Mandela’s 90th Birthday Stamp issue date: 15 July 2008 Rolihlahla Mandela was born on 18 July 1918 at Mvezo in the Transkei, South Africa, to Nosekeni Fanny and Gadla Henry Mphakanyiswa (Chief Counsellor to the Chief of the Thembu clan). (The name Rolihlahla means “troublemaker”.) He was given the name ‘Nelson’ by his first school teacher Miss Mdingane and the name ‘Dalibhunga’ after his traditional initiation in 1934. He was later often addressed as ‘Madiba’ (the name of his clan) out of respect and affection. Nelson Mandela was educated at the Qunu School, the Clarkebury Boarding Institute, Healdtown College at Fort Beaufort, the University College of Fort Hare, and the University of the Witwatersrand. He also studied by correspondence through the University of South Africa (Unisa) and the University of London. He joined the African National Congress (ANC) in 1943 and co-founded the ANC Youth League in 1944. In the same year he married Evelyn Ntoko Mase. They had four children: Thembekile; Makaziwe (who died at nine months); Makgatho and Makaziwe. In 1958 they divorced and Mandela married Winnie Madikizela. They had two children, Zenani and Zindzi. They divorced in 1996 and in 1998, on his 80th birthday, Mandela married Graça Machel. Mandela has 18 grandchildren, six great-grandchildren and three step-grandchildren. Mandela was elected national secretary of the ANC Youth League in 1948 and its president in 1951. In December 1953, he and Oliver Tambo opened South Africa’s first black law firm. The ANC was banned in 1960 and only legalised 30 years later. One of the cases in which Mandela was an accused was the 1956 Treason Trial which lasted almost five years. He was acquitted in 1961 and went underground. A founder and leader of the ANC’s armed wing, Umkhonto weSizwe (Spear of the Nation) which launched on 16 December 1961, Mandela was arrested on 5 August 1962. He was charged with incitement and for leaving the country without a passport and sentenced to five years in jail. He was sent to Robben Island but was taken to Pretoria to stand trial for sabotage in the Rivonia Trial. On 11 June 1964 Mandela and seven of his comrades were convicted and the next day sentenced to life imprisonment. Mandela was held on Robben Island for 18 years, at Pollsmoor Prison for six years and the final period of his imprisonment was at Victor Verster Prison in Paarl. Mandela had served 27 years in prison when President FW de Klerk freed him on 11 February 1990. He was elected ANC President the following year. Mandela was 75 years old when he voted for the first time in his life on 27 April 1994. On 10 May that year he was sworn in as South Africa’s first democratically elected president. He served one term before stepping down in February 1999. He retired from public life in June 2004. He formed the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund in 1995 to “change the way society treats its children and youth” and the Nelson Mandela Foundation was established in 1999. Through the Centre of Memory and Dialogue, the Foundation contributes to the making of a just society by promoting the vision, values and work of its Founder and convening dialogue around critical social issues. The Nelson Mandela Foundation launched the 46664 HIV/AIDS awareness programme in 2002. Using his prison number 466/64, it aims to inspire individual and collective action towards an AIDS free world. The Mandela Rhodes Foundation was started in 2003 to build exceptional leadership capacity in Africa through its various leadership development and leadership training programmes. Mandela has received more than 200 South African and international honours, including the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993, the Order of Merit and the Order of St. John from Queen Elizabeth II and the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George W. Bush. “The growth, consolidation and sustained health of our democracy are the responsibilities not only of leaders, but of each and every citizen.” – Nelson Mandela. www.nelsonmandela.org |