Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela: 1918 - 2013.

On December 5th 2013 (5/12/13) Nelson Mandela died peacefully in his sleep at his home in Johannesburg, South Africa at the age of 95. As with the assassination of John F Kennedy and the September 11th terrorist attacks this is one of those moments that you will always remember where you were when you heard the news. However this is not the first such world stopping moment that Mandela provided us with. That came on February 11th 1990 (11/2/90) when he was finally released from prison. I vividly remember that moment but being only 8 years old my main memory is of being very annoyed that the cartoons had been cancelled so we could watch this old man walk along a road. Since then though I've come to learn that Mandela was truly important.

Born in 1918 Mandela was born into a world white men were considered superior to all and black men were considered to be the lowest of the low. This was true to the extent that the Methodist missionaries who schooled Mandela decided that his given name Rolihlahla simply wasn't up to their standards so re-named him Nelson. Throughout the 1920's and 1930's this belief in racial superiority dominated with Germany's Nazis taking it to it's natural conclusion with the holocaust during which the 'inferior' races were simply exterminated. During the holocaust the Nazis also carried out a range of horrific medical experiments to prove their 'science' of eugenics. Fortunately though all the Nazis achieved was to completely disprove their theories.

So from the 1940's onwards this belief in racial superiority began to die out in most parts of the world. Everywhere that is except Mandela's South Africa which continued to insist on the innate superiority of white people over blacks and operated a system of apartheid to keep whites, coloureds and blacks apart in all areas of life such as employment, housing and even public bathrooms. Being both a black man and clever enough to qualify as a lawyer before the introduction of apartheid Mandela obviously objected to this and joined the African National Congress (ANC) which was set up to resist apartheid. Mandela eventually became a member of the ANC's national executive committee in 1950.


On March 21st 1960 (21/3/60) as part of the ANC's peaceful campaign against apartheid some 7000, mainly black, protesters gathered outside a police station in the Township of Sharpeville. The all white police officers responded to this by opening fire on the crowd killing 69 people in just 40 seconds. Later becoming known as the Sharpeville massacre this highlighted to Mandela and others that peaceful protest and civil disobedience simply would not be enough to end apartheid. So on March 26th  1961 (26/3/61) Mandela formed the "Spear of the Nation" (MK) group which was a guerrilla force based heavily on the tactics used by Che Guevara.

Over the following year the MK carried out multiple acts of sabotage against military buildings and government infrastructure including 57 co-ordinated bombings on Dingane's Day 1961 (16/12/61). Although the South African government had already declared the ANC to be an illegal organisation jailing many of its leaders including Mandela it took a very hard line with the MK and 1962 Mandela and 9 others were arrested on charges of sabotage and attempting to overthrow the government. Initially the Judge threw out the case but the government simply tried again and following what became known as the Rivonia trial 9 of the 10, including Mandela, were convicted in June 1964 and sentenced to life in prison very narrowly escaping the death penalty.

Mandela spent the first 18 years of his prison sentence in Robben Island where the forced labour permanently damaged his lungs leading to him contracting tuberculosis and the glare of the sunlight permanently damaged his eyesight. From that prison cell where he was often kept in solitary confinement Mandela continued to play a leading role in the anti-apartheid struggle helping to keep it on just the right side of Communism and the just the right side of terrorism to be acceptable to western liberals. That campaign grew into the first and largest worldwide political campaign in history with people across the world protesting against the South African government, boycotting companies that traded with South Africa and many nations imposing sanctions on the South African government.

Due to that world wide campaign and the prisoners own protests Mandela was moved to Pollsmoor Prison alongside other jailed ANC leaders in 1982. Taking advantage of the improved conditions in Pollsmoor Mandela began to negotiate directly with the South African President P.W Botha. With South Africa being crippled by international sanctions and being driven to the point of civil war with violent protests being crushed ever more violently by the police Botha offered to release Mandela in 1985 on the condition that Mandela gave up on his struggle. Mandela refused.

With the Cold War coming to an end and it becoming possible for western powers to drop their support for the South African government who - on a continent where the Cold War was often a real life shooting war - were massively strategically important Mandela was moved again to the comparatively luxurious Victor Verster prison in 1988. Finally being afforded the comforts befitting a man of his stature from prison Mandela successfully negotiated with South African President F.W de Klerk first for his own release and then the dismantling of the apartheid system.

Following his release in 1990 Mandela set about transitioning South Africa from apartheid rule to democratic rule. This was without doubt his greatest achievement. Firstly he resisted calls from many in the ANC to set up a socialist style government that would have seen South Africa's natural resources nationalised. He also resisted calls for white owned property to be seized and given to blacks as reparations as Robert Mugabe had done so disastrously in neighbouring Zimbabwe. Mandela also managed to keep the peace as South Africa was rocked by a series of massacres carried out by both supporters of apartheid and rivals to the ANC. Finally Mandela resisted calls for members of the apartheid regime to be tried and punished for their role in numerous atrocities instead setting up truth and reconciliation committees which allowed for people to admit to their crimes and be forgiven.

On May 10th 1994 (10/5/94) Mandela took up office as the first black President of South Africa following the first election in which all South Africans had been allowed to vote regardless of race. Aged 81 Mandela stepped down as President on June 14th 1999 following a hugely successful single term. After his retirement from politics Mandela remarried and set up the 46664 campaign against HIV/AIDS and the Nelson Mandela Foundation to combat HIV/AIDS, rural poverty and a lack on educational opportunity.

Tomorrow he finally gets to go home.


21:50 on 14/12/13 (UK date).