Nelson Mandela

Born Rolihlahla Mandela, 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (/maenˈdɛlə/ man-DEH-lə; Xhosa: [xolíɊaɴa mandɛ̂ːla]) was a South African statesman, politician, and anti-apartheid campaigner who held the office of first president from 1994 to 1999. He was the first elected head of state to be elected in a completely representative democratic election in the history of the nation. His government’s main goal was to promote racial harmony in order to undermine the legacy of apartheid. He presided over the African National Congress (ANC) party from 1991 to 1997 and was an ideological socialist and African nationalist.

Mandela, a Xhosa, was born in Mvezo, South Africa, into the Thembu royal line. Prior to practicing law in Johannesburg, he attended the Universities of Fort Hare and Witwatersrand to study law. He was engaged in African nationalist and anti-colonial movements there, joining the ANC in 1943 and helping to form the Youth League the following year, 1944.

Mandela and the ANC vowed to overturn apartheid, a system of racial segregation that gave white people the upper hand, after the National Party’s white-only government created it. After being elected president of the ANC’s Transvaal branch, he became well-known for his participation in the Congress of the People in 1955 and the 1952 Defiance Campaign. He was unsuccessfully tried in the 1956 Treason Trial and was detained many times for seditious actions.

Motivated by Marxism, he surreptitiously became a member of the outlawed South African Communist Party (SACP). Despite his early commitment to nonviolent protest, he later conducted a campaign of sabotage against the apartheid regime and co-founded the militant uMkhonto we Sizwe in 1961 with the support of the SACP, following the Sharpeville massacre. After being detained and incarcerated in 1962, he was found guilty of plotting to overthrow the government and was given a life sentence after the Rivonia Trial. After that, Mandela was classified as a terrorist by the US until 2008.

Mandela spent 27 years behind bars, three of which were spent on Robben Island and one each in Pollsmoor and Victor Verster. President F. W. de Klerk freed him in 1990 under mounting pressure from both local and foreign quarters and concerns about a racial civil war. The 1994 multiracial general election saw Mandela lead the ANC to victory and become the president.

Mandela and de Klerk spearheaded negotiations to abolish apartheid. As the head of a wide coalition government that enacted a new constitution, Mandela placed a strong focus on racial harmony within the nation and established the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to look into historical violations of human rights. Despite his personal socialist views, his government kept the liberal economic framework of its predecessor while also enacting policies to promote land reform, fight poverty, and improve healthcare.

Globally, Mandela presided over the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing trial as a mediator and led the Non-Aligned Movement as its secretary-general from 1998 to 1999. He refused a second term as president, and Thabo Mbeki, his deputy, took over as leader of the country. As an elderly statesman, Mandela directed the Nelson Mandela Foundation, a nonprofit organization, to address HIV/AIDS and poverty.

For a large portion of his life, Mandela was a contentious figure. He received praise from all across the world for his action, despite the fact that some on the extreme left saw him as too willing to make amends and engage with people who supported apartheid, while some on the right condemned him as a communist terrorist. Known all throughout the world as a symbol of social justice and democracy, he was awarded over 250 honors, including the Nobel Peace Prize. He is highly revered in South Africa, where he is frequently referred to as the “Father of the Nation” and goes by his Thembu clan name, Madiba.

Early Years

Years of childhood: 1918–1934

On July 18, 1918, in the settlement of Mvezo in Umtata, which was then a part of the Cape Province of South Africa, Mandela was born. After being given the forename Rolihlahla, a Xhosa phrase that means “troublemaker” informally, he eventually went by his clan name, Madiba.

In the Transkeian Territories of the present-day Eastern Cape region of South Africa, the Thembu Kingdom was ruled by his patrilineal great-grandfather, Ngubengcuka. Nelson’s surname came from Mandela, a son of Ngubengcuka, who was also his grandpa. Mandela’s cadet branch of the royal family was morganatic, meaning that its members were not able to inherit the throne but were acknowledged as hereditary royal counselors. This was because Mandela was the king’s child by a bride of the Ixhiba clan, a so-called “Left-Hand House”.

No one in my family had ever attended school … On the first day of school my teacher, Miss Mdingane, gave each of us an English name. This was the custom among Africans in those days and was undoubtedly due to the British bias of our education. That day, Miss Mdingane told me that my new name was Nelson. Why this particular name, I have no idea.

— Mandela, 1994

Gadla Henry Mphakanyiswa Mandela, the father of Nelson Mandela, was a local chief and a counselor to the king. He was appointed to the role in 1915, following the accusations of corruption leveled against his predecessor by a ruling white magistrate.

Although Nelson was informed that his father had lost his job for defying the magistrate’s irrational demands, Gadla was also fired in 1926 for corruption. Gadla was a polygamist who was devoted to the deity Qamata. He had four wives, four sons, and nine daughters, all of whom resided in separate villages. Nelson’s mother was Nosekeni Fanny, the third wife of Gadla, who belonged to the Xhosa amaMpemvu tribe and was the daughter of Nkedama of the Right Hand House.

Mandela subsequently said that taboo and traditional Xhosa customs dominated his early existence. He was raised by his mother in the Qunu village, where he worked as a cattle boy tending herds and spent a lot of time outside with other boys. He had two sisters. His mother, a devoted Christian, sent him to a nearby Methodist school when he was around seven years old despite the fact that both of his parents were illiterate. Mandela was given the English forename “Nelson” by his instructor after receiving a Methodist baptism. When his father arrived in Qunu when Mandela was nine years old, he passed away from an illness that was not properly diagnosed, which Mandela thought to be lung disease.

He subsequently described himself as feeling “cut adrift” and claimed to have inherited his father’s “stubborn sense of fairness” and “proud rebelliousness”.

Mandela’s mother brought him to the “Great Place” castle at Mqhekezweni, where Chief Jongintaba Dalindyebo, the Thembu regent, was given custody over him. Mandela thought that Jongintaba and his wife Noengland raised him alongside their children and treated him like a kid, even though he did not see his mother again for many years.

As a result of his guardians’ Sunday church attendance, Christianity grew to play a big role in Mandela’s life. He studied geography, history, Xhosa, and English at the Methodist Mission School close to the palace. As he listened to the stories of the older guests at the palace, he became interested in African history and was impacted by the anti-imperialist discourse of a visiting chief named Joyi.

However, he saw the European colonists as heroes at the time, having given southern Africa access to education and other advantages rather than as oppressors. He was given the name Dalibunga after traveling to Tyhalarha with Justice and a few other boys when he was sixteen years old to undergo the ulwaluko circumcision ceremony, which symbolized their transformation from boys to men.

Healdtown, Fort Hare, and Clarkebury: 1934–1940

Mandela started his secondary education in 1933 at the largest black African school in Thembuland, Clarkebury Methodist High School in Engcobo. The school followed a Western pattern and was intended to provide Mandela with the abilities he would need to become a privy councilor for the Thembu royal house. As a result of being forced to interact with other kids on an equal footing, he claimed to have shed his “stuck up” mentality, made his first real friendship with a female, started participating in sports, and discovered a lifetime passion for gardening.

After completing his Junior Certificate in two years, he relocated to Healdtown, a Methodist institution in Fort Beaufort that was attended by Justice and most of the Thembu nobility, in 1937.

The headmaster emphasized how European culture and governance were superior, but Mandela developed a growing interest in native African culture. He made his first non-Xhosa friend who spoke Sotho, and he was influenced by one of his favorite teachers—a Xhosa who defied social norms by getting married to a Sotho. Mandela was a long-distance runner and boxer at Healdtown, where he also spent a lot of his free time. In his second year, he was promoted to prefect.

With Jongintaba’s support, Mandela started his studies for a bachelor’s degree in 1939 at Alice, Eastern Cape’s prestigious black University of Fort Hare, which had around 150 pupils. In his first year, he took courses in English, anthropology, politics, “native administration,” and Roman-Dutch law with the goal of working as an interpreter or clerk in the Native Affairs Division. While residing in the Wesley House dorm, Mandela became friends with Oliver Tambo, who would go on to become a close friend and comrade for many years, as well as his own kinsman, K. D. Matanzima.

He started ballroom dancing, participated in an Abraham Lincoln drama club production, and taught Bible studies in the neighborhood as a member of the Student Christian Association.

