Profile of nelson rolihlahla mandela history

He was convicted and sentenced to five years' imprisonment, which he began serving at the Pretoria Local Prison. 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 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 became immortalised:. Goldberg was sent to Pretoria Prison because he was white, while the others went to Robben Island. He was not allowed to attend their funerals.

Profile of nelson rolihlahla mandela history: Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was

Kathrada joined them in October. When he returned to the prison in November 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. On 12 August 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 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 Februarynine 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 was elected ANC President to replace his ailing friend, Oliver Tambo. True to his promise, Mandela stepped down in after one term as President. 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. Nelson Mandela's father died in when Mandela was 12 and his mother died in when he was in prison. Major international art exhibits have been dedicated to him and some of the most prominent writers have contributed to books for him and about him.

Even an atomic particle has been named after him. Mandela is a universal symbol of freedom and reconciliation, an icon representing the triumph of the human spirit. During his lifetime he not only dedicated himself to the struggle of the African people, but with his humility, and his spirit of forgiveness, he captured hearts and inspired people all over the world.

As South Africans, we owe it to this great champion of our nation to continue to live by his example. His Xhosa name Rolihlahla literally means "pulling the branch of a tree". After his father's death inthe young Rolihlahla became the ward of Chief Jongintaba Dalindyebo, the acting regent of the Thembu nation. It was at the Thembu royal homestead that his personality, values and political views were shaped.

Hearing the elders' stories of his ancestors' valour during the wars of resistance to colonialism, he dreamed also of making his own contribution to the freedom struggle of his people. After receiving his primary education at a local mission school, where he was given the name Nelson, he was sent to the Clarkebury Boarding Institute for his Junior Certificate and then to Healdtown, a reputable Wesleyan secondary school, where he matriculated.

He was suspended from college for joining a protest boycott, along with Oliver Tambo. Shortly after his return to the royal homestead, he and his cousin, Justice, ran away to Johannesburg to avoid arranged marriages and for a short period he worked as a mine policeman. Mandela was introduced to Walter Sisulu in and it was Sisulu who arranged for him to serve his articles at Lazar Sidelsky's law firm.

Profile of nelson rolihlahla mandela history: Rolihlahla Mandela was born

Completing his BA through the University of South Africa Unisa inhe commenced study for his Bachelor of Laws Degree shortly afterwards though he left the University of the Witwatersrand without graduating in Starting out with 60 members, all of whom were residing around the Witwatersrand, these young people set themselves the formidable task of transforming the ANC into a more radical mass movement.

Mandela soon impressed his peers by his disciplined work and consistent effort and was elected as the league's national secretary in Spurred on by the victory of the National Party, which won the all-white elections on the platform of apartheid, at the Annual Conference, the Programme of Action, inspired by the Youth League, which advocated the weapons of boycott, strike, civil disobedience and non-cooperation, was accepted as official ANC policy.

The Defiance Campaign was conceived as a mass civil disobedience campaign that would snowball from a core of selected volunteers to involve more and more ordinary people, culminating in mass defiance. Fulfilling his responsibility as volunteer-in-chief, Mandela travelled the country, organising resistance to discriminatory legislation. Charged, with Moroka, Sisulu and 17 others, and brought to trial for his role in the campaign, the court found that Mandela and his co-accused had consistently advised their followers to adopt a peaceful course of action and to avoid all violence.

For his part in the Defiance Campaign, Mandela was convicted of contravening the Suppression of Communism Act and given a suspended prison sentence. Shortly after the campaign ended, he was also prohibited from attending gatherings and confined to Johannesburg for six months. In Decemberin partnership with Tambo, Mandela opened South Africa's first black law firm in central Johannesburg.

InMandela was given the responsibility to prepare a plan that would enable the leadership of the movement to maintain dynamic contact with its membership without recourse to public meetings. The objective was to prepare for the possibility that the ANC would, like the Communist Party, be declared illegal and to ensure that the organisation would be able to operate from underground.

This was the M-Plan, named after him. During the early s, Mandela played an important part in leading the resistance to the Western Areas removals, and to the introduction of Bantu Education. Mandela had to go underground, to avoid arrest. Mandela and Walter Sisulu travelled the country in secret arranging the specifics of the strike. Mandela nicknamed the Black Pimpernel at the time was a fugitive for almost a year and a half.

After large police roll-out on the strikers, Mandela called the strike off on the second day. He explained to the conference why Umkhonto we Sizwe had to make their initial attacks. On his trip, he got guerrilla training in Algeria and travelled to London where he met with leaders of British opposition parties. Mandela was tried in Pretoria's Old Synagogue and in November sentenced to five years' imprisonment for incitement and illegally leaving the country.

He began this sentence in Pretoria Central Prison. Police found documents relating to the manufacture of explosives, Mandela's diary of his African tour and copies of a draft memorandum - 'Operation Mayibuye' - which outlined a possible strategy of guerrilla struggle. In October Mandela was brought from jail to join the other eight accused on trial for sabotage, conspiracy to overthrow the government by revolution, and assisting an armed invasion of South Africa by foreign troops.

Mandela's statement from the dock was, "I am Prepared to Die" which received worldwide publicity. On 12 Juneall of the accused were sentenced to life imprisonment. A lot of foreign countries put pressure on the South African government to release Mandela, who at that point was the world's most famous political prisoner. In December he met the new state president, FW de Klerk.

Profile of nelson rolihlahla mandela history: Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was.

The years following up to were very busy. He received recognition wherever he went. DuringMandela continued his programme of extensive international travel, visiting Tunisia, Libya and Morocco.