NELSON MANDELA BIBLIOGRAPHY
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela is well known for being the man who defeated apartheid system in South Africa. Mandela was a great statesman and he served as the president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. Nelson Mandela was born on 18th July 1918 in Qunu South Africa to Mr. and Mrs. Hendry Mphakanyiswa (Nelson Mandela Foundation, 2019). Mandela went to a local mission school for his primary education and was later enrolled in Wesleyan secondary school for his secondary education. He later joined the University of Fort Hare, where he studied Law. However, Mandela was expelled from the university in 1940 for leading a student demonstration. Mandela married Evelyn Mase in 1944 and they had four children together. However, the two divorced in 1958.
Nelson Mandela joined politics in 1942 while he was still studying in Johannesburg. He joined the African National Congress (ANC) in 1944 and was among the people who contributed to the creation of the party (Nelson Mandela Foundation, 2019). The African National Congress aimed at putting an end the racial segregation and injustice towards black people which was perpetrated by the National Party. In 1947, Nelson Mandela was elected as the Secretary of the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL), which had been formed in 1944. The aim of the ANCYL was to attain direct parliamentary representation and full citizenship for all South Africans. In 1952, Mandela was also elected to the NEC. In 1949, ANC adapted the Programme of Action which advocated a radical mass-based policy, civil disobedience, strikes, boycotts, and non-cooperation.
In 1952, Mandela was convicted for violating the Suppression of Communism Act due to his involvement in the Deviance Campaign. Mandela was given a suspended prison sentence and was also restricted in Johannesburg for six months where he was also prohibited from attending any gathering. Being a restricted person, Mandela was only allowed to watch secretly the adoption of Freedom Charter in Kliptown on June 26, 1955. On 5th December 1956, Nelson Mandela was arrested during a countrywide police swoop. Mandela found himself amongst other individuals who were accused of treason. The trial, famously referred to as the Treason Trail, ended in 1961 and Mandela, together with other 28 individuals, were acquitted.
On March 21, 1960, 69 unarmed people were killed by the police for protesting against discriminative laws and policies in Sharpeville. The Sharpeville massacre is currently known as the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and it is celebrated on 21st March each year. The Sharpeville Massacre brought local and international crisis for the apartheid government. The government then declared a state of emergency on the 8th April, 1960 and banned all political gatherings. The government also banned the African National Congress and the Pan Africanist Congress for organizing the action (Perrone, 2018). The two parties held a lengthy discussions and decided to go underground with armed struggle.
In 1961, ANC inspired an All-in African Conference where 1,400 delegates gathered together in Pietermaritzburg. Nelson Mandela was the main speaker and he gave an electrifying speech challenging the apartheid government to call for a national convention where all South African representatives were present (Perrone, 2018). The convention would enact a new constitution based on democratic paradigms rather than the apartheid principles. Mandela warned the delegates that failure to comply, they would compel the blacks to hold a mass general strike during the forthcoming inauguration of the Republic.
Nelson Mandela had been forced to live apart from his family and he was constantly moving from one place to another to avoid being detected by police spies and government informers. Mandela dressed differently; sometimes as a chauffeur, other times like a common laborer so as to evade the police. In 1961, Nelson Mandela and other colleagues formed the Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation, MK), with Nelson Mandela as the Commander-in-Chief. During the Rivonia trail, Mandela explained that the Umkhonto we Sizwe was formed after Mandela and his colleagues concluded that violence in South Africa was inevitable. The African leaders were preaching peace and non-violence whereas the government responded violently to their peaceful demands (Perrone, 2018). The decision to form the Umkhonto we Sizwe was reached after all channels were barred by the government. The Umkhonto we Sizwe was to adopt violence as a means of political struggle.
Mandela was arrested again in 1962 and charged with illegal exit from the country and for inciting workers to strike. He was also convicted for conspiracy against the government and high treason. In 1964, Nelson Mandela and seven others; Raymond Mhlaba, Govan Mbeki, Elias Motsoaledi, Denis Goldberg, Andrew Mlangeni, Ahmed Kathrada, and Walter Sisulu were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. Mandela with six others were sent to Robben Island while one of then was sent to Pretoria Prison because he was white. In 1982, Mandela was transferred to Cape Town where he was detained in Pollsmoor Prison. He was later transferred to Victor Verster Prison where he spent the remaining fourteen months of his sentence.
Nelson Mandela was released from Pollsmoor Prison on February 11, 1990. In 1991, Mandela was elected as the president of ANC, replacing Oliver Tambo. Mandela later met FW de Klerk and the two concluded that a compromise between Whites and Blacks would probably prevent a civil war in South Africa. In 1991, Convention for a Democratic South Africa was formed to form a new government elected by all citizens. In 1993, Nelson Mandela and de Klerk were awarded the Noble Peace Price for peaceful termination of the apartheid system (Nobel Media AB, 2019). In 1994, Mandela become the president after the first democratic elections were held. Mandela retired from politics in 1999 after serving a five year term. He passed away on December 5th, 2013 at his home in Johannesburg.
References
Nelson Mandela Foundation, (2019). Bibliography of Nelson Mandela. Retrieved from https://www.nelsonmandela.org/content/page/biography
Nobel Media AB, (2019, December 28). Nelson Mandela Bibliography. Retrieved from https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1993/mandela/bibliography/
Perrone Tommaso, (2018, July 18). Nelson Mandela, the Life and Biography of the Great Leader Century from His Birth. Retrieved from https://www.lifegate.com/people/news/nelson-mandela-biography