Despite having friends in the African National Congress (ANC) who supported South Africa’s independence from the British Empire, Mandela stayed out of the fledgling movement and, as the Second World War started, he became an outspoken advocate of the British war effort. He was suspended from the university after participating in a boycott against the quality of the food at the conclusion of his first year as a student representative council (SRC); he never went back to finish his degree.

Johannesburg arrivals: 1941–1943

After learning that Jongintaba had set up weddings for him and Justice when Mandela returned to Mqhekezweni in December 1940, he and Justice fled via Queenstown to Johannesburg, where they eventually arrived in April 1941. After receiving his “first sight of South African capitalism in action”—a job as a night watchman at Crown Mines—Mandela was sacked when the induna, or headman, realized he was a fugitive. In George Goch Township, where he was staying, Mandela was introduced to realtor and ANC leader Walter Sisulu by his cousin. The latter helped Mandela land a position as an articled clerk at Witkin, Sidelsky & Eidelman, a legal practice headed by liberal Jew Lazar Sidelsky, who supported the ANC’s goals.

Mandela lived in the Alexandra township, where he rented a room from the Xhoma family for a little income. Although the slum was plagued by poverty, crime, and pollution, Mandela always felt a unique connection to Alexandra. He temporarily dated a Swazi woman, although he was ashamed of his poverty, and then made a failed attempt to court his landlord’s daughter.

Mandela moved into the Witwatersrand Native Labour Association complex to save money and be nearer to downtown Johannesburg. There, he lived with miners from different tribes and once met the Queen Regent of Basutoland during one of the chiefs’ visits. After visiting Johannesburg in late 1941 and offering Mandela forgiveness for fleeing, Jongintaba went back to Thembuland, where he passed unexpectedly in the winter of 1942.

Rather than serving as a privy councilor in Thembuland, Mandela chose to return to Johannesburg to pursue a career in politics as a lawyer after passing his BA examinations in early 1943.

Early instances of revolution

The ANC Youth League and Law Studies: 1943–1949

At the University of the Witwatersrand, where he was the sole African student of African descent studying law, Mandela encountered bigotry. He made liberal and communist friends there with Jewish, Indian, and European students, including Joe Slovo and Ruth First. Mandela, who was becoming more and more politicized, participated in a bus boycott in August 1943 to protest fare increases.

After he joined the ANC, Sisulu had a greater impact on him. He spent time at Sisulu’s Orlando home with other activists, including Oliver Tambo, an old friend. When Mandela first met Anton Lembede in 1943, he was an ANC member who belonged to the “Africanist” wing of African nationalism, which was fiercely opposed to both an alliance with the communists and a unified front of African nations against colonialism and imperialism.

Though he maintained contact with non-black people and communists, Mandela shared Lembede’s belief that black Africans had to fight for political independence on their own. Mandela was part of a delegation that addressed ANC president Alfred Bitini Xuma at his Sophiatown home, where they decided that a youth wing was necessary to mobilize Africans against their subjugation. On Easter Sunday, 1944, the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL) was established in the Bantu Men’s Social Centre, with Mandela serving as a member of its executive committee and Lembede serving as president.

Evelyn Mase, an ANC activist and trainee nurse from Engcobo, Transkei, was introduced to Mandela at Sisulu’s home. After meeting and being married in October 1944, they stayed with her family for a while before relocating to a leased home in the Orlando municipality at the beginning of 1946.

Madiba “Thembi” Thembekile, their first child, was born in February 1945. Makaziwe, their daughter, was born in 1947 but passed away from meningitis nine months later. Mandela cherished his family life, inviting his sister Leabie and mother to visit with him. After his three years of articles at Witkin, Sidelsky, and Eidelman concluded in early 1947, he made the decision to enroll full-time at school, living off of loans from the Bantu Welfare Trust.

The more moderate Peter Mda, who consented to work with communists and non-Blacks, succeeded Mandela as ANCYL president in July 1947 when he hurried the sick Lembede to the hospital, where he passed away. Mandela was appointed ANCYL secretary. Mandela disapproved of Mda’s strategy and, in December 1947, backed a failed attempt to exclude communists from the ANCYL on the grounds that their philosophy was un-African. Under regional president C. S. Ramohanoe, Mandela was elected to the ANC’s Transvaal Province branch executive committee in 1947. Mandela was among those who compelled Ramohanoe to quit after he cooperated with communists and Indians against the committee’s intentions.

Daniel François Malan led the mostly Afrikaner Herenigde Nasionale Party to victory in the 1948 general election in South Africa, where voting was restricted to White voters. The Afrikaner Party later joined forces with the National Party. The party, which was overtly racist, passed new laws that increased and formalized racial segregation.

As Mandela’s standing inside the ANC grew, he and his party cadre allies started to promote direct action against apartheid, including boycotts and strikes, inspired by the strategies already being used by the Indian community in South Africa. Because of his opposition to these actions, Xuma lost a vote of no confidence and was dismissed from office. James Moroka took over as president, while Sisulu, Mda, Tambo, and Godfrey Pitje led a more radical executive committee.

Later in life, Mandela said that he had “led the ANC to a more radical and revolutionary path” along with his associates. After dedicating his efforts to politics, Mandela suffered three failures in his last year at Witwatersrand, and in December 1949, his degree was finally refused.

Defiance Campaign and Transvaal ANC Presidency: 1950–1954

In March 1950, Mandela succeeded Xuma as a member of the ANC national leadership, and he also won the ANCYL national presidency that same year. African, Indian, and communist activists came together in Johannesburg in March for the Defend Free Speech Convention, which called for a nationwide strike on May Day to express opposition to apartheid and white minority rule. Because the strike was non-ANC-led and multiracial, Mandela opposed it; yet, most black workers participated, leading to increasing police brutality and the 1950 Suppression of Communism Act, which influenced the activities of all protest organizations. He continued to argue against a united front based on race at the ANC national conference in December 1951, but he was outvoted.

Following that, Mandela adopted the concept of a multiracial front against apartheid and rejected Lembede’s Africanism. After reading works by Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, and Mao Zedong, as well as being influenced by acquaintances like Moses Kotane and the Soviet Union’s backing for national liberation battles, his suspicion of communism was dispelled, and he came to embrace the dialectical materialism school of Marxist thought. He subsequently made a comment about communism, saying that he “found [himself] strongly drawn to the idea of a classless society which, to [his] mind, was similar to traditional African culture where life was shared and communal.”

Mandela started working at the communist-owned H.M. Basner legal firm in April 1952, although he was spending less time with his family due to his growing activity and professional commitments.

In order to gather volunteers for a combined Defiance Campaign against apartheid with Indian and communist organizations, the ANC established a National Voluntary Board in 1952. The movement was created to adhere to the nonviolent resistance strategy that Mahatma Gandhi advocated; while some people supported this on moral grounds, Mandela saw it as practical. On June 22, Mandela spoke to an audience of 10,000 people at a rally in Durban. This speech started the campaign demonstrations that led to his arrest and a brief detention in Marshall Square prison. Mandela became one of the most well-known black political personalities in South Africa as a result of these events.

The ANC’s membership increased from 20,000 to 100,000 as a result of further protests; in response, the government made mass arrests and passed the Public Safety Act of 1953, allowing for martial law. When J. B. Marks, the president of the Transvaal ANC, was prohibited by law from appearing in public in May, he was unable to hold onto his post and suggested Mandela as his replacement. In October, Mandela was elected regional president over the opposition of Africanists.

Under the Suppression of Communism Act, Mandela was detained in July 1952 and appeared in court in Johannesburg together with the other 21 accused, including Moroka, Sisulu, and Yusuf Dadoo. They were given a nine-month hard labor sentence that was postponed for two years after being found guilty of “statutory communism,” the label the government used to characterize the majority of resistance to apartheid. Mandela’s six-month restriction from meeting and speaking with many people at once was imposed in December, rendering his president of the Transvaal ANC unfeasible. During this time, the Defiance Campaign also began to wane.

At a Transvaal ANC conference in September 1953, Andrew Kunene read aloud from Nelson Mandela’s “No Easy Walk to Freedom” speech. The title of the speech was inspired by a phrase from Jawaharlal Nehru, the leader of Indian freedom, and had a significant impact on Mandela’s philosophy. The speech outlined a backup plan in the event that the ANC was outlawed. The organization was to be divided into cells with a more centralized leadership structure as part of the Mandela Plan, also known as the M-Plan.

