Nelson Mandela

Created by: Steffie
Created on: 09-10-15 13:50

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Nelson Mandela
- Background
  - Mandela grew up in the company of tribal elders and chiefs, which gave him a rich sense of African self-government and heritage.
  - Mandela (1918-2013) was born in a small village in the southeastern region of South Africa called the Transkei
  - Deeply influenced by his early education in Methodist church schools.
- ANC
  - In 1944 Mandela joined the African National Congress (ANC)
    - Became one of the ANC's younger and more radical leaders as a member of the ANC's Youth League. He became president of the league in 1951.
    - Between 1951 and 1960 younger antiapartheid activists (protesters), including Mandela, were coming to the view that nonviolent demonstrations against apartheid did not work.
  - In 1952 Mandela's leadership of ANC protest activities led to a nine-month jail sentence.
    - Later, in 1956, he was arrested with other ANC leaders for promoting resistance to South Africa's "pass laws" that prevented blacks from moving freely in the country.
    - Mandela was charged with treason in 1961 but the charges against him and others collapsed.
  - Mandela appointed honorary leader of All-African National Action Council. and later became head ofUmkhonto weSizwe (the Spear of the Nation), a militant ANC organization which used sabotage.
- Key Events and Other
  - Mandela was again arrested, this time for leaving South Africa illegally and for inciting strikes -- sentenced to five years in jail
    - The following year he was tried with other leaders of Umkhonto weSizwe on a charge of high treason, following a government raid of the group's secret headquarters.
      - Mandela was given a life sentence, which he began serving in the maximum security prison on South Africa's Robben Island.
        Twenty-seven years Mandela spent in prison
        
        Public discussion of Mandela was illegal, and he was allowed few visitors. Increasingly viewed internationally as a martyr.
  - In 1988 protest had spread, and international pressures for the end of apartheid were increasing.
    - South Africa was isolated as a racist state. It was against this backdrop that F. W. de Klerk, the president of South Africa, finally responded to the calls from around the world to release Mandela.
  - On February 11, 1990, Mandela walked out of prison.
  - In 1991 he assumed the presidency of the ANC, which had been given legal status again by the government.
  - Civil war averted: Both Mandela and deKlerk realized that only a compromise between whites and blacks could prevent civil war in South Africa.
  - In late 1991, a multiparty Convention for a Democratic South Africa met to establish a new, democratic government that gave people of all colors rights to determine the country's future.
    - 1993 peace prize for negotiations
    - In September 1992, the two leaders signed a document that created a freely elected constitutional assembly to draft a new constitution and to act as a transition government.
    - On April 27, 1994, the first free elections open to all South African citizens were held. The ANC won over sixty-two percent of the popular vote, and Mandela was elected president
- Presidency
  - Mandela's skill at building compromise and his enormous personal authority helped him lead the transition to democracy.
  - Lincolnesque: Backed the establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission which offered amnesty to those who had committed crimes during the apartheid era.
- Post presidency
  - Mandela retired in June 1999, choosing not to challenge Thabo Mbeki, his vice president, in elections.
  - Mbeki won the election for the ANC and was inaugurated as president on June 16, 1999.
  - Mandela quickly took on the role of statesman after leaving office, acting that year as a mediator in the peace process in Burundi, where a civil war had led to the killing of thousands.[Image 5: Victory! A free Mandela before adoring crowds] 9

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Nelson Mandela

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