NELSON MANDELA BIOGRAPHY

Rolihlahla Mandela normally known as Nelson Mandela was born into the Madiba can in the village of Mvezo, Transkei, on 18 July 1918. His mother was Nonqaphi Nosekeni and his father was Nkosi Mphakanyiswa Gadla Mandela, principal Counsellor to the Acting King of the Thembu people, Jongintaba Dalindyebo.

            In 1930, when he was 12 years old, his father died and the young Rolinhlahla became a ward of Jongintaba at the Great Place in Mqhekezweni. Hearing the elders

‘Of his ancestors’ valour during the wars of resistance, he dreamed also of making his own contribution to freedom struggle of his people.

            He attended primary school in Qunu where his teacher Miss Mdingane gave him the name “Nelson”, in accordance with the custom to give all school children “Christian” names.

He completed his Junior Certificate at Clarkebury Boarding Institute and went on to Healdtown, a Wesleyan secondary school of some repute, where he matriculated.

            Nelson Mandela began his studies for a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University College of Fort Hare but did not complete the degree there as he was expelled for joining in a student protest.

            On his return to the Great Place at Mqhekezweni the King was furious and said if he didn’t return to Fort Hare he would arrange wives for him and his cousin justice. They ran away to Johannesburg instead, arriving there in 1941. There he worked as a mine security officer and after meeting Walter Sisulu, an estate agent, he was introduced to Lazer Sidelsky. He then did his articles through a firm of attorneys, Witkin Eidelman and Sidelsky.

            He completed his BA through the University of South Africa and went back to Fort Hare for his graduation in 1943. Meanwhile he began studying for an LLB at the University of the Witwatersrand. By his own admission he was a poor student and left the university in 1952 without graduating. He only started studying again through the University of London after his imprisonment in 1962 but also did not complete that degree.

In 1989, while in the last months of his imprisonment, he obtained an LLB through the University of South Africa. He graduated in absentia at a ceremony in Cape Town.

            Nelson Mandela, while increasingly politically involved from 1942, only joined the African National Congress in 1944 when he helped to form the ANC Youth League. In 1944, he married Walter Sisulu’s cousin Evelyn Mase, a nurse. They had sons, Madiba Themekile “Thembi” and Makgatho and two daughters both called Makaziwe, the first of whom died in infancy. He and his wife divorced in 1958.

            Nelson Mandela rose through the ranks of the ANCYL and through its efforts; the ANC adopted a more radical mass-based policy, the Programme of Action in 1949. In 1952, he was chosen at the National Volunteer-in-Chief of the Defiance Campaign with Maulvi Cachalia as his deputy.