After completing the qualifying tests to become a licensed attorney, Mandela moved to the liberal-run Helman and Michel after working as an attorney for Terblanche and Briggish. Mandela and Tambo established their own legal practice in August 1953, with an office in the heart of Johannesburg.

Being the only African-owned legal business in the nation, it was well-liked by black people who felt wronged and frequently handled cases involving police brutality. The company’s clientele decreased after their office permit was revoked under the Group Areas Act, forcing them to relocate to a distant area against the will of the authorities. Mandela belonged to Johannesburg’s upper black middle class and was highly respected by the black society since he was an aristocratic lawyer.

Despite the fact that Mandela and Evelyn had a second daughter, Makaziwe Phumia, born in May 1954, their relationship deteriorated and she accused him of infidelity. It’s possible that he had extramarital romances with Secretary Ruth Mompati and ANC member Lillian Ngoyi; some close to Mandela around this time claim that the latter gave birth to a kid for him. Nosekeni, horrified by her son’s actions, went back to Transkei, and Evelyn became the Jehovah’s Witnesses and disapproved of Mandela’s fixation with politics.

The People’s Congress and the Treason Trial, 1955–1961,

Nelson Mandela came to the conclusion that violent action would be required to eliminate apartheid and the rule of the white minority after participating in the failed demonstration in February 1955 to stop the forcible removal of all Black people from the Sophiatown neighborhood of Johannesburg. Sisulu asked the People’s Republic of China for weapons on his advice, but the request was turned down. Despite its backing for the anti-apartheid movement, the Chinese government felt that it lacked the necessary preparation for guerrilla warfare.

The African National Congress (ANC) organized a Congress of the People, inviting all South Africans to submit ideas for a post-apartheid future. The Congress of Democrats, the South African Indian Congress, the Colored People’s Congress, and the South African Congress of Trade Unions were all involved. Rusty Bernstein produced a Freedom Charter based on the replies, which called for the nationalization of key industries and the establishment of a democratic, non-racialist society. At a convention in Kliptown in June 1955, which the police violently closed down, the charter was approved. Mandela continued to value the principles of the Freedom Charter, referring to it as “an inspiration to the people of South Africa” in 1956.

We, the people of South Africa, declare for all our country and the world to know:
That South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white, and that no government can justly claim authority unless it is based on the will of the people.

— Opening words of the Freedom Charter

After a second ban ended in September 1955, Mandela took a working trip to Transkei, where he met with local Xhosa leaders and discussed the consequences of the Bantu Authorities Act, of 1951. Before traveling to Cape Town, he also visited his mother in Noengland. He was placed under five years of house arrest in Johannesburg following his third public appearance ban in March 1956, although he frequently disobeyed the order. After Mandela’s marriage failed, Evelyn took their kids and moved in with her brother. She filed for divorce from Mandela in May 1956, claiming he had physically mistreated her. Mandela refuted her claims and battled for joint child custody.

After she withdrew her separation petition in November of 1957, Mandela filed for divorce in January of 1958. The divorce was finalized in March of that same year, and Evelyn was given custody of the children. He started seeing social worker Winnie Madikizela throughout the divorce process, and in June 1958 they were married in Bizana. After engaging in ANC activities, she was imprisoned for a few weeks. Zenani, who was born in February 1959, and Zindziswa, who lived from 1960 to 2020, were the couple’s children.

Along with the majority of the ANC national executive, Mandela was detained in December 1956 and charged with “high treason” against the government. They were awaiting bail after being held at Johannesburg Prison in the midst of widespread protests and undergoing a preliminary examination.

Under the direction of defense attorney Vernon Berrangé, the defense’s rebuttal started in January 1957 and went on until the case was adjourned in September. In February of 1958, the judge decided that there was “sufficient reason” for the defendants to face trial at the Transvaal Supreme Court, and Oswald Pirow was assigned to prosecute the case in January. In August 1958, the official Treason Trial got underway in Pretoria after the defendants filed a successful application to change the three judges, who were all affiliated with the ruling National Party.

One allegation was dismissed in August, and the prosecution withdrew their indictment in October. In November, a revised version was submitted, in which the defendants refuted the accusation that the ANC leadership had committed high treason by encouraging a violent revolution.

Africanists unsatisfied with the ANC’s united front strategy created the Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC) in April 1959. Mandela disagreed with the PAC’s racially discriminatory beliefs, calling them “naïve” and “immature”. Early in 1960, both parties participated in an anti-pass campaign in which Africans set fire to the passes they were required by law to carry. 69 protestors lost their lives in the Sharpeville massacre when police opened fire on one of the rallies that the Progressive Association had organized. Mandela openly burned his pass in sympathy as the episode led to nationwide unrest and international criticism of the government.

In response to the turmoil, the government imposed martial law, banned the ANC and PAC, and declared a state of emergency. In March, they detained Mandela and other activists and held them in the filthy Pretoria Local Prison for five months without giving them a reason. When the state of emergency was removed in late August 1960, Mandela and his co-defendants in the Treason Trial had difficulties due to their imprisonment. Their attorneys were unable to contact them, thus it was decided that the lawyers would withdraw in protest until the accused were released from prison.

In the months that followed, Mandela took advantage of his leisure time to plan the All-In African Conference, which took place in March 1961 close to Pietermaritzburg, Natal. During this gathering, 1,400 anti-apartheid delegates decided to observe a day of homelessness on May 31, the day South Africa became a republic. Six years after the Treason Trial started, on March 29, 1961, the judges returned a not guilty decision, finding that there was not enough evidence to find the accused guilty of “high treason” since they had not supported violent revolution or communism. The administration was humiliated by the outcome.

MK, the African Tour, and the SACP: 1961–1962

While posing as a driver, Mandela secretly traversed the nation, coordinating the planned nationwide stay-at-home strike and the ANC’s new cell organization. The police issued an arrest order for him after he was dubbed the “Black Pimpernel” by the media, a reference to Emma Orczy’s 1905 novel The Scarlet Pimpernel.

After the government failed to stop the strike, Mandela met in private with reporters and forewarned them that many anti-apartheid activists would eventually turn to violence through organizations like the PAC’s Poqo. He thought that in order to redirect some of this violence in a constructive way, the ANC should establish an armed wing and persuade affiliated activist organizations and ANC leader Albert Luthuli—who was ethically against violence—that it was necessary.

Umkhonto we Sizwe, also known as the “Spear of the Nation,” was co-founded in 1961 by Mandela, Sisulu, and Slovo. They were inspired by the activities of Fidel Castro’s 26th of July Movement during the Cuban Revolution. As the leader of the militant organization, Mandela took inspiration from military thinker Carl von Clausewitz and Marxist revolutionaries Mao and Che Guevara’s writings on guerilla warfare. Initially proclaimed to be formally distinct from the African National Congress (ANC) in order to preserve the latter’s prestige, MK came to be acknowledged as the party’s military wing.

After hiding in communist Wolfie Kodesh’s apartment in Berea, Mandela moved to the communist-owned Liliesleaf Farm in Rivonia, where he was joined by Raymond Mhlaba, Slovo, and Bernstein, who drafted the MK constitution. The majority of the early MK members were white communists who were able to hide Mandela in their homes.

A historical study revealed in 2011 strongly showed that Mandela had joined the Communist Party in the late 1950s or early 1960s, even though he later denied being a member for political reasons. Following Mandela’s passing, the ANC and the SACP jointly affirmed this. He sat on the Central Committee of the SACP in addition to being a member of the party.

MK planned to carry out acts of sabotage through a cell structure in order to apply the most pressure on the government with the fewest possible deaths. They intended to attack transport links, telephone lines, power plants, and military sites at night when people were not around.

Mandela said that they picked sabotage because it was the least dangerous course of action, did not include killing, and provided the best chance for future racial reconciliation; nonetheless, he conceded that guerilla warfare could have been required if this had failed. MK made its public debut on Dingane’s Day (16 December 1961) with 57 bombs, just after ANC leader Luthuli received the Nobel Peace Prize. Additional assaults occurred on New Year’s Eve.

