Biography of Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela was born on July 18, 1918 in Mvezo, South Africa. His
birth name is Rolihlahla. He got the nickname Nelson from a teacher in
school. His mother was Nonqaphi Nosekeni and his father was Nkosi
Mphakanyiswa Gadla Mandela, principal counsellor to the Acting King of
the Thembu people, Jongintaba Dalindyebo. In 1930, when he was 12
years old, his father died and the young Rolihlahla became a ward of
Jongintaba at the Great Place in Mqhekezweni1.
Hearing the elders’ stories of his ancestors’ valour during the wars of
resistance, he dreamed also of making his own contribution to the freedom
struggle of his people.
He attended primary school in Qunuwhere his teacher, Miss Mdingane,
gave him the name Nelson, in accordance with the custom of giving all
schoolchildren “Christian” names.
He completed his Junior Certificate at Clarkebury Boarding Institute and
went on to Healdtown, a Wesleyan secondary school of some repute,
where he matriculated.
Mandela began his studies for a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University
College of Fort Hare but did not complete the degree there as he was
expelled for joining in a student protest.
On his return to the Great Place at Mqhekezweni the King was furious and
said if he didn’t return to Fort Hare he would arrange wives for him and his
cousin Justice. They ran away to Johannesburg instead, arriving there in
1941. There he worked as a mine security officer and after meeting Walter
Sisulu, an estate agent, he was introduced to Lazer Sidelsky. He then did
his articles through a firm of attorneys – Witkin, Eidelman and Sidelsky.
He completed his BA through the University of South Africa and went back
to Fort Hare for his graduation in 1943.

Nelson Mandela (top row, second from left) on the steps of Wits University.
(Image: © Wits University Archives)

Meanwhile, he began studying for an LLB at the University of the

Witwatersrand. By his own admission he was a poor student and left the
university in 1952 without graduating. He only started studying again
through the University of London after his imprisonment in 1962 but also
did not complete that degree.
In 1989, while in the last months of his imprisonment, he obtained an LLB
through the University of South Africa. He graduated in absentia at a
ceremony in Cape Town.

Entering politics
Mandela, while increasingly politically involved from 1942, only joined the
African National Congress in 1944 when he helped to form the ANC Youth
League (ANCYL).
In 1944 he married Walter Sisulu’s cousin, Evelyn Mase, a nurse. They had
two sons, Madiba Thembekile "Thembi" and Makgatho, and two daughters
both called Makaziwe, the first of whom died in infancy. He and his wife
divorced in 1958.
Mandela rose through the ranks of the ANCYL and through its efforts, the
ANC adopted a more radical mass-based policy, the Programme of Action,
in 1949.

Nelson Mandela on the roof of Kholvad House in 1953.

(Image: © Herbert Shore, courtesy of the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation)

In 1952 he was chosen as the National Volunteer-in-Chief of the Defiance

Campaign with Maulvi Cachalia as his deputy. This campaign of civil
disobedience against six unjust laws was a joint programme between the
ANC and the South African Indian Congress. He and 19 others were
charged under the Suppression of Communism Act for their part in the
campaign and sentenced to nine months of hard labour, suspended for two
years.
A two-year diploma in law on top of his BA allowed Mandela to practise
law, and in August 1952 he and Oliver Tambo established South Africa’s
first black law firm, Mandela & Tambo.
At the end of 1952 he was banned for the first time. As a restricted person
he was only permitted to watch in secret as the Freedom Charter was
adopted in Kliptown on 26 June 1955.

