It’s no longer news that Nelson Mandela died on the night of
December 5, 2013, but what people do not really know is the life story of this
legend and how he lived it. Julia Blaise
Blog (JBB) gathered a little information on how he lived. He was born
Rolihlahla Mandela in a small village in the Eastern Cape of South Africa in
July 18, 1918. He jined the African National Congress (ANC) in1944, and married
his first wife Evelyn Mase in1948.
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In 1952, he was sentenced to nine months hard labour,
suspended for two years, for civil disobedience campaign against apartheid. In 1958,
he was charged with high treason as part of a round-up of 156 activists. He
divorced Evelyn Mase and married social worker Winnie Madikizela in 1959.
In 1961, Mandela was acquitted of treason at the culmination
of four-year trial. He went underground on the same day and was tagged, ‘The
Black Pimpernel’ by the media for his ability to evade the police.
In January 1962, he used the name David Motsamayi, to leave
the country and traveled around Africa and to England to gain support for the
struggle and returned to South Africa in July 1962. He was arrested again in
August 5, 1962 for leaving the country without a passport and inciting workers
to strike.
November 7, 1962, Mandela was convicted and jailed for five
years. In 1963, he joined 10 other activists on trial for sabotage in what was
known as the Rivonia Trial.
He was convicted and jailed for life with seven others and
sent to Robben Island in 1964. Mandela lost his mother in 1968, and his eldest
son was killed in a car crash in 1969, but he was not allowed to attend their
funerals.
In 1982, Mandela was transferred to Pollsmoor Prison in Cape
Town. He rejected President PW Botha’s offer to release him if he renounced
violence. Mandela underwent prostate surgery in 1985. In August 1988, he was
treated for tuberculosis.
After 27 years in prison, Nelson Mandela walked free from
Victor Verster Prison, and became president of the ANC in 1991.
In May 10, 1994, Mandela was sworn in as South Africa’s
first democratically elected president as the head of the Government of
National Unity. He divorced Winnie Mandela in 1998, and married Graca Machel, former
first lady of Mozambique.
He stepped down as president in 1998, as Thabo Mbeki took
over after ANC won elections. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2001 and
went through treatment. He retired from public life in 2004.
He was admitted to hospital in Johannesburg where he was
treated for a chest infection for two days in 2011, and in February 2012 he
went back to the hospital for one night with abdominal pains. In December, he
went back to hospital, this time with a lung infection. In December 2012, he had an operation to
remove gallstones. He returned to hospital with a recurrence of his lung
infection in March 2013. He went back to the hospital June 8, and on December
5, 2013, Mandela died at age 95.
8 Comments
He spent 27 yrs in prison and refused to be released on condition of denouncing his pipo. Bravo.
ReplyDeleteHe fought frm prison to prison for his people. Wat a leader?
ReplyDeleteSo he divorced twice and married 3xs. Am sure that was for a purpose
ReplyDeleteHe lived his life struggling, move frm jail to jail and gained freedom to deliver his people
ReplyDeleteHe is the mist legendary leader in africa if not the world
ReplyDeleteHe once said he's not a saint, unless you see a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying...O! Lalala!!
ReplyDeleteManela was a freedom fighter that needs to emulated in all we do
ReplyDeleteHe was the apatheid legend and can't be forgoten
ReplyDelete