The Pan-African Freedom Movement for East, Central, and Southern Africa (PAFMECSA) met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in February 1962, and the African National Congress (ANC) chose to send Mandela as a delegate. After clandestinely departing South Africa through Bechuanaland, Mandela stopped in Tanganyika and had a meeting with its president, Julius Nyerere.

After arriving in Ethiopia, Mandela had a meeting with Emperor Haile Selassie I and spoke at the conference after Selassie. Following the symposium, he traveled to Cairo, Egypt, where he saw President Gamal Abdel Nasser’s political changes. In April 1962, he traveled to Morocco and requested that El Khatib meet with the monarch in order to obtain a 5,000 donation.

The following day, he received the £5,000 from Mandela’s soldier along with some guns and instruction. He then traveled to Tunis, Tunisia, where he received the £5,000 for arms from President Habib Bourguiba. With money from Guinean President Ahmed Sékou Touré and Liberian President William Tubman, he traveled to Morocco, Mali, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Senegal. After leaving Africa for London, England, he met notable politicians, journalists, and anti-apartheid campaigners. He returned to Ethiopia and enrolled in a six-month training on guerrilla warfare, which he only finished for two months before the ANC’s leadership called him back to South Africa.

Detention

1962–1964: Arrests and the Rivonia trial

Police apprehended Mandela and fellow campaigner Cecil Williams on August 5, 1962, in the vicinity of Howick. Though Mandela himself gave these theories little weight, many MK members believed that the government had been informed of Mandela’s movements. Former US diplomat Donald Rickard said in subsequent years that the South African police had been notified of Mandela’s whereabouts by the Central Intelligence Agency, which was concerned about his ties to communists.

Mandela was imprisoned at Johannesburg’s Marshall Square prison and accused of encouraging strikes by employees and of fleeing the nation without authorization. With Slovo serving as his legal counsel, Mandela represented himself and planned to use the trial to highlight “the ANC’s moral opposition to racism” while supporters staged protests outside the court.

He relocated to Pretoria so that Winnie could visit him, and he started correspondence courses at the University of London International Programs to get a Bachelor of Laws (LLB). October saw the start of his hearing, but he caused havoc by dressing in traditional kaross, declining to call any witnesses, and using his plea of mitigation as a platform for political discourse. After being found guilty, he was given a five-year prison term. His supporters sung “Nkosi Sikelel iAfrika” as he exited the courthouse.

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 will live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to see realised. But if it needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.

— Mandela’s Rivonia Trial Speech, 1964

Police stormed Liliesleaf Farm on July 11, 1963, taking into custody anybody they found there and finding records of MK’s operations, some of which included references to Mandela. Mandela and his allies were accused with four charges of sabotage and conspiracy to overthrow the government violently in the Rivonia Trial, which got underway in the Pretoria Supreme Court in October. Percy Yutar was the lead prosecutor for the group. The prosecution’s case was quickly dismissed by Judge Quartus de Wet due to a lack of evidence, but Yutar revised the allegations and presented a fresh case from December 1963 to February 1964. He called 173 witnesses and brought thousands of papers and photos to the trial.

While five of the defendants, including Mandela, acknowledged sabotage, they denied ever agreeing to launch a guerrilla war against the government, despite the fact that four of the accused denied any participation with MK. They utilized the trial to further their political goals; during the defense’s opening statement, Nelson Mandela delivered his three-hour “I Am Prepared to Die” address. Despite state censorship, the speech—which drew inspiration from Castro’s “History Will Absolve Me”—was extensively covered by the media. International attention was drawn to the trial; appeals were made to free the accused from the World Peace Council and the United Nations, and Mandela was elected president of the University of London Union.

Justice De Wet ruled Mandela and two of his co-accused guilty on all four counts on June 12, 1964; nevertheless, despite the prosecution’s request for the death penalty, the court sentenced them to life in prison.

Island of Robben: 1964–1982

Mandela and his co-defendant were sent from Pretoria to Robben Island jail in 1964, where they stayed for the following eighteen years. Mandela was held apart from the non-political detainees in Section B and was housed in a wet concrete cell that measured eight feet (2.4 meters) by seven feet (2.1 meters) and had a straw mat for sleeping on.

The Rivonia Trial inmates were subjected to verbal and physical abuse by many white jail wardens, and they were forced to spend their days crushing rocks into the gravel until they were transferred to a lime quarry in January 1965. Mandela’s eyesight was irreparably harmed by the brightness of the lime, and at first, he was not allowed to wear shades.

He was pursuing his LLB degree at night, which he was earning from the University of London via a correspondence course with Wolsey Hall, Oxford. However, newspapers were prohibited, and he was often placed in solitary confinement for having smuggled news clippings in his hands. At first, he was assigned to the lowest jail grade, Class D, which allowed him to receive one letter and one visit every six months, albeit all correspondence was strictly restricted.

The political prisoners participated in work and hunger strikes to improve prison conditions; Mandela saw the latter as essentially futile. They saw this as a miniature version of the anti-apartheid movement. He was elected to the four-man “High Organ” by ANC inmates, which also included Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, and Raymond Mhlaba.

He also became involved in Ulundi, a group that represented all political prisoners on the island, including Eddie Daniels, and used it to establish connections with PAC and Yu Chi Chan Club members. He started the “University of Robben Island,” where inmates gave lectures on their specialized subjects while engaging in discourse with their fellow inmates about social and political issues.

Even though Mandela was a Christian, he studied Islam. In an effort to gain the respect and convince the warders to his cause, he also learnt Afrikaans. Mandela had visits from a number of dignitaries, the most notable of which being the Progressive Party’s liberal parliamentary delegate Helen Suzman, who actively supported Mandela’s cause outside of jail.

He first got to know British Labour Party leader Denis Healey in September 1970. When Jimmy Kruger, the minister of justice for South Africa, paid Mandela a visit in December 1974, they were not friendly. Mandela was not allowed to attend the funerals of his mother, who passed away soon after the visit in 1968, or his firstborn son, Thembi, who was killed in an automobile accident the following year.

Due to his frequent imprisonment for political activities, his wife had few opportunities to see him. His daughters paid him their first visit in December 1975. After being forced to relocate to Brandfort after her release from jail in 1977, Winnie was unable to visit him.

The conditions in prisons improved starting in 1967. Games were allowed, black inmates received pants instead of shorts, and the caliber of their meals was improved. Gordon Bruce devised an escape plan for Nelson Mandela in 1969, but it was shelved after a South African Bureau of State Security (BOSS) agent entered the plot with the intention of shooting Mandela during the escape. Commander Piet Badenhorst assumed command in 1970. Observing a rise in the mistreatment of detainees both physically and mentally, Mandela lodged a complaint with visiting judges, who subsequently moved Badenhorst. Commander Willie Willemse, who was eager to raise prison standards and had a cooperative relationship with Mandela, took over for him.

After he was classified as a Class A prisoner in 1975, Mandela was granted more frequent access to letters and visits. He exchanged letters with Desmond Tutu and Mangosuthu Buthelezi, two anti-apartheid campaigners. He started writing his autobiography in that year, which was smuggled to London but wasn’t published at the time. When jail officials found several pages, his LLB study rights were suspended for a period of four years. Until the authorities allowed him to continue his LLB degree studies in 1980, he spent his free time reading and gardening.

By the late 1960s, Steve Biko and the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM) had surpassed Mandela in prominence. The BCM advocated for violent action because they believed the ANC was ineffective; nonetheless, many of its militants were imprisoned on Robben Island during the 1976 Soweto uprising. Despite his criticism of their racism and disdain for white anti-apartheid campaigners, Mandela made an effort to get to know these young rebels.

When he turned sixty in July 1978, there was a resurgence of interest in his situation on a global scale. In addition to the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding in India in 1979 and the Freedom of the City of Glasgow, Scotland in 1981, he was also granted an honorary doctorate in Lesotho.

Journalist Percy Qoboza created the catchphrase “Free Mandela!” in March 1980, which set off a global movement and resulted in a request for his release from the UN Security Council. Relying on its Cold War allies, US President Ronald Reagan and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who saw Mandela’s ANC as a terrorist organization sympathetic to communism and supported its destruction, the government refused to budge in the face of mounting international criticism.

