Nelson Mandela Short Biography

What Nelson Mandela, the politician and president of South Africa did, you will learn from this article.

Nelson Mandela Short Biography

Where was Nelson Mandela born?

Nelson Mandela was born on July 18, 1918 in the village of Mfezo, in South Africa, in the family of a member of the Privy Council of the Tembu tribe. He had 3 brothers and 9 sisters. He was named Holilal at birth, but when he went to school, an English teacher gave him a new English name. So Nelson Mandela appeared.

When he was 7 years old, the family moved to the village of Tsgunu. And 2 years later, Nelson's father died. While studying at school and college, Mandela became addicted to running and boxing, which he did until the end of his life. At 21, he was enrolled at Fort Har University, but the future president studied there for only a year.

In 1941, Mandela moved to Johannesburg and first got a job as a guard at the mine, later a junior clerk in a law office. In parallel with his work, Nelson graduated in absentia from the University of South Africa with a bachelor’s degree in humanities. After he entered the Faculty of Law at the University of Witwatersrand, where he met with his future ministers - Harry Schwartz and Joe Slovo. As a student, he took an active part in the meetings of intellectuals of the African National Congress and various rallies. In 1948, Mandela took over as chief secretary of the National Afrikaners Party, and later became president of the Youth League at the African National Congress. The activist organizes a campaign to disobey the government and in 1955 convened a Congress of the free people. Thus began his political career.

Nelson Mandela what is famous for?

He has a long way to go as president of South Africa. He was the first to create a law office providing free services for black people and compile a list of principles of the society of the Republic of South Africa. The Freedom Charter, written by him, will become the main document in the course of a non-violent struggle against the apartheid regime.

Realizing that nothing could be achieved peacefully, Nelson created a radical organization called Umkonto ve sisve. Members of the group staged bombings of military and government targets. For organizing strikes, Nelson Mandela was sentenced to 5 years in prison in the fall of 1962. Soon, new charges were brought against him, and the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment. In prison, the statesman was 27 years old. But it was during this time that he became a world celebrity - the slogan “Freedom to Nelson Mandela” was published in the foreign press. The dark-skinned wrestler even managed to graduate from the University of London in absentia, having received a bachelor's degree in law.

Since the mid-80s, the government decided to compromise with Nelson Mandela: he was offered freedom if he refuses to fight against apartheid. But the leader did not agree. Only with the coming to power of Frederick Willem de Klerk in 1989, the ban on the African National Congress was lifted and Mandela was released.

After leaving prison, he began a fight against the government. Thanks to his efforts, in 1994 the first ever democratic elections were held in South Africa. And Nelson Mandela, with more votes, became the first black president of South Africa.

During the presidential term, he achieved a lot - free education for children under 14 years old, free medical care for pregnant women and children, increased subsidies for rural residents, introduced laws on land, equality in employment, and the level of qualifications of workers. The Government of Mandela has carried out large-scale work on electrification, telephone installation, construction of clinics, residential buildings and hospitals.

In 1999, Nelson Mandela resigned and took up the fight against the spread of AIDS. He got open coverage of this problem in South Africa, which is today the leader in the number of deaths from this ailment.

Nelson Mandela's life was filled not only with government activities. He wrote a number of publications and an autobiography - “I am ready for death”, “The long road to freedom”, “Conversations with oneself”, “Fighting is my life”.

In the summer of 2013, the figure goes to the hospital, the old prison pulmonary disease worsened. Here he stayed until September. His condition was stably critical. In November, Mandela's health deteriorated significantly and the former president was connected to an artificial respiration apparatus. Despite the efforts of doctors, the inevitable happened: the day + when Nelson Mandela died is December 5, 2013. He was 95 years old.

Personal life of Nelson Mandela

The President of South Africa was married three times. He first married Evelyn Makaziva in 1944. 4 children were born in the marriage - the daughters of Makaziv Mandela, Pumla Makaziva and the sons of Magkaho Levanik and Madib Tembekile. They broke up in 1958. The second wife was Vinnie Dlamini, with whom he was married in 1958. She gave birth to 2 more daughters, Zinji and Zenani. The last companion of life was Grassa Machel. They got married in 1998.