The Treason Trial

Mandela was arrested in a countrywide police swoop on 5 December 1956,
which led to the 1956 Treason Trial. Men and women of all races found
themselves in the dock in the marathon trial that only ended when the last
28 accused, including Mandela, were acquitted on 29 March 1961.
On 21 March 1960 police killed 69 unarmed people in a protest in
Sharpeville against the pass laws. This led to the country’s first state of
emergency and the banning of the ANC and the Pan Africanist Congress
(PAC) on 8 April. Mandela and his colleagues in the Treason Trial were
among thousands detained during the state of emergency.
During the trial Mandela married a social worker, Winnie Madikizela, on 14
June 1958. They had two daughters, Zenani and Zindziswa. The couple
divorced in 1996.
Days before the end of the Treason Trial, Mandela travelled to
Pietermaritzburg to speak at the All-in Africa Conference, which resolved
that he should write to Prime Minister Verwoerd requesting a national
convention on a non-racial constitution, and to warn that should he not
agree there would be a national strike against South Africa becoming a
republic. After he and his colleagues were acquitted in the Treason Trial,
Mandela went underground and began planning a national strike for 29, 30
and 31 March.
In the face of massive mobilisation of state security the strike was called off
early. In June 1961 he was asked to lead the armed struggle and helped to
establish Umkhonto weSizwe (Spear of the Nation), which launched on 16
December 1961 with a series of explosions.
On 11 January 1962, using the adopted name David Motsamayi, Mandela
secretly left South Africa. He travelled around Africa and visited England to
gain support for the armed struggle. He received military training in
Morocco and Ethiopia and returned to South Africa in July 1962. He was
arrested in a police roadblock outside Howick on 5 August while returning
from KwaZulu-Natal, where he had briefed ANC President Chief Albert
Luthuli about his trip.
He was charged with leaving the country without a permit and inciting
workers to strike. He was convicted and sentenced to five years'
imprisonment, which he began serving at the Pretoria Local Prison. On 27
May 1963 he was transferred to Robben Island and returned to Pretoria on
12 June. Within a month police raided Liliesleaf, a secret hideout in
Rivonia, Johannesburg, used by ANC and Communist Party activists, and
several of his comrades were arrested.
On 9 October 1963 Mandela joined 10 others on trial for sabotage in what
became known as the Rivonia Trial. While facing the death penalty his
words to the court at the end of his famous "Speech from the Dock" on 20
April 1964 became immortalised:
“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
live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is
an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if
needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to
die. ”Speech from the Dock quote by Nelson Mandela on
20 April 1964
On 11 June 1964 Mandela and seven other accused, Walter Sisulu, Ahmed
Kathrada, Govan Mbeki, Raymond Mhlaba, Denis Goldberg, Elias
Motsoaledi and Andrew Mlangeni, were convicted and the next day were
sentenced to life imprisonment. Goldberg was sent to Pretoria Prison
because he was white, while the others went to Robben Island.
Mandela’s mother died in 1968 and his eldest son, Thembi, in 1969. He
was not allowed to attend their funerals.
On 31 March 1982 Mandela was transferred to Pollsmoor Prison in Cape
Town with Sisulu, Mhlaba and Mlangeni. Kathrada joined them in October.
When he returned to the prison in November 1985 after prostate surgery,
Mandela was held alone. Justice Minister Kobie Coetsee visited him in
hospital. Later Mandela initiated talks about an ultimate meeting between
the apartheid government and the ANC.

A picture captured during a rare visit from his comrades at Victor Verster Prison.
(Image: © National Archives of South Africa)

Release from prison

On 12 August 1988 he was taken to hospital where he was diagnosed with
tuberculosis. After more than three months in two hospitals he was
transferred on 7 December 1988 to a house at Victor Verster Prison near
Paarl where he spent his last 14 months of imprisonment. He was released
from its gates on Sunday 11 February 1990, nine days after the unbanning
of the ANC and the PAC and nearly four months after the release of his
remaining Rivonia comrades. Throughout his imprisonment he had rejected
at least three conditional offers of release.
Mandela immersed himself in official talks to end white minority rule and in
1991 was elected ANC President to replace his ailing friend, Oliver Tambo.
In 1993 he and President FW de Klerk jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize
and on 27 April 1994 he voted for the first time in his life.

