Biography of Nelson Rolihlala Mandela

Nelson Mandela Rolihlala was born 18th July 1918, in Qunu in Transkei. At age seven, he become the first in his family who came to the school, where a Methodist teacher gave him the English name "Nelson". His father, Henry Gadla Mphakanyiswa , died of a lung disease because Nelson was 9 years old while he attended a Wesleyan mission school at the royal palace. After Xhosa -custom, he was consecrated at the age of 16 years and began to walk on Clarkebury Boarding Institute (Clarkebury boarding school) where he learned about Western culture. He completed his Junior Certificate in two years against the usual three. As 19-year old in 1937, Mandela moved to Wesleyan College in Fort Beaufort which most royal of Thembu tribe went and took an interest in boxing and running. After being enrolled, he began an undergraduate degree at Fort Hare University, where he met Oliver Tambo, who became a friend and colleague for life. At the end of his first year he became involved in Students' Representative Council (Student Council) boycott of the university's rules and was asked to leave Fort Hare. He went to Johannesburg where he completed his undergraduate degree at the University of South Africa (UNISA) via correspondence and then began to study law at Wits University. As a young law student, Mandela became involved in political opposition to the white minority regime's denial of political, social and economic rights to the black majority. He joined the African National Congress (ANC) in 1942 and founded its more dynamic Youth League (Youth League) two years later together with Walter Sisulu , Oliver Tambo and others. After the Afrikaner -dominated National Party election victory in 1948 with an apartheid -program containing racial segregation , Mandela was a prominent figure in the ANC's Defiance Campaign (Despite Campaign) in 1952 and Congress of the People (People's Congress) in 1955 , whose adoption of the Freedom Charter, the anti-apartheid -the fundamental program. Although they initially supported a non-violent struggle and was acquitted in the marathon Treason Trial of one thousand nine hundred and fifty-six - 1961 , accepted Mandela and his colleagues the necessity of armed struggle after the shooting of unarmed protesters at Sharpeville in March 1960 and the subsequent banning of the ANC and other anti- apartheid groups. In 1961, Mandela became the leader of the ANC's armed wing Umkhonto we Sizwe ("Spear of the Nation, or MK). In August 1962 he was arrested and jailed for five years for illegal travel abroad and incitement to strike. In June 1964 he was convicted again, this time in life , for his involvement in planning armed struggle. He arrived as a prisoner number 466 the year 1964, and was therefore given prisoner number 46664 . After having refused to be freed in return for renouncing armed struggle (February 1985), Mandela remained in prison until February 1990 , when sustained ANC campaigning and international pressure led to his release on the 11th February at the behest of President FW de Klerk and the ending of the ban on the ANC. Mandela and de Klerk shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 . As president of the ANC (July 1991 - December 1997) and the first black president of South Africa (May 1994 - June 1999 ), Mandela presided over the transition from minority rule and apartheid, winning international respect for his advocacy of national and international reconciliation. Some radicals were disappointed with the social achievements of his reign, particularly the government's inefficiency in trying to impede the spread of AIDS. Mandela was also criticized for his close friendship with dictators like Cuba's Fidel Castro and Libya's Muammar Al Qadhafi , whom he called "brothers in arms". His decision to commit South African troops to defeat the 1998 coup in Lesotho is also a controversial topic. Mandela has been married three times. His first marriage to Evelyn Ntoko Mase ended in divorce in 1957 after 13 years and 2 children. He had a 38-year marriage to Winnie Madikizela , who he was separated (April 1992 ) and divorce (March 1996 ) from, among other things because of political disagreement. On his 80-year birthday, he married Graca Machel, widow of Samora Machel , the former president of Mozambique and the ANC's allies, who had been killed in a plane crash 15 years earlier. Privacy and the relationships between children, children children and wife from the third marriage has since been the subject of publicity. Supervisors Laden, the parties disagree on how to divide, and it meant that parts of the family boycotted Mandela's 90 birthday. When he retired in 1999 as president, Mandela became the spokesman for various social and human rights organizations. He received many foreign honors, among them the Order of St. John from Queen Elizabeth II and the Presidential Medal of Freedom by George W. Bush. He is one of only two persons of non-Indian origin (Mother Teresa being the other) who have received the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honor, 1990. In 2003, Mandela made some controversial speeches; he attacked the Bush administration's foreign policy. Later that year he supported the 46664 AIDS fundraising campaign, named after his prison number.