Prison at Pollsmoor: 1982–1988

Along with senior ANC leaders Walter Sisulu, Andrew Mlangeni, Ahmed Kathrada, and Raymond Mhlaba, Mandela was sent to Pollsmoor Prison in Tokai, Cape Town, in April 1982. They felt that their isolation was intended to lessen their influence over younger campaigners at Robben Island. Pollsmoor was a nicer place to live than Robben Island, although Mandela missed the island’s landscape and community. Mandela got along well with Brigadier Munro, the commanding commander of Pollsmoor, and was allowed to plant a roof garden. He also read a lot and wrote a lot, now allowed 52 letters a year. The United Democratic Front (UDF), which was established to oppose P. W. Botha’s policies in South Africa, named him its patron.

Black Africans were not included in the system, even though Botha’s National Party administration had let Colored and Indian citizens to vote for their own parliaments, which oversaw housing, health care, and education. The UDF perceived this as an attempt to split the anti-apartheid movement along racial lines, much like Mandela did.

There was a nationwide uptick in violence in the early 1980s, and many people forecast a civil war. Economic stagnation followed as a number of foreign banks withdrew their investments in South Africa due to pressure from a worldwide lobby. Thatcher and many banks urged Botha to free Mandela, who was at the height of his international renown at the time, in order to calm the explosive situation.

In February 1985, Botha offered Mandela a chance to be released from jail provided he “unconditionally rejected violence as a political weapon,” notwithstanding Mandela’s belief that Botha was a dangerous “arch-Marxist.” With a statement sent through his daughter Zindzi, Mandela rejected the offer, asking, “What freedom am I being granted if the organization of the people [ANC] remains banned? Negotiation is the domain of free men only. Contracts cannot be made by a prisoner.”

After having surgery in 1985 to remove an enlarged prostate gland, Mandela was granted new ground-level solitary quarters. A foreign committee sent to mediate a solution visited him, but Botha’s administration declined to work with them, declaring a state of emergency in June and launching a police crackdown on protests. The African National Congress (ANC) launched 231 assaults in 1986 and 235 in 1987 in retaliation for the anti-apartheid movement. The Zulu nationalist movement Inkatha, which was engaged in a bloody conflict with the African National Congress (ANC), and vigilante groups received clandestine backing from the government, which also utilized the army and police to crush the opposition.

After being turned down for negotiations with Botha, Mandela met in secret with Justice Minister Kobie Coetsee in 1987 and again 11 times over the next three years. Beginning in May 1988, Coetsee arranged talks between Mandela and a group of four government representatives. The group consented to the ANC’s legalization and the release of political prisoners, provided that they permanently renounce violence, sever ties with the Communist Party, and give up on demanding majority rule. Mandela refused to accept these terms, stating that the ANC would only cease its military operations until the government repudiated its use of force.

International attention was drawn to Mandela’s 70th birthday celebration in July 1988, which included a televised tribute performance at London’s Wembley Stadium that was seen by an estimated 200 million people. Despite being portrayed as a hero across the world, he struggled personally after learning from ANC officials that Winnie had established herself as the leader of a group called the “Mandela United Football Club” that had been torturing and killing opponents—including children—in Soweto. Despite the encouragement of some to get a divorce, he chose to stick by her side until she was proven guilty in court.

Victor Verster: 1988–1990 Prison term and release

In December 1988, Mandela, recovering from TB that had been made worse by the wet circumstances in his cell, was transferred to Victor Verster Prison, which was close to Paarl. He completed his LLB degree while staying in the comparatively comfortable quarters of a warder’s home, equipped with a personal chef. He was able to arrange covert connections with ANC leader Oliver Tambo while he was in exile and had several visitors.

Following a stroke in 1989, Botha gave up his position as state president but relinquished his leadership of the National Party, handing the position to F. W. de Klerk. Botha surprised everyone by inviting Mandela to a tea party in July 1989, which Mandela accepted politely. Six weeks later, de Klerk took over as state president from Botha; certain that apartheid could not last, he freed some ANC detainees. De Klerk convened his cabinet in November 1989 to discuss the legalization of the ANC and Mandela’s release, following the collapse of the Berlin Wall.

De Klerk met with Mandela in December to address the issue, despite the fact that several people were strongly against his intentions. Both men saw the encounter as amicable. In February 1990, he announced Mandela’s unconditional release and legalized all previously outlawed political organizations. Not long after, Mandela’s photos could be released in South Africa for the first time in twenty years.

On February 11, in front of gathered crowds and the media, Mandela grasped Winnie’s hand as he left Victor Verster Prison. The occasion was shown live all over the world. He made it plain that the ANC’s armed fight was still ongoing and would continue as “a purely defensive action against the violence of apartheid” as he was driven through throngs of people to Cape Town’s City Hall, where he delivered a speech pledging his commitment to peace and reconciliation with the white minority.

He emphasized that his primary goal was to restore peace to the black majority and grant them the right to vote in local and national elections. He expressed optimism that the government would agree to discussions so that “there may no longer be the need for the armed struggle”.

After spending the next several days at Tutu’s house, Mandela had meetings with friends, activists, and members of the press before speaking in front of an estimated 100,000 people at Johannesburg’s FNB Stadium.

Elections and the end of apartheid

Initial discussions: 1990–1991

After meeting politicians and supporters in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Libya, and Algeria, Mandela continued his African tour, stopping in Sweden to see Tambo again and in London to attend the Nelson Mandela: An International Tribute for a Free South Africa concert at Wembley Stadium. He visited with British Prime Minister Thatcher, Pope John Paul II at the Vatican, and President François Mitterrand in France to urge other nations to back sanctions against the apartheid regime. He visited eight cities, saw President George H. W. Bush, and gave speeches to both Houses of Congress while in the country. He was especially well-liked by the African American community. He had long admired President Castro and became acquainted with him in Cuba.

He had meetings with Prime Minister Bob Hawke in Australia, Mahathir Mohamad in Malaysia, President Suharto in Indonesia, and President R. Venkataraman in India. He went to Japan but not the Soviet Union, where he had long supported the ANC.

A government team made up of eleven Afrikaner males and Mandela led a multiracial ANC group into first discussions with them in May 1990. Their talks of Afrikaner history persuaded Mandela, and the negotiations resulted in the Groot Schuur Minute when the state of emergency was removed by the government. MK activists severely criticized Mandela in August when he proposed the Pretoria Minute truce, realizing the ANC’s stark military inferiority. He devoted a lot of effort to attempting to strengthen and unite the ANC. In December, he spoke at a conference in Johannesburg that drew 1,600 participants, many of whom thought he was more moderate than they had anticipated.

During the ANC’s national conference in Durban in July 1991, Mandela acknowledged the party’s shortcomings and expressed his desire to form a task force aimed at achieving a majority government. He succeeded the sick Tambo as ANC President during the convention, and a 50-person, multiracial, gender-neutral national executive was chosen.

Mandela moved into Winnie’s spacious Soweto house and was granted an office in the recently acquired ANC headquarters at Shell House, Johannesburg. Despite his growing disapproval of her after discovering her extramarital involvement with Dali Mpofu, he stood by her side during her abduction and abuse trial. He was able to secure funds for her defense from Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi as well as the International Defence and Aid Fund for Southern Africa.

However, in June 1991, she was convicted guilty and given a six-year jail term, which was later reduced to two years on appeal. Mandela formally declared his divorce from Winnie on April 13, 1992. After stealing ANC money, the ANC compelled her to resign from the national executive; Mandela then relocated to the largely white Johannesburg neighborhood of Houghton.

An upsurge in “black-on-black” violence, mostly between ANC and Inkatha supporters in KwaZulu-Natal that claimed thousands of lives, significantly harmed Mandela’s chances of a peaceful transition. Mandela had a meeting with Buthelezi, the head of Inkatha, but the ANC blocked any more discussions on the matter. Mandela openly accused de Klerk, whom he came to fear more and more, of the Sebokeng massacre, claiming that a “third force” inside the state intelligence agencies was responsible for the “slaughter of the people”. Though the violence persisted, Mandela, Buthelezi, and de Klerk signed a peace pact in September 1991 at a national peace summit held in Johannesburg.