President
On 10 May 1994 he was inaugurated as South Africa’s first democratically
elected President. On his 80th birthday in 1998 he married Graça Machel,
his third wife.
True to his promise, Mandela stepped down in 1999 after one term as
President. He continued to work with the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund
he set up in 1995 and established the Nelson Mandela Foundation and The
Mandela Rhodes Foundation.
In April 2007 his grandson, Mandla Mandela, was installed as head of the
Mvezo Traditional Council at a ceremony at the Mvezo Great Place.
Nelson Mandela never wavered in his devotion to democracy, equality and
learning. Despite terrible provocation, he never answered racism with
racism. His life is an inspiration to all who are oppressed and deprived; and
to all who are opposed to oppression and deprivation.
He died at his home in Johannesburg on 5 December 2013.
Rolihlahla Mandela dilahirkan ke dalam klan Madiba di desa Mvezo, di Eastern Cape, pada
18 Juli 1918. Ibunya adalah Nonqaphi Nosekeni dan ayahnya adalah Nkosi Mphakanyiswa
Gadla Mandela, penasihat utama untuk Penjabat Raja orang Thembu, Jongintaba
Dalindyebo. Pada 1930, ketika dia berusia 12 tahun, ayahnya meninggal dan Rolihlahla
muda menjadi bangsal Jongintaba di Great Place di Mqhekezweni1. Mendengar kisah para
tetua tentang keberanian leluhurnya selama perang perlawanan, ia juga bermimpi untuk
membuat kontribusinya sendiri dalam perjuangan kemerdekaan rakyatnya. Dia menghadiri
sekolah dasar di Qunu mana gurunya, Miss Mdingane, memberinya nama Nelson, sesuai
dengan kebiasaan memberikan semua nama sekolah "Kristen" kepada anak sekolah. Dia
menyelesaikan Sertifikat Junior-nya di Clarkebury Boarding Institute dan pergi ke
Healdtown, sebuah sekolah menengah Wesleyan bereputasi, di mana dia matriculated.
Mandela memulai studinya untuk gelar Bachelor of Arts di University College of Fort Hare
tetapi tidak menyelesaikan gelar di sana karena ia dikeluarkan karena bergabung dalam
protes mahasiswa. Sekembalinya ke Tempat Hebat di Mqhekezweni, Raja sangat marah
dan berkata jika dia tidak kembali ke Fort Hare, dia akan mengatur istri untuknya dan
Keadilan sepupunya. Mereka lari ke Johannesburg sebagai gantinya, tiba di sana pada
tahun 1941. Di sana ia bekerja sebagai petugas keamanan tambang dan setelah bertemu
Walter Sisulu, seorang agen perumahan, ia diperkenalkan ke Lazer Sidelsky. Dia kemudian
melakukan artikelnya melalui biro hukum - Witkin, Eidelman dan Sidelsky. Dia
menyelesaikan gelar BA-nya melalui Universitas Afrika Selatan dan kembali ke Fort Hare
untuk lulus pada tahun 1943.

