One of the most revered statesmen in Africa, who emerged from prison
after 27 years to lead South Africa out of decades of apartheid, Nelson
Mandela, died late yesterday night.
South African President Jacob Zuma, announced his death yesterday.
“He is now resting. He is now at peace.
“Our nation has lost its greatest son. Our people have lost a father, ” Zuma said.
“What
made Nelson Mandela great was precisely what made him human,” the
president said in his late-night address. “We saw in him what we seek in
ourselves.”
Mandela will have a state funeral. Zuma ordered all
flags in the nation to be flown at half-staff from Friday through that
funeral.
Mandela, a former president, battled health issues in
recent months, including a recurring lung infection that led to numerous
hospitalisations.
With advancing age and bouts of illness,
Mandela retreated to a quiet life at his boyhood home in the nation’s
Eastern Cape Province, where he said he was most at peace. He was later
moved to his home in the Johannesburg suburb of Houghton, where he died.
President
Barack Obama, delivering a statement on the death of former South
African President Nelson Mandela, said: “Today, he’s gone home,” Obama
said from the White House briefing room.
“He belongs to the ages.”
Obama said he was one of the “countless millions” that drew inspirations from Mandela’s life.
Mandela died Thursday at the age of 95. He is survived by his wife, Graça Machel, six children, and 17 grandchildren.
“Let us pause and give thanks for the fact that Nelson Mandela lived.
“The world has lost the most influential, courageous and profoundly good human being,” Obama said.
Also
speaking, the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon,
described Mandela as someone whose moral force was decisive in
dismantling the system of apartheid.
“Nelson Mandela showed us
what is possible in our world...His moral force was decisive in
dismantling the system of apartheid,” Ban ki-moon said.
MANDELA END OF AN ERA
SEYI GESINDE
gathers historical materials on Nelson Mandela, an amazing man, who,
despite all odds against him changed history in his country, South
Africa, librating it from the apartheid war and brought in democracy,
which has today, made the country become the biggest economy in Africa.
Family backgroundRolihlahla Mandela was born
into the Madiba clan in Mvezo, Transkei, on July 18, 1918, to Nonqaphi
Nosekeni and Nkosi Mphakanyiswa Gadla Mandela, principal counsellor to
the Acting King of the Thembu people, Jongintaba Dalindyebo.
His
father died when he was a child and the young Rolihlahla became a ward
of Jongintaba at the Great Place in Mqhekezweni. Hearing the elder’s
stories of his ancestor’s valour during the wars of resistance, he
dreamed also of making his own contribution to the freedom struggle of
his people.
EducationHe attended primary
school in Qunu where his teacher Miss Mdingane gave him the name Nelson,
in accordance with the custom to give all school children “Christian”
names.
He completed his Junior Certificate at Clarkebury Boarding
Institute and went on to Healdtown, a Wesleyan secondary school of some
repute, where he matriculated.
Nelson
Mandela began his studies for a Bachelor of Arts Degree at the
University College of Fort Hare but did not complete the degree there as
he was expelled for joining in a student protest. He completed his BA
through the University of South Africa and went back to Fort Hare for
his graduation in 1943.
On his return to the Great Place at
Mkhekezweni the King was furious and said if he didn’t return to Fort
Hare he would arrange wives for him and his cousin Justice.
They ran
away to Johannesburg instead arriving there in 1941. There he worked as
a mine security officer and after meeting Walter Sisulu, an estate
agent, who introduced him to Lazar Sidelsky. He then did his articles
through the firm of attorneys Witkin Eidelman and Sidelsky.
Meanwhile
he began studying for an LLB at the University of the Witwatersrand. By
his own admission he was a poor student and left the university in 1948
without graduating. He only started studying again through the
University of London and also did not complete that degree.
In
1989, while in the last months of his imprisonment, he obtained an LLB
through the University of South Africa. He graduated in absentia at a
ceremony in Cape Town.