Talks at CODESA: 1991–92

With 228 delegates from 19 political parties present, the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) got underway in the Johannesburg World Trade Center in December 1991. The ANC delegation was headed by Cyril Ramaphosa, but Mandela retained a significant presence. Following his denunciation of the ANC’s brutality in the closing speech, de Klerk was called the “head of an illegitimate, discredited minority regime” by Mandela, who also ascended the stage to address the issue.

With the ANC and National Party in control, not much progress was made in the negotiations. At CODESA 2, which took place in May 1992, de Klerk argued that in order to guarantee the protection of ethnic minorities in South Africa after apartheid, a federal system with a rotating president was necessary. Mandela disagreed, arguing that a unitary government run by majority rule would be more appropriate.

Mandela canceled the negotiations after government-backed Inkatha militants massacred ANC activists in Boipatong. He then went to the Organization of African Unity meeting in Senegal, where he called for a special meeting of the UN Security Council and suggested stationing a UN peacekeeping force in South Africa to prevent “state terrorism.” The African National Congress (ANC) called for nationwide mass action in August, organizing the biggest strike in South African history, and its supporters marched through Pretoria.

Mandela realized that mass action risked provoking further violence after the Bisho massacre, which saw the Ciskei Defence Force shoot 28 ANC supporters and one soldier dead during a protest march. As a result, he started discussions in September. Reluctantly, de Klerk consented to comply with his demands, which included the release of all political prisoners, the outlawing of Zulu traditional weapons, and the fencing off of Zulu hostels.

In exchange for a five-year coalition government of national unity and a constitutional assembly that granted the National Party ongoing influence, the agreements stipulated that a multiracial general election would be held. Additionally, the ANC gave in to maintaining the employment of white public servants; nevertheless, these concessions were met with harsh internal criticism.

COSAG, a coalition of far-right Afrikaner parties (the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging, or AWB), and black ethnic-secessionist organizations like Inkatha endangered the democratic process. In June 1993, one of these parties attacked the Kempton Park World Trade Center. Soon after attending Tambo’s mass funeral in Soweto, where he had passed away from a stroke, Mandela delivered a well-publicized address to quell violence in response to the death of ANC activist Chris Hani. Both Mandela and de Klerk traveled to the United States in July 1993, visiting President Bill Clinton on their own, and were awarded the Liberty Medal. Mandela and de Klerk shared the Nobel Peace Prize in Norway not long afterward.

Thabo Mbeki encouraged Mandela to start meeting with powerful businessmen, but he downplayed his support for nationalization out of concern that he would deter critically important foreign investment. At the January 1992 World Economic Forum in Switzerland, he was urged to embrace private enterprise by representatives of the Chinese and Vietnamese Communist parties, despite criticism from socialist ANC members.

1994 general election

The ANC started its campaign, setting up 100 election offices and planning People’s Forums around the nation, where Mandela might make an appearance as a highly esteemed figure among South Africans of African descent. The election was scheduled for April 27, 1994. The African National Congress ran on a platform of the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) that included building a million homes in five years, expanding access to power and water, and instituting universal free education.

“A better life for all” was the party’s slogan, although it was unclear how this advancement would be paid for. Fearing further ethnic conflict, the South African press, with the exception of the Weekly Mail and the New Nation, supported the National or Democratic Party and opposed Mandela’s victory.

Mandela spent a lot of time traveling to North America, Europe, and Asia to meet with affluent benefactors, some of whom had previously supported the apartheid government, in order to raise money for the ANC. In addition, he advocated for lowering the voting age from 18 to 14. The ANC rejected this idea, which led to mockery.

In the wake of the violence in Bophuthatswana and the Shell House massacre, which involved the AWB and Inkatha, respectively, Mandela met with Afrikaner politicians and generals, including P. W. Botha, Pik Botha, and Constand Viljoen, and convinced many of them to cooperate with the democratic system out of fear that COSAG would sabotage the election.

Along with de Klerk, he also persuaded Inkatha’s Buthelezi to run for office rather than start a secessionist war. During a televised discussion, Mandela startled de Klerk, the leader of the two major parties, by offering to shake his hand. This led some analysts to declare Mandela’s win. Although there was little violence during the election, 20 people were killed by vehicle explosives planted by an AWB cell.

The ANC scored a landslide win, as was generally predicted, with 63% of the vote, falling shy of the two-thirds majority required to alter the constitution unilaterally. In addition, the ANC won seven provinces, while the National Party and Inkatha each won one. Although the ANC’s win guaranteed Mandela’s election as president, he acknowledged in public that there had been incidents of fraud and sabotage throughout the election. Mandela cast his ballot at the Ohlange High School in Durban.

South Africa’s Presidency, 1994–1999

Mandela was legally chosen as South Africa’s first black chief executive by the newly elected National Assembly. On May 10, 1994, in Pretoria, his inauguration was broadcast live to one billion people worldwide. Four thousand people attended the event, including international leaders from various political and geographic origins. Mandela oversaw a Government of National Unity that included members of the National Party and Inkatha but was dominated by the ANC, an organization with no prior experience in self-government. By securing at least 20 seats, Inkatha and the National Party were granted seats in the cabinet under the Interim Constitution. Both de Klerk and Thabo Mbeki were appointed Deputy Presidents in accordance with previous arrangements.

Throughout his administration, Mandela came to rely significantly on Mbeki, even though he had not been his first pick for the position, giving him the ability to influence the specifics of policy. Mandela let de Klerk to keep the presidential mansion at the Groote Schuur estate when he moved into the presidential office in Tuynhuys in Cape Town. De Klerk then moved into the adjacent Westbrooke manor, which he dubbed “Genadendal,” which translates to “Valley of Mercy” in Afrikaans. He kept his house in Houghton and had another built in his native hamlet of Qunu, where he frequently went to interact with the people and arbitrate tribal conflicts.

He was seventy-six years old, ailing from a variety of conditions, and while he was still active, he felt alone and alienated. He often hosted A-listers like Michael Jackson, Whoopi Goldberg, and the Spice Girls and made high-rolling business associates like Anglo American’s Harry Oppenheimer. On her official state visit to South Africa in March 1995, he also had a meeting with Queen Elizabeth II, which drew harsh condemnation from ANC anti-capitalists. Mandela led a modest life despite his lavish surroundings; he established the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund in 1995 and donated one-third of his annual salary to it.

Despite breaking down press censorship, advocating for press freedom, and making many friends in the media, Mandela was critical of the majority of the nation’s media, pointing out that it was primarily owned and operated by middle-class White people and that it placed an undue emphasis on inciting fear of crime.

Mandela’s autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, was released in December 1994. It was an expanded version of a manuscript he had written while incarcerated, supplemented by interviews he did with American journalist Richard Stengel. He attended the 49th African National Congress (ANC) congress in Bloemfontein in late 1994, when a more militant national leadership was chosen, including Winnie Mandela. Although Mandela indicated her desire for reconciliation, Nelson filed for divorce from her in August of 1995. By 1995, he was dating Graça Machel, the wife of former president Samora Machel and a political leader from Mozambique who was 27 years his junior.

When they initially got together in July 1990, she was still in grief. Nevertheless, their acquaintance developed into a partnership, and Machel traveled with him frequently to other countries. Mandela’s initial marriage proposal was rejected by her because she preferred to maintain her independence and split her time between Johannesburg and Mozambique.

National Harmony

Leading the country through the transition from apartheid minority control to a multicultural democracy, Mandela considered rapprochement within the country to be the main goal of his presidency. Mandela sought to convince the white people of South Africa that they were safe and well-represented in “The Rainbow Nation,” having witnessed the departure of white elites destroy the economy of other post-colonial African nations. He named Buthelezi as Minister for Home Affairs, de Klerk as Deputy President, and other National Party officials as Ministers for Agriculture, Environment, and Minerals and Energy in an effort to forge a broad coalition, even though the ANC would dominate his Government of National Unity.

ANC members filled the remaining cabinet posts; some, like Tito Mboweni and Jeff Radebe, were much younger, but many, including Joe Modise, Alfred Nzo, Joe Slovo, Mac Maharaj, and Dullah Omar, had been Mandela’s longtime allies. Mandela and de Klerk had a tense relationship because Mandela believed that de Klerk was purposefully provocative and de Klerk believed that the president was purposefully humiliating him. Mandela severely criticized de Klerk in January 1995 for giving amnesty to 3,500 police personnel just before the election, and he was also criticized for standing up for former Defense Minister Magnus Malan after the latter was accused of murder.