Sementara itu, ia mulai belajar untuk LLB di Universitas Witwatersrand. Dengan

pengakuannya sendiri, ia adalah seorang siswa yang miskin dan meninggalkan universitas
pada tahun 1952 tanpa lulus. Dia hanya mulai belajar lagi melalui Universitas London
setelah dipenjara pada tahun 1962 tetapi juga tidak menyelesaikan gelar itu. Pada tahun
1989, ketika dalam bulan-bulan terakhir penahanannya, ia memperoleh gelar LLB melalui
Universitas Afrika Selatan. Dia lulus in absentia di sebuah upacara di Cape Town.
Memasuki politik Mandela, sementara semakin terlibat secara politis dari tahun 1942, hanya
bergabung dengan Kongres Nasional Afrika pada tahun 1944 ketika ia membantu
membentuk Liga Pemuda ANC (ANCYL). Pada tahun 1944 ia menikahi sepupu Walter
Sisulu, Evelyn Mase, seorang perawat. Mereka memiliki dua putra, Madiba Thembekile
"Thembi" dan Makgatho, dan dua putri keduanya disebut Makaziwe, yang pertama
meninggal pada masa bayi. Dia dan istrinya bercerai pada tahun 1958. Mandela naik melalui
jajaran ANCYL dan melalui upayanya, ANC mengadopsi kebijakan berbasis massa yang
lebih radikal, Program of Action, pada tahun 1949.
Pada tahun 1952 ia terpilih sebagai Kepala Sukarelawan Nasional Kampanye
Pembangkangan dengan Maulvi Cachalia sebagai wakilnya. Kampanye pembangkangan
sipil terhadap enam hukum yang tidak adil ini merupakan program bersama antara ANC
dan Kongres India Afrika Selatan. Dia dan 19 orang lainnya didakwa di bawah Undang-
Undang Penindasan Komunisme atas peran mereka dalam kampanye dan dihukum
sembilan bulan kerja paksa, ditangguhkan selama dua tahun. Diploma dua tahun dalam
bidang hukum di atas BA-nya memungkinkan Mandela untuk praktik hukum, dan pada
Agustus 1952 ia dan Oliver Tambo mendirikan firma hukum kulit hitam pertama di Afrika
Selatan, Mandela & Tambo. Pada akhir 1952 ia dilarang untuk pertama kalinya. Sebagai
orang yang dibatasi ia hanya diizinkan untuk menonton secara rahasia ketika Piagam
Kebebasan diadopsi di Kliptown pada tanggal 26 Juni 1955.
Pengadilan Pengkhianatan Mandela ditangkap dalam gerakan polisi di seluruh negeri pada
5 Desember 1956, yang mengarah ke Pengadilan Treason 1956. Pria dan wanita dari
semua ras mendapati diri mereka di dermaga dalam persidangan maraton yang baru
berakhir ketika 28 terdakwa terakhir, termasuk Mandela, dibebaskan pada 29 Maret 1961.
Pada 21 Maret 1960 polisi menewaskan 69 orang tidak bersenjata dalam sebuah protes di
Sharpeville melawan undang-undang izin. Ini mengarah pada keadaan darurat pertama
negara itu dan pelarangan ANC dan Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) pada 8 April. Mandela
dan rekan-rekannya dalam Pengadilan Treason ada di antara ribuan yang ditahan selama
keadaan darurat. Selama persidangan Mandela menikah dengan seorang pekerja sosial,
Winnie Madikizela, pada 14 Juni 1958. Mereka memiliki dua anak perempuan, Zenani dan
Zindziswa. Pasangan itu bercerai pada 1996. Beberapa hari sebelum akhir Pengadilan
Pengkhianatan, Mandela melakukan perjalanan ke Pietermaritzburg untuk berbicara di
Konferensi All-in Africa, yang memutuskan bahwa ia harus menulis surat kepada Perdana
Menteri Verwoerd meminta konvensi nasional tentang konstitusi non-rasial, dan untuk
memperingatkan bahwa ia harus tidak setuju akan ada pemogokan nasional terhadap Afrika
Selatan menjadi republik. Setelah dia dan rekan-rekannya dibebaskan di Pengadilan
Treason, Mandela pergi ke bawah tanah dan mulai merencanakan pemogokan nasional
untuk 29, 30 dan 31 Maret. Dalam menghadapi mobilisasi besar-besaran keamanan negara
pemogokan dibatalkan sejak dini. Pada Juni 1961 ia diminta untuk memimpin perjuangan
bersenjata dan membantu mendirikan Umkhonto weSizwe (Tombak Bangsa), yang
diluncurkan pada 16 Desember 1961 dengan serangkaian ledakan. Pada 11 Januari 1962,
menggunakan nama adopsi David Motsamayi, Mandela diam-diam meninggalkan Afrika
Selatan. Dia berkeliling Afrika dan mengunjungi Inggris untuk mendapatkan dukungan bagi
perjuangan bersenjata. Dia menerima pelatihan militer di Maroko dan Ethiopia dan kembali
ke Afrika Selatan pada Juli 1962. Dia ditangkap di sebuah penghalang jalan polisi di luar
Howick pada 5 Agustus ketika kembali dari KwaZulu-Natal, di mana dia telah memberi
pengarahan kepada Presiden ANC Ketua Albert Luthuli tentang perjalanannya.

Dia didakwa meninggalkan negara tanpa izin dan menghasut pekerja untuk mogok. Dia dihukum dan
dijatuhi hukuman penjara lima tahun, yang mulai melayani di Penjara Lokal Pretoria. Pada 27 Mei
1963 ia dipindahkan ke Pulau Robben dan kembali ke Pretoria pada 12 Juni. Dalam sebulan, polisi
menggerebek Liliesleaf, tempat persembunyian rahasia di Rivonia, Johannesburg, yang digunakan
oleh aktivis ANC dan Partai Komunis, dan beberapa rekannya ditangkap. Pada 9 Oktober 1963,
Mandela bergabung dengan 10 orang lainnya dalam persidangan untuk sabotase dalam apa yang
kemudian dikenal sebagai Pengadilan Rivonia. Saat menghadapi hukuman mati, kata-katanya di
pengadilan pada akhir pidatonya yang terkenal "Speech from the Dock" pada 20 April 1964 menjadi
diabadikan: “Saya telah berjuang melawan dominasi kulit putih, dan saya telah berjuang melawan
dominasi kulit hitam. Saya menghargai cita-cita masyarakat yang demokratis dan bebas di mana
semua orang hidup bersama secara harmonis dan dengan kesempatan yang sama. Ini adalah cita-
cita yang saya harap dapat hidup dan capai. Tetapi jika perlu, itu adalah cita-cita yang membuat saya
siap mati. ”Pidato dari kutipan Dock oleh Nelson Mandela pada 20 April 1964 Pada 11 Juni 1964
Mandela dan tujuh terdakwa lainnya, Walter Sisulu, Ahmed Kathrada, Govan Mbeki, Raymond
Mhlaba, Denis Goldberg, Elias Motsoaledi dan Andrew Mlangeni, dinyatakan bersalah dan hari
berikutnya dijatuhi hukuman penjara seumur hidup. Goldberg dikirim ke Penjara Pretoria karena ia
berkulit putih, sementara yang lain pergi ke Pulau Robben. Ibu Mandela meninggal pada tahun 1968
dan putra sulungnya, Thembi, pada tahun 1969. Dia tidak diizinkan menghadiri pemakaman mereka.
Pada 31 Maret 1982 Mandela dipindahkan ke Penjara Pollsmoor di Cape Town bersama Sisulu,
Mhlaba dan Mlangeni. Kathrada bergabung dengan mereka pada bulan Oktober. Ketika dia kembali
ke penjara pada November 1985 setelah operasi prostat, Mandela ditahan sendirian. Menteri
Kehakiman Kobie Coetsee mengunjunginya di rumah sakit. Belakangan Mandela memulai
pembicaraan tentang pertemuan pamungkas antara pemerintah apartheid dan ANC.

