Mandela, Nelson (1918–)

The man who would eventually become the first president of a truly democratic South Africa was born in rural Transkei in 1918. Close to Xhosa royalty, he received a privileged education at a mission school and then at the South African Native College at Fort Hare. Although modest in size and facilities, Fort Hare had become an academic center for the nation's African population. It attracted the academic elite as well as many with radical political ideas.

In 1941, Nelson Mandela left Fort Hare for Johannesburg. He worked as a clerk in a progressive [Page 415]white law firm while pursing his legal education at the University of Witwatersrand. He gradually was drawn into increasing political activism within the contexts of the South African Communist Party and the African National Congress (ANC). Mandela, at this point and later, pursed principles, not a party line. As a result, he did not adhere to any single group's agenda, and he sought allies in his emerging crusade on behalf of black South Africans wherever he might find them, including in white liberal circles.

A government crackdown on the activities of the ANC led to Mandela's arrest and trial for treason. The trial was lengthy. During its years, Mandela continued his radical activism under the pseudonym “The Black Pimpernel” and tried to broker the disagreement over tactics that would split what was now the anti-apartheid movement into the ANC and the more violent Pan African Congress. The Sharpeville demonstrations in 1960 hardened government attitudes, and Mandela, although acquitted in the lengthy treason trial, was arrested and convicted of inciting a riot in 1962 and was again arrested and convicted of sabotage and attempting to overthrow the state in 1963. In June 1964, Mandela began serving his life sentence on Robben Island.

“Free Mandela” became a rallying cry of antiapartheid activists globally as his imprisonment became a symbol of South Africa's oppression of its nonwhite population. In 1980, the United Nations Security Council called for his release. With external pressure against South Africa mounting, discussions began between Mandela and Presidents P. W. Botha and F. W. de Klerk. In early 1990, Mandela was released. He then assumed ANC party office and embarked on a speaking tour of 14 foreign nations. Upon his return, tense discussions began between the ruling National Party and the ANC, culminating in the National Peace Accord of 1991. For their work brokering this accord, Mandela and de Klerk were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.

In April 1994, Mandela was elected president of South Africa. He served for 5 years, during which he traveled widely in South Africa and abroad and spoke to a wide variety of audiences.