Nelson Mandela – Former President of South Africa, Early Life, Career, Net worth, Age, Nationality, State of Origin
Nelson Mandela was a Black nationalist and the first Black president of South Africa (1994–1999). He was born in Mvezo, South Africa, on July 18, 1918, and passed away in Johannesburg on December 5, 2013. His discussions with South African President F.W. de Klerk early in the 1990s contributed to the abolition of the nation’s apartheid system of racial segregation and the orderly transition to majority rule. In recognition of their efforts, Mandela and de Klerk shared the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize.
Early life and work
Chief Henry Mandela of the Madiba clan of the Xhosa-speaking Tembu people was the father of Nelson Mandela. Young Nelson was raised by Jongintaba, the Tembu regent, following the death of his father. Nelson gave up his chieftainship in order to practice law. He studied law at the University of the Witwatersrand, where he later passed the qualifying exam to become a lawyer, and attended South African Native College, which later became the University of Fort Hare. He joined the Black liberation organization African National Congress (ANC) in 1944 and rose to the position of Youth League leader. He married Evelyn Ntoko Mase in the same year that he met her. Later on, Mandela held additional ANC leadership roles, which allowed him to support the organization’s revitalisation
Together with fellow ANC leader Oliver Tambo, Mandela founded South Africa’s first Black legal practice in 1952 in Johannesburg, focusing on cases arising from the post-1948 apartheid laws. Mandela also had a significant role in the inception of the defiance movement against South Africa’s pass laws, which mandated that non-white people carry documents—also referred to as passes, pass books, or reference books—that permitted them to enter areas the government considered to be “restricted” (i.e., typically reserved for the white population). As part of the campaign, he toured the nation in an effort to increase support for peaceful protests against the discriminatory laws. He contributed to the Freedom Charter’s drafting in 1955, which called for nonracial social democracy in South Africa.
Mandela was frequently singled out by the government due to his anti-apartheid activities. He was sporadically prohibited (severely restricted in travel, association, and speech) beginning in 1952. He was detained in December 1956 along with over a hundred others on treasonous charges intended to intimidate anti-apartheid campaigners. In the same year, Mandela was put on trial and ultimately found not guilty in 1961. His first wife was divorced during the protracted legal proceedings, and he later wed Nomzamo Winifred Madikizela (also known as Winnie Madikizela-Mandela).