Gracious but steely, [Mandela] steered a country in turmoil toward a negotiated settlement: a country that days before its first democratic election remained violent, riven by divisive views and personalities. He endorsed national reconciliation, an idea he did not merely foster in the abstract, but performed with panache and conviction in reaching out to former adversaries. He initiated an era of hope that, while not long-lasting, was nevertheless decisive, and he garnered the highest international recognition and affection.

— Rita Barnard, The Cambridge Companion to Nelson Mandela

Senior apartheid officials, such as attorney Percy Yutar and Hendrik Verwoerd’s widow, Betsie Schoombie, were among those with whom Mandela personally visited. He also laid a wreath near the statue of Afrikaner hero Daniel Theron. With a focus on individual reconciliation and forgiveness, he declared that “courageous people do not fear forgiving, for the sake of peace.” As South Africa hosted the 1995 Rugby World Cup, he exhorted black South Africans to support the Springboks, the nation’s once-hated rugby side. During the final match against New Zealand, Mandela donned a Springbok uniform. Following the team’s victory, Mandela gave the trophy to Afrikaner captain Francois Pienaar.

For many, this was a turning point in the rapprochement of white and black South Africans; in the words of de Klerk, “Mandela won the hearts of millions of white rugby fans.” While Mandela’s efforts to bring people together calmed white people’s anxieties, more radical Black people had issue with them. Winnie, his estranged wife, was one of the latter, accusing the ANC of favoring the white population over the interests of the black majority.

Tutu was appointed as the chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which was established on Mandela’s direction to look into crimes committed by the ANC and the government during the apartheid era. The panel offered personal amnesties to anyone who testified about atrocities perpetrated during the apartheid era in order to avoid creating martyrs.

Dedicated in February 1996, it conducted hearings for two years, documenting bombings, killings, rapes, and torture, until releasing its final report in October 1998. Mbeki and de Klerk both filed appeals to have some portions of the report concealed; only de Klerk’s appeal was granted. Mandela said that the commission “had helped us move away from the past to concentrate on the present and the future” and he commended its efforts.

Home Television Shows

The country’s wealth and service gaps between white and black populations were enormous when Mandela took office. Out of 40 million people, almost 23 million did not have access to clean water, appropriate sanitation, or power, and 2 million children did not attend school. Additionally, a third of the population did not have a formal education. A little less than half of the population was living in poverty, and the unemployment rate was 33%. The projected Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) was cut back, with none of the proposed nationalization or job creation, since government financial reserves were almost completely drained and a fifth of the national budget was spent on debt payments.

Growth, Employment, and Redistribution (GEAR), which replaced the RDP in 1996, preserved South Africa’s mixed economy while emphasizing economic growth through a framework of market economics and the encouragement of foreign investment. Despite Mandela’s defense of GEAR, many in the ANC mocked it as a neo-liberal policy that failed to address social inequality. The World Bank and International Monetary Fund’s “Washington consensus” was followed by Mandela’s administration in taking this stance.

Welfare spending rose by 13% in 1996–1997, 13% in 1997–1998, and 7% in 1998–1999 when Mandela was president. Grants for communities, such as old-age pensions, child maintenance grants, and disability awards, which were previously established at different amounts for South Africa’s various ethnic groups, were equalized by the government. Pregnant women and children under six received free healthcare in 1994; in 1996, this benefit was expanded to include everyone utilizing primary-level public healthcare services.

By the 1999 election, the African National Congress (ANC) could brag that 3 million people had telephone connections, 1.5 million children had been enrolled in school, 500 clinics had been built or renovated, 2 million people had access to electricity, 3 million people had access to water, and 750,000 new homes had been built, housing almost 3 million people. All of these achievements were the result of the ANC’s policies.

The rights of labor tenants who resided on farms where they raised crops or let cattle graze were protected by the Land Reform Act 3 of 1996. Thanks to this legislation, renters who were 65 years of age or older could not be evicted without a court ruling. Mandela supported the arms trade while tightening rules around Armscor to prevent South African weapons from being sold to authoritarian regimes, acknowledging that the production of armaments was a vital business for the South African economy. Tourism was heavily encouraged under Mandela’s leadership and grew to be a significant economic industry in South Africa.

Mandela’s leadership was criticized by Edwin Cameron and others for not doing more to stop the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the nation, which left 10% of South Africans HIV positive by 1999. Later, Mandela acknowledged that he had personally ignored the problem, leaving it to Mbeki to handle in part because of the public reluctance to address matters related to sex in South Africa. Mandela was also criticized for not doing more to combat crime; South Africa had one of the worst rates of crime in the world, and throughout the course of the decade, the operations of international criminal syndicates in the nation increased dramatically. It was also believed that Mandela’s government had not adequately addressed the issue of corruption.

Thousands of talented white South Africans left the country to avoid rising crime rates, increased taxes, and the negative effects of affirmative discrimination against black workers, which led to further issues. A brain drain occurred as a result of this migration, and Mandela chastised those who departed. Mandela urged South Africans to accept these illegal immigrants as “brothers and sisters” despite the fact that public opinion toward them was generally negative, portraying them as resource-hungry criminals who spread disease. At the same time, millions of illegal migrants arrived in South Africa from poorer regions of Africa.

International relations

Mandela was of the opinion that “South Africa’s future foreign relations [should] be based on our belief that human rights should be the core of international relations” . Mandela urged other countries to use diplomacy and reconciliation to overcome disputes, using South Africa as an example. Nelson Mandela was named secretary-general of the Non-Aligned Movement in September 1998. The movement conducted its annual meeting in Durban. He used the occasion to criticize the Israeli government’s “narrow, chauvinistic interests” in prolonging negotiations to address the Israeli-Palestinian issue. He also urged India and Pakistan to engage in talks to resolve the Kashmir dispute, a move that drew criticism from both countries.

Motivated by the economic prosperity of the area, Mandela attempted to establish stronger business ties with East Asia, namely with Malaysia; but, the Asian financial crisis of 1997 hindered his efforts. He granted diplomatic recognition to Taiwan, which had previously invested extensively in South Africa’s economy, as well as to the People’s Republic of China (PRC), which was becoming a more powerful economic force. He did, however, stop recognizing Taiwan in November 1996 due to pressure from the PRC, and in May 1999, he made an official visit to Beijing.

Mandela’s tight friendship with Indonesian President Suharto, whose government was in charge of widespread violations of human rights, caused controversy. However, during a visit to Indonesia in July 1997, Mandela quietly persuaded Suharto to end the occupation of East Timor. His government’s commercial ties to Syria, Cuba, and Libya, as well as his personal relations with Castro and Gaddafi, drew comparable censure from the West.

In 1998, to great public acclaim, Castro traveled to South Africa, and in Libya, Mandela met Gaddafi in order to present him with the Order of Good Hope. Mandela declared that “the enemies of countries in the West are not our enemies” in response to criticism of these trips from Western governments and media, branding the criticism as having racial overtones.

In order to put two Libyans on trial for destroying Pan Am Flight 103, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi and Lamin Khalifah Fhimah, who were charged in November 1991, Mandela sought to end the protracted legal battle between Libya, the United States, and Britain. All sides agreed to Mandela’s suggestion that they be prosecuted in a third nation; the trial, which was conducted under Scots law and took place in April 1999 in Camp Zeist in the Netherlands, found one of the two men guilty.

Mandela expressed his deep concern about problems on the continent and reiterated Mbeki’s aspirations for an “African Renaissance”. After Sani Abacha’s military government in Nigeria was overthrown, he used a cautious diplomatic strategy, but as Abacha’s regime ramped up its abuses of human rights, he eventually took the lead in advocating for sanctions. After taking office as chairman of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) in 1996, he tried in vain to bring an end to the First Congo War in Zaire via diplomacy.

Additionally, he was a crucial player in the initiation of a settlement that improved peace in the nation but did not put an end to the ethnic bloodshed during the Burundian Civil War between Hutu and Tutsi political organizations.

Troops were dispatched into Lesotho in September 1998 as part of South Africa’s first post-apartheid military action to defend Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili’s administration following disputed elections that had sparked riots by the opposition. Buthelezi, acting president in Mandela’s absence, approved the move with the consent of both Mbeki and Mandela; Mandela, who was out of the country at the time, did not authorize it.

