Nelson Mandela

Today I will be discussing Nelson Mandela. Nelson Mandela was an anti-apartheid revolutionary, politician, and philanthropist who was the President of South Africa. He was also the first black chief executive and the first one elected in an election that was fully democratic. His government focused on tackling institutionalized poverty, inequality, and racism. He was President of the African National Congress party from 1991 to 1997 and President of the country from 1994 to 1999.

Nelson Mandela was born in July 18th, 1918 in Mvezo in Umtata. He was given the name “Rolihlahla” meaning “troublemaker” in his early years. Mandela has stated that his younger life was ruled by “custom, ritual and taboo”. He studied law at Fort Hare University and the University of Witwatersrand. After the apartheid was established in 1948, Mandela became prominent in the 1952 Defiance Campaign and in 1955 was appointed the superintendent of the Transvaal chapter and presided of the the Congress of the People. He was frequently arrested due to seditious activities and was almost prosecuted in the Treason Trial from 1956 to 1961. He was initially committed to non-violent protest, but in 1961 he co-founded the militant Umkhonto we Sizwe and lead a sabotage campaign against the apartheid government. The press referred to him as the “Black Pimpernel” in reference to the 1905 novel “The Scarlet Pimpernel” by Emma Orczy and the police put out a warrant for his arrest. The following year he was arrested, convicted of conspiracy to overthrow the state and was sentenced to life imprisonment in the Rivonia Trial.

After serving almost thirty years in prison until a international campaign succeeded in lobbying his release in 1990, which escalated civil strife. He then negotiated with the Nationalist President, F. W. de Kleck in order to try to establish multiracial elections and to abolish apartheid. In 1994, he became South Africa’s first black president. The following year he published an autobiography. He invited other political parties to join his cabinet and drafted a new constitution. In addition, he created the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in order to investigate human rights abuses. His administration introduced means to combat poverty, expand healthcare services, and encourage land reform while continuing the country’s liberal economic policy.

Outside of South Africa, he served as a mediator between Libya and England during the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial while overseeing military intervention in Lesotho. He chose not to run for a second term and became an elder statesman. During this time, he focused on charity work to combat poverty and HIV/AIDS through his Nelson Mandela Foundation.

Although Mandela was a controversial figure throughout a lot of his life and was even denounced as a communist terrorist, he still earned international praise for his activism. He received multiple awards and honors for his activism, including the Soviet Order of Lenin, the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize. He is still deeply respected in South Africa, and is often described as the “Father of the Nation”. His life will continue to impact South Africa for years to come.

One thought on “Nelson Mandela

  1. Nice blog post. I especially enjoyed the second to last paragraph. I was unaware of his impact outside of South Africa besides his role as a figure for peace and justice. I think you should give yourself a challenge next week and come up with someone no one here has ever heard of.

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