Nelson Mandela

Personal: Birth date: July 18, 1918

Birth place: Mvezo, Transkei, South Africa.

Birth name: Rolihlahla Dalibhunga Mandela

Father: Gadla Henry Mphakanyiswa, a counselor to the royal house of the Thembu tribe

Mother: Nosekeni Fanny Mandela

Education: University of South Africa, law degree, 1942

Nelson Mandela - Timeline

1941-1943 - Mandela meets Walter Sislu who helps him get a job at the law firm of Witkin, Sidelsky, and Eidelman.

1944 - Joins the African National Congress and helps found the ANC Youth League.

1951 - Becomes president of the ANC Youth League.

1952 - Opens the first black law partnership in South Africa with friend Oliver Tambo.

1952 - Leads the newly launched [ANC] Campaign for the Defiance of Unjust Laws, a program of nonviolent mass resistance.

July 1952 - Mandela is charged with violating the Suppression of Communism Act.

December 5, 1956 - Mandela is among 156 resistance leaders arrested and charged with high treason.

March 21, 1960 - In Sharpeville, police fire upon protestors challenging apartheid laws; 69 people are killed.

April 8, 1960 - The ANC is banned nine days after Mandela is arrested and the government imposes a state of emergency after the events in Sharpeville.

March 29, 1961 - Mandela and all co-defendants are found not guilty of treason.

June 1961 - Mandela begins organizing the armed struggle against apartheid Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nations). He travels in Africa and Europe studying guerrilla warfare.

August 5, 1962 - Is arrested on charges of inciting workers to strike and leaving the country without valid travel documents. Mandela represents himself at trial.

November 7, 1962 - Is sentenced to prison, five years hard labor.

June 12, 1964 - Is sentenced to life in prison for four counts of sabotage. Convicted and sentenced with Mandela are Walter Sisulu, Ahmed Kathrada, Govan Mbeki, Denis Goldberg and others.

1980 - The Johannesburg Sunday Post leads a campaign to free Mandela. A petition demanding his and other ANC prisoners' release is printed in the newspaper.

1982- Is transferred to Pollsmoor Maximum Security Prison after 18 years on Robben Island.

1988 - Is transferred to Victor Verster Prison.

July 5, 1989 - Meets with President P.W. Botha.

August 15, 1989 - Botha resigns as president and head of the National Party. F.W. de Klerk replaces him and begins dismantling apartheid.

December 13, 1989 - Mandela and de Klerk meet for the first time

 

February 11, 1990 - Mandela is released from prison after more than 27 years.

1990 - Embarks on a world tour, visiting Margaret Thatcher, the US Congress, and President George H.W. Bush.

July 1991 - Mandela is elected president of the ANC.

1993 - Mandela and de Klerk share the Nobel Peace Prize.

April 29, 1994 - Elected the first black president of the Republic of South Africa in the first open election in the country's history.

May 10, 1994 - Mandela is inaugurated.

June 1999 -Resigns Office of President

1999 - Establishes the Nelson Mandela Foundation 

January 19, 2000 - Addresses the United Nations Security Council, appealing for help in ending the brutal civil war between ethnic Hutus and Tutsis in Burundi.

July 25, 2001 - Announces that he has prostate cancer and is undergoing treatment.

1) Served as the 1st President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999 elected in a fully representative democratic election(born 18 July 1918)

2) Was the first South African President to be elected in a fully representative Democratic Election

3) Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC)
4) On August 5,1962 he was arrested and convicted of sabotage and other charges, and sentenced to life in prison. Mandela served 27 years in prison, spending many of these years on Robben Island(where he remained for the next 18 of his 27 years in prison) and released from prison on 11 February 1990

                                                  Nelson Mandela's prison cell on Robben Island

 5)In March 1982 Mandela was transferred from Robben Island to Pollsmoor Prison along with other senior ANC leaders.
6)In February 1985 President P W Botha offered Mandela his freedom on condition that he 'unconditionally rejected violence as a political weapon'.Mandela indeed spurned the offer, releasing a statement via his daughter Zindzi saying "What freedom am I being offered while the organisation of the people remains banned? Only free men can negotiate. A prisoner cannot enter into contracts."
7)In 1988 Mandela was moved to Victor Verster Prison and would remain there until his release.
8) Throughout Mandela's imprisonment, local and international pressure mounted on the South African government to release him, under the resounding slogan Free Nelson Mandela!
9) In 1989, South Africa reached a crossroads when Botha suffered a stroke and was replaced as president by Frederik Willem de klerk who announced Mandela's release in February 1990.
10) On 2 February 1990, President Frederik Willem de klerk reversed the ban on the ANC and other anti-apartheid organisations, and announced that Mandela would shortly be released from prison.
11) Mandela was released from Victor Verster Prison on 11 February 1990. The event was broadcast live all over the world.“Nelson Mandela's historic 1990 walk to freedom -

                                                                                                

 

  

Giant Statue of Nelson Mandela at Nelson Mandela Square in Johannesburg