Nelson Rolihlahla
Mandela
Nelson
Rolihlahla Mandela (Xhosa pronunciation: [xoˈliːɬaɬa
manˈdeːla]; born 18
July 1918) is a South African anti-apartheid
revolutionary and
politician who served as President of
South Africa from 1994 to
1999. He was the first black South African to hold the office, and
the first elected in a fully
representative,
multiracial election. His government
focused on dismantling the legacy
of apartheid
through tackling institutionalised
racism, poverty and inequality, and fostering racial
reconciliation. Politically an African nationalist
and democratic
socialist, he served as the
President of
the African National Congress (ANC) from
1991 to 1997. Internationally, Mandela was the
Secretary General of the Non-Aligned
Movement from 1998 to
1999.
A Xhosa born to
the Thembu royal
family, Mandela attended Fort Hare University
and the University
of Witwatersrand, where he
studied law. Living in Johannesburg,
he became involved in anti-colonial politics, joining the ANC and
becoming a founding member of its Youth
League. After the Afrikaner nationalists
of the National
Party came to power in 1948 and began
implementing the policy of apartheid, he rose to prominence in the
ANC´s 1952 Defiance
Campaign, was elected President of the Transvaal
ANC Branch and oversaw the 1955 Congress of
the People. Working as
a lawyer, he was repeatedly arrested for seditious activities and,
with the ANC leadership, was prosecuted in the
Treason Trial
from 1956 to 1961 but was found not
guilty. Although initially committed to non-violent protest, in
association with the South
African Communist Party he
co-founded the militant Umkhonto we Sizwe
(MK) in 1961, leading a bombing campaign
against government targets. In 1962 he was arrested, convicted
of sabotage and
conspiracy to overthrow the government, and sentenced to life
imprisonment in the Rivonia
Trial.
Mandela
served 27 years in prison, first on Robben
Island, and later in Pollsmoor Prison
and Victor
Verster Prison. An
international campaign lobbied for his release, which was granted
in 1990 amid escalating civil strife. Becoming ANC President,
Mandela published his autobiography
and led negotiations with
President F.W. de Klerk
to abolish apartheid and
establish multiracial
elections in 1994, in which
he led the ANC to victory. He was elected President
and formed a Government
of National Unity in an
attempt to defuse ethnic tensions. As President, he promulgated
a new
constitution and
initiated the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission to
investigate past human rights
abuses. Continuing the former
government´s liberal economic
policy, his administration introduced measures
to encourage land
reform, combat poverty, and expand healthcare
services. Internationally, he acted as mediator between Libya and
the United Kingdom in the Pan Am
Flight 103 bombing trial, and
oversaw
military intervention in
Lesotho. He declined to run for a second term,
and was succeeded by his deputy, Thabo
Mbeki. Mandela subsequently became an elder
statesman, focusing on charitable work in combating poverty
and HIV/AIDS through the
Nelson Mandela Foundation.
Mandela has
been a controversial figure for much of his life. Right-wing
critics denounced him as a terrorist and communist sympathiser. He
nevertheless gained international acclaim for his anti-colonial and
anti-apartheid stance, having received more than
250 honours, including
the 1993 Nobel Peace
Prize, the US Presidential
Medal of Freedom, and the
Soviet Order of
Lenin. He is held in deep respect within
South Africa, where he is often referred to by his
Xhosa clan
name, Madiba, or as Tata ("Father"); he is
often described as "the father of the
nation".
FROM
WIKIPEDIA