Nelson Mandela, while increasingly
politically involved from 1942, only joined the African National
Congress in 1944 when he helped formed the ANC Youth League.
His first marriage
In
1944 he married Walter Sisulu’s cousin Evelyn Mase, a nurse. They had
two sons Madiba Thembekile ‘Thembi’ and Makgatho and two daughters both
called Makaziwe, the first of whom died in infancy. They effectively
separated in 1955 and divorced in 1958.
Nelson Mandela rose
through the ranks of the ANCYL and through its work the ANC adopted in
1949 a more radical mass-based policy, the Programme of Action.
In
1952 he was chosen at the National Volunteer-in-Chief of the Defiance
Campaign with Maulvi Cachalia as his Deputy. This campaign of civil
disobedience against six unjust laws was a joint programme between the
ANC and the South African Indian Congress. He and 19 others were charged
under the Suppression of Communism Act for their part in the campaign
and sentenced to nine months hard labour suspended for two years.
A
two-year diploma in law on top of his BA allowed Nelson Mandela to
practice law and in August 1952 he and Oliver Tambo established South
Africa’s first black law firm, Mandela and Tambo.
At the end of
1952 he was banned for the first time. As a restricted person he was
only able to secretly watch as the Freedom Charter was adopted at
Kliptown on 26 June 1955.
His arrestNelson
Mandela was arrested in a countrywide police swoop of 156 activists on 5
December 1955, which led to the 1956 Treason Trial. Men and women of
all races found themselves in the dock in the marathon trial that only
ended when the last 28 accused, including Mr. Mandela were acquitted on
29 March 1961.
On 21 March 1960 police killed 69 unarmed people
in a protest at Sharpeville against the pass laws. This led to the
country’s first state of emergency on 31 March and the banning of the
ANC and the Pan Africanist Congress on 8 April. Nelson Mandela and his
colleagues in the Treason Trial were among the thousands detained during
the state of emergency.
Second marriageDuring
the trial on 14 June 1958 Nelson Mandela married a social worker Winnie
Madikizela. They had two daughters Zenani and Zindziswa. The couple
divorced in 1996.
Days before the end of the Treason Trial Nelson
Mandela travelled to Pietermaritzburg to speak at the All-in Africa
Conference, which resolved he should write to Prime Minister Verwoerd
requesting a non-racial national convention, and to warn that should he
not agree there would be a national strike against South Africa becoming
a republic. As soon as he and his colleagues were acquitted in the
Treason Trial Nelson Mandela went underground and began planning a
national strike for 29, 30 and 31 March. In the face of a massive
mobilization of state security the strike was called off early. In June
1961 he was asked to lead the armed struggle and helped to establish
Umkhonto weSizwe (Spear of the Nation).
Secret visit to EnglandOn
11 January 1962 using the adopted name David Motsamayi, Nelson Mandela
left South Africa secretly. He travelled around Africa and visited
England to gain support for the armed struggle. He received military
training in Morocco and Ethiopia and returned to South Africa in July
1962. He was arrested in a police roadblock outside Howick on 5 August
while returning from KwaZulu-Natal where he briefed ANC President Chief
Albert Luthuli about his trip.
He was charged with leaving the
country illegally and inciting workers to strike. He was convicted and
sentenced to five years imprisonment which he began serving in Pretoria
Local Prison. On 27 May 1963 he was transferred to Robben Island and
returned to Pretoria on 12 June. Within a month police raided a secret
hide-out in Rivonia used by ANC and Communist Party activists and
several of his comrades were arrested.
In October 1963 Nelson
Mandela joined nine others on trial for sabotage in what became known as
the Rivonia Trial. Facing the death penalty his words to the court at
the end of his famous ‘Speech from the Dock’ on 20 April 1964 became
immortalized:
“I have fought against white domination, and I have
fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a
democratic and free society in which all persons live together in
harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to
live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am
prepared to die.”