Leaving the political sphere

In May 1996, the parliament of South Africa approved a new constitution that included a number of institutions designed to restrain the power of the state and the executive branch in a constitutional democracy. In protest of the ANC not considering them as equals, De Klerk and the National Party resigned from the coalition government that month. He opposed the execution of this constitution. The Nationals’ cabinet seats were assumed by the ANC, with Mbeki serving as the party’s lone deputy president. Inkatha stayed in the coalition, and things improved between him and Mandela when Buthelezi was named “Acting President” in September 1998, when both Mandela and Mbeki were abroad.

While Mandela had frequently showed decisive leadership during his first two years in office, he later assigned more and more responsibilities to Mbeki, keeping only strict personal oversight of intelligence and security protocols. He declared that Thabo Mbeki was “the ruler of South Africa, the de facto ruler” and that he was “shifting everything to him” when on a visit to London in 1997.

During the ANC convention in December 1997, Mandela announced his resignation as president. He thought that Mbeki was too rigid and insensitive to criticism, and he hoped that Ramaphosa would take over, but Mbeki was chosen by the ANC. In lieu of Mbeki as Deputy President, Mandela and the Executive backed Jacob Zuma, a Zulu who had served time in jail on Robben Island. Winnie, a candidate whose populist speech had won her a sizable following inside the party, opposed Zuma’s candidacy; nonetheless, Zuma easily won the election.

Mandela’s connection with Machel had become closer; in February 1998, he said in public that he was “in love with a remarkable lady”; in July of the same year, at Tutu’s insistence that he set an example for the youth, Mandela planned a wedding to commemorate turning eighty. He hosted a lavish celebration with several international dignitaries the next day. Despite the 1996 constitution’s provision for the president to hold office for two consecutive five-year terms, Mandela had no intention of seeking another term. When Parliament adjourned on March 29, 1999, in advance of the 1999 general elections, he delivered his final address before retiring.

Polls conducted in South Africa in 1999 revealed that 80% of respondents were satisfied with Mandela’s presidency, despite the fact that support for the ANC and the government appeared to be waning.

Post-Election and Closing Years

Ongoing generosity and activism: 1999–2004

After stepping down in June 1999, Mandela planned to live a peaceful retirement split between Qunu and Johannesburg. He began writing a follow-up to his first autobiography, which he intended to call The Presidential Years, but it was never completed and was only released after his death in 2017. Mandela found such isolation to be taxing, so he returned to a busy public life that included a daily schedule of errands, meetings with celebrities and world leaders, and—while in Johannesburg—working with the Nelson Mandela Foundation, which was established in 1999 with the goals of addressing HIV/AIDS, building schools, and developing rural areas.

After he retired, he dedicated a significant portion of his time to combating HIV/AIDS, despite facing harsh criticism for not doing enough during his presidency. He called the disease “a war” that had claimed more lives than “all previous wars” and he joined the Treatment Action Campaign, which encouraged Mbeki’s government to guarantee that HIV-positive South Africans had access to antiretrovirals. In July 2001, Mandela underwent a successful treatment for prostate cancer.

The Nelson Mandela Rhodes Foundation was established in 2003 at Rhodes House, University of Oxford, with the goal of offering postgraduate scholarships to African students. In 2002, Mandela launched the Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture. The 46664 campaign against HIV/AIDS and the Nelson Mandela Center of Memory came after these initiatives. In 2000, he delivered the closing speech at the XIII International AIDS Conference held in Durban. Two years later, in 2004, he addressed the XV International AIDS Conference held in Bangkok, Thailand, advocating for more action to combat both HIV/AIDS and TB. In order to overcome the stigma associated with talking about the disease, Mandela made it known that his son Makgatho’s death in January 2005 was caused by AIDS.

Mandela started to publicly criticize Western powers more. He described the 1999 NATO involvement in Kosovo as an attempt by the world’s superpowers to regulate the whole planet and was vehemently against it. He vocalized his opposition to the US President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair (whom he referred to as an “American foreign minister”) in 2003, calling the plans for the US to invade Iraq “a tragedy” and accusing them of undermining the UN by stating that “all that (Mr. Bush) wants is Iraqi oil.”

Citing the atomic bombing of Japan, he attacked the United States more broadly, saying, “If there is a country that has committed unspeakable atrocities in the world, it is the United States of America.” This statement sparked international controversy, despite the fact that he later repaired his damaged relationship with Bush. Still having feelings for the Lockerbie suspect, he went to see Megrahi in Barlinnie jail and denounced the way he was being treated, calling it “psychological persecution.”

2004–2013 as “Retiring from Retirement”

When Mandela stated in June 2004 that he was “retiring from retirement” and withdrawing from public life, he was 85 years old and in declining health. He said, “Don’t call me, I will call you.” The foundation declined most requests for interviews and discouraged invites for him to participate at public events, even though he continued to meet with intimate friends and family.

He continued to be somewhat involved in world events. He traveled to the United States to address the NAACP and the Brookings Institution about the importance of providing economic support to Africa, and in 2005 he established the Nelson Mandela Legacy Trust. He met then-senator Barack Obama and had conversations with US Senator Hillary Clinton and President George W. Bush. Mandela also urged Robert Mugabe, the president of Zimbabwe, to step down due to the nation’s increasing violations of human rights. When it failed, Obama openly criticized Mugabe in 2007 and demanded that he resign “with residual respect and a modicum of dignity.”

In order to provide their knowledge and independent leadership to some of the most difficult issues facing the globe, Desmond Tutu, Machel, and Mandela brought together a group of international leaders in Johannesburg that year. 89-year-old Nelson Mandela made the announcement of the creation of The Elders in a speech.

On July 18, 2008, the nation celebrated Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday, and a memorial concert was organized in London’s Hyde Park. Mandela remained an ANC supporter during Mbeki’s presidency, frequently overshadowing Mbeki at public functions they attended together. Though the Nelson Mandela Foundation was displeased when Mandela’s grandson, Mandla Mandela, took him to an anti-Zuma demonstration in the Eastern Cape during a storm in 2009, Mandela felt more comfortable with Mbeki’s successor, Zuma.

A decade after apartheid ended, Mandela declared in 2004 that there would be “few better gifts for us” when South Africa hosted the FIFA World Cup. His effort was successful. Due to his poor health, Mandela kept a low profile during the tournament, although he made his farewell public appearance during the World Cup closing ceremony, receiving a standing ovation. Mandela and his family became involved in a number of court battles between 2005 and 2013 over money kept in family trusts for the benefit of his heirs.

While Mandela was being treated for a lung illness in a Pretoria hospital in the middle of 2013, his heirs were embroiled in a court battle within the family about where Mandela’s children should be buried and eventually, Mandela himself.

2011–2013 Sickness and Death

After receiving international attention for a brief stay in the hospital in February 2011 due to a respiratory illness, Mandela was readmitted in December 2012 for the excision of a gallstone and a lung infection. His lung illness returned in early March 2013, following a successful medical operation, and he spent a brief period in a Pretoria hospital.

His lung infection became more severe in June 2013, and he was readmitted to a Pretoria hospital in critical condition. The next day, Zuma canceled his journey to Mozambique to meet Mandela, and instead, Cape Town Archbishop Thabo Makgoba visited him in the hospital and shared a prayer with Machel. Mandela was released from the hospital in September 2013, but his health didn’t improve.

At the age of 95, Mandela passed away on December 5, 2013, at his Houghton home, accompanied by his family, at about 20:50 local time, following a protracted respiratory ailment. On television, Zuma made his death publicly known. He declared ten days of national mourning, a memorial ceremony to be held on December 10, 2013, at Johannesburg’s FNB Stadium, and December 8 as a national day of prayer and meditation. A formal funeral for Nelson Mandela took place in Qunu on December 15 after his body was on display at the Union Buildings in Pretoria from December 11 to December 13. To attend mourning activities, some ninety foreign state leaders traveled to South Africa.

Later, it came to light that the burial had been paid for using 300 million rand (about $20 million) that had been initially designated for humanitarian development programs. Tributes and memories of Mandela were all over the media, and tribute photos quickly spread on social media. He left his widow, other family members, employees, and educational institutions with a US$4.1 million inheritance.

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