$1,000,000
Nelson Mandela
Net Worth
Born in (City)
Mvezo
Born in (Country)
South Africa
Date of Birth
18th December, 1918
Date of Death
05th December, 2013
Mother
Nosekeni Nonqaphi
Father
Gadla Henry Mphakanyiswa Mandela
Children
- Madiba Thembekile Mandela (d)
- Makaziwe Mandela (d)
- Magkatho Lewanika Mandela (d)
- Pumla Makaziwe Mandela
- Zenani Dlamini
- Zindzi Mandela
About
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, a political leader and a philanthropist who served as the President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was also the first person to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. His government focused on dismantling the legacy of apartheid by tackling institutionalized racism and fostering racial reconciliation. Ideologically an African nationalist and socialist, he served as the president of the African National Congress (ANC) party as well from 1991 to 1997. Economically, Mandela's administration retained its predecessor's liberal framework despite his own socialist beliefs, also introducing measures to encourage land reform, combat poverty and expand healthcare services.
Early Life
Mandela was born on 18 July 1918 in Mvezo, Umtata, Transkei, South Africa. He had thirteen siblings by the same father, and two mothers. His parents were Gadla Henry Mphakanyiswa and Nosekeni Nonqaphi. His given name was Rolihlahla, a Xhosa name meaning troublemaker. He was a member of the Thembu royal family. On his first day of school, he was given the name Nelson by his teacher Miss Mdingane. In Africa, giving children English names was a custom among Africans during that period. Aged 16, he and several other boys travelled to Tyhalarha to undergo the ulwaluko circumcision ritual that symbolically marked their transition from boys to men; afterwards he was given the name Dalibunga. Intending to gain skills needed to become a privy councillor for the Thembu royal house, in 1933 Mandela began his secondary education at Clarkebury Methodist High School in Engcobo, a Western-style institution that was the largest school for black Africans in Thembuland. He completed his Junior Certificate in two years, and in 1937 moved to Healdtown, the Methodist college in Fort Beaufort attended by most Thembu royalty, including Justice. In 1939 Mandela began work on a BA degree at the University of Fort Hare, an elite black institution in Alice, Eastern Cape. There he studied English, anthropology, politics, native administration, and Roman Dutch law in his first year, desiring to become an interpreter or clerk in the Native Affairs Department. He helped to find a first-year students' house committee which challenged the dominance of the second-years, and at the end of his first year became involved in a Students' Representative Council (SRC) boycott against the quality of food, for which he was suspended from the university; he never returned to complete his degree.
Road to Success
In 1944, Mandela helped start the African National Congress Youth League. He wanted to lead South Africa to freedom without violence, such as how his fellow ANC member Mahatma Gandhi did, but the government started killing and hurting protesters. A trial, also known as Rivonia Trial, put Mandela on trial because of his involvement in sabotage and violence in 1962. He was sentenced to life in prison, after being transferred to multiple prisons, and was released out of the Victor Verster Prison after 26.5 years. He left prison after de Klerk removed a ban on the African National Congress. He ordered Mandela’s release. He then received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993, with former State President of South Africa, Frederik Willem de Klerk. Mandela won the general election in April 1994. His inauguration was in Pretoria on 10 May 1994. Many people around the world saw his inauguration on television. The event had 4000 guests, including world leaders from different backgrounds as he became the first South African President elected in a completely democratic election. As South Africa’s first black President, Mandela became head of the Government of National Unity which was under control of the African National Congress (or ANC). The ANC had no knowledge in politics, but had representatives from the National Party and Inkatha. Mandela moved into the presidential office at Tuynhuys in Cape Town. He would settle into the nearby Westbrooke Manor. Westbrooke was renamed Genadendal. Preserving his Houghton home, he also had a house built in his home village of Qunu. He visited Qunu regularly, walking around the area, meeting with local people who lived there, and judging tribal problems.
Challenges
Mandela rose up against apartheid and called upon all South Africans to join him. He was arrested and imprisoned for 27 years for fighting for freedom where he had to leave his family. Mr. Mandela's greatest problem as president was the housing shortage for the poor, and slum townships continued to blight major cities. Mandela also received criticism for failing to sufficiently combat crime; South Africa had one of the world's highest crime rates, and the activities of international crime syndicates in the country grew significantly throughout the decade. Mandela's administration was also perceived as having failed to deal with the problem of corruption. Further problems were caused by the exodus of thousands of skilled white South Africans from the country, who were escaping the increasing crime rates, higher taxes, and the impact of positive discrimination toward blacks in employment. This exodus resulted in a brain drain, and Mandela criticized those who left. At the same time, South Africa experienced an influx of millions of illegal migrants from poorer parts of Africa; although public opinion toward these illegal immigrants was generally unfavorable.
Failures
The main changes brought about for a new small black South African elite, and the majority of black South Africans poor and still destitute, was the election of Mandela, yet Mandela accepted a disastrous International Monetary Fund plan, which basically handed over the resources of the country and the services to private companies. One of the reasons Mandela became so passionate an AIDS activist at a later point in life was because he understood how inadequate his response to the epidemic had been when he was president. When an electoral crisis in tiny Lesotho, which looks like a dot inside South Africa on a map, threatened to lead to a civil war in September 1998, Mandela quickly authorized military intervention. Though unpopular and messy—the South African forces, never completely weaned of the brutality of their past, sometimes carried out gratuitous attacks on civilians and local infrastructure—the intervention did succeed in preventing civil war.
Achievements
1979 – Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding, by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations New Delhi, India|1981- The first UK road named in his honor – "Mandela Close" – is unveiled in the London Borough of Brent|1985- Statue of Nelson Mandela erected in London by Greater London Council, unveiled by Oliver Tambo on 28 October|1986- International Peace and Freedom Award by the Workers International Centre, Stockholm Sweden|1990- "Mandela Day", a public holiday declared in Zimbabwe on 5 March|1993- Awarded Nobel Peace Prize Oslo, Norway, 10 December|1997- Mandela Family Museum opens in Soweto, 29 November|2005- Listed as one of the 100 most influential people of 2005 by Time magazine
Quotes
- Real leaders must be ready to sacrifice all for the freedom of their people.
- A fundamental concern for others in our individual and community lives would go a long way in making the world the better place we so passionately dreamt of.
- Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.
- I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.
- I cherish my own freedom dearly, but I care even more for your freedom.