27 years jail sentenceOn
11 June 1964 Nelson Mandela and seven other accused Walter Sisulu, Ahmed
Kathrada, Govan Mbeki, Raymond Mhlaba, Denis Goldberg, Elias Motsoaledi
and Andrew Mlangeni were convicted and the next day were sentenced to
life imprisonment. Denis Goldberg was sent to Pretoria Prison because he
was white while the others went to Robben Island.
Mother’s deathNelson Mandela’s mother died in 1968 and his eldest son Thembi in 1969. He was not allowed to attend their funerals.
On
31 March 1982 Nelson Mandela was transferred to Pollsmoor Prison in
Cape Town with Sisulu, Mhlaba and Mlangeni. Kathrada joined them in
October. When he returned to the prison in November 1985 after prostate
surgery Nelson Mandela was held alone. Justice Minister Kobie Coetsee
had visited him in hospital. Later Nelson Mandela initiated talks about
an ultimate meeting between the apartheid government and the ANC.
Tuberculosis infectionIn
1988 he was treated for Tuberculosis and was transferred on 7 December
1988 to a house at Victor Verster Prison near Paarl. He was released
from its gates on Sunday 11 February 1990, nine days after the unbanning
of the ANC and the PAC and nearly four months after the release of the
remaining Rivonia comrades.
Throughout his imprisonment he had rejected at least three conditional offers of release.
Nelson
Mandela immersed himself into official talks to end white minority rule
and in 1991 was elected ANC President to replace his ailing friend
Oliver Tambo. In 1993 he and President FW de Klerk jointly won the Nobel
Peace Prize and on 27 April 1994 he voted for the first time in his
life.
South Africa’s first black presidentOn 10 May 1994 he was inaugurated South Africa’s first democratically elected President. On his
Third marriage80th birthday in 1998 he married Graça Machel, his third wife.
True
to his promise Nelson Mandela stepped down in 1999 after one term as
President. He continued to work with the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund
he set up in 1995 and established the Nelson Mandela Foundation and The
Mandela-Rhodes Foundation.
In April 2007 his grandson Mandla Mandela became head of the Mvezo Traditional Council at a ceremony at the Mvezo Great Place.
Nelson
Mandela never wavered in his devotion to democracy, equality and
learning. Despite terrible provocation, he never answered racism with
racism. His life has been an inspiration to all who are oppressed and
deprived, to all who are opposed to oppression and deprivation.
Mandela’s prison timeline5 August 1962: Arrested.
7
November 1962: Sentenced to five years for leaving the country without a
passport and incitement. Began serving his sentence at the Pretoria
Local Prison.
Prisoner number: 19476/62.
27 May 1963: Transferred to Robben Island.
12 June 1963: Transferred back to Pretoria Local Prison
Prisoner number: 11657/63.
11
June 1964: Convicted of sabotage with Walter Sisulu, Ahmed Kathrada,
Raymond Mhlaba, Govan Mbeki, Elias Motsoaledi, Denis Goldberg and Andrew
Mlangeni.
12 June 1964: Sentenced to life imprisonment with Sisulu, Kathrada, Mhlaba, Mbeki, Motsoaledi, Goldberg and Mlangeni.
13
June 1964: Arrived on Robben Island with Sisulu, Kathrada, Mhlaba,
Mbeki, Motsoaledi and Mlangeni. Goldberg is sent to Pretoria as he is
white
Prisoner number: 466/64.
31 March 1982: Transferred to Pollsmoor Prison with Sisulu, Mhlaba and Mlangeni. They are joined by Kathrada in October.
Prisoner number: 220/82.
28 February 1985: Goldberg released.
5 November 1987: Mbeki released from Robben Island.
day after picking up a Golden Boot award for scoring 46 league goals last season, more than any other player in Europe, the 26-year-old Messi paid respect to his Real Madrid rival.
od enough condition for the game to go ahead.