Bebas dari penjara Pada 12 Agustus 1988 dia dibawa ke rumah sakit tempat dia didiagnosis
menderita TBC. Setelah lebih dari tiga bulan di dua rumah sakit ia dipindahkan pada 7 Desember
1988 ke sebuah rumah di Penjara Victor Verster dekat Paarl di mana ia menghabiskan 14 bulan
terakhir di penjara. Dia dibebaskan dari gerbang pada hari Minggu 11 Februari 1990, sembilan hari
setelah pemblokiran ANC dan PAC dan hampir empat bulan setelah pembebasan kawan-kawan
Rivonia yang tersisa. Sepanjang penahanannya, dia telah menolak setidaknya tiga penawaran
pembebasan bersyarat. Mandela membenamkan dirinya dalam pembicaraan resmi untuk
mengakhiri kekuasaan minoritas kulit putih dan pada tahun 1991 terpilih sebagai Presiden ANC
untuk menggantikan temannya yang sakit, Oliver Tambo. Pada tahun 1993 dia dan Presiden FW de
Klerk bersama-sama memenangkan Hadiah Nobel Perdamaian dan pada tanggal 27 April 1994 dia
memilih untuk pertama kalinya dalam hidupnya.

Presiden Pada 10 Mei 1994 ia dilantik sebagai Presiden Afrika Selatan pertama yang terpilih secara
demokratis. Pada ulang tahunnya yang ke 80 tahun 1998, ia menikah dengan Graça Machel, istri
ketiganya. Sesuai dengan janjinya, Mandela mengundurkan diri pada tahun 1999 setelah satu masa
jabatan sebagai Presiden. Dia terus bekerja dengan Dana Anak Nelson Mandela yang didirikannya
pada tahun 1995 dan mendirikan Yayasan Nelson Mandela dan Yayasan The Mandela Rhodes. Pada
April 2007, cucunya, Mandla Mandela, diangkat sebagai kepala Dewan Tradisional Mvezo pada
sebuah upacara di Mvezo Great Place. Nelson Mandela tidak pernah goyah dalam pengabdiannya
pada demokrasi, kesetaraan, dan pembelajaran. Meskipun ada provokasi yang mengerikan, ia tidak
pernah menjawab rasisme dengan rasisme. Hidupnya adalah inspirasi bagi semua yang tertindas dan
kehilangan; dan bagi semua yang menentang penindasan dan perampasan. Dia meninggal di
rumahnya di Johannesburg pada 5 Desember 2013.

QnA

1. what is the name of nelson mandela's birth and from whom he got the nickname nelson

2. when and where he was born

3. where he learns for lbb

4. what's the name of Nelson's first wife and how many children they have

5. why was Nelson sentenced and how long was he in prison?

1. Hisbirth name is Rolihlahla. He got the nickname Nelson from a teacher

in school
2. Nelson Mandela was born on July 18, 1918 in Mvezo, South Africa.
3. he began studying for an LLB at the University of the Witwatersrand.
4. he married Walter Sisulu’s cousin, Evelyn Mase, a nurse. They had two
sons, Madiba Thembekile "Thembi" and Makgatho, and two daughters both
called Makaziwe, the first of whom died in infancy.
5. He was charged with leaving the country without a permit and inciting
workers to strike. He was convicted and sentenced to five years'
imprisonment, which he began serving at the Pretoria Local Prison