
Also the new president of South Africa De Klerk began removing apartheid laws.
In 1991 the remaining apartheid laws were destroyed and Mandela becomes president of the
A.N.C.
In 1993 Mandela and De Klerk shared the Nobel Peace Prize. 
In 1994 South Africans voted in the first multiracial elections
After spending almost three decades in prison Mandela had every reason to be angry, but
wasn't. Mandela was a born leader and was faced with great injustice, with his sentence
he grew stronger. It made his beleifs stronger in racial equality. Mandela was a man who
was greatly at peace with himself and he brought that peace to South Africa. Although
South Africa has many challenges still to face, Mandela's singular contribution makes him
not only a great politician but one of the greatest leaders of the twentyith century.