Life of Nelson Mandela
After his release from prison in 1990, Nelson Mandela switched to a policy of reconciliation and cordial relations and tried to eradicate multi-racial discrimination through negotiations and peace talks. Since his pursual of this cause and end of apartheid, he became a well known personality even admired by his opponents.
Not only in South Africa, but also all over the world, Nelson Mandela became a symbol of freedom and equality for people suffering from apartheid, even though he was much criticized and condemned by the governments of various countries. Not only this, but he and the African National Congress were also called as communists and terrorists. However, he took all this in stride and never let this criticism overcome his mission of fighting racial discrimination and apartheid.
Leaving Fort Hare after his involvement in university politics, he was told by Jongintaba, his adoptive father that he would be getting married shortly. However, he had no interest in marriage and fled his home for Johannesburg. After reaching Johannesburg, Mandela first found employment in a mine as a guard. However, when the employer discovered that Mandela was the runaway son of the king, he was terminated. Later he joined a law firm as an articled clerk and completed his B.A from the University of South Africa via correspondence and later on studied law at University of Witwatersrand.
It was in 1943 that he joined the African National Congress, first as an activist, then as the founder and president of the Youth League. After the 1948 elections in which the Afrikaner-dominated National Party won with its apartheid policy of racial discrimination, Mandela became a prominent member of ANC's 1952 Defiance Campaign and the 1955 Congress of the People who were working for the anti-apartheid cause following the Freedom Charter.
Along with his work for the African National Congress, Mandela was also operating a law firm, Mandela and Tambo, with his fellow lawyer and friend Oliver Tambo and provided free or low cost legal advice to blacks who were unable to afford any other representative.
Nelson Mandela was arrested on 5th December 1956 with 150 other people on charges of treason. It was followed by the marathon Treason Trial of 1956–61 in which all the people arrested were found innocent and set free. During the period of 1952 - 59, ANC suffered disturbances as a new class of black activists known as Africanists emerged demanding rigorous measures against the government. ANC was also affected by this and decided to form alliances with small White, Coloured and Indian political parties to make the party stronger.
However, the protests against apartheid regime could not be controlled and reached their peak in 1960 when 69 blacks were shot dead in a massacre by police in Sharpeville. This brought the peaceful and non-violent movement to an end and Mandela, already the vice-president of the party, began a sabotage campaign against the government.
In the same year, ANC was outlawed. This led to Mandela’s arrest on charges of sabotage and attempts to overthrow the government. However, he stood firm in his beliefs of democracy, freedom, equality and end of discrimination against the blacks. Mandela was sent to prison for life sentence in 1964. Even though his mother and son died between 1968 and 1969, but he was not allowed to attend their funeral.
He remained poisoned on the Robben Island for 18 years; after that he was transferred to Pollsmoor Prison on the mainland in 1982. During this time, children of South Africa's black township helped the black people to survive the difficulties of the time. A large number of people were killed and injured bringing the schoolchildren’s revolution to an end.
Finally, it was in 1980 that Oliver Tambo, Mandela’s friend launched an international campaign for his freedom while he was still in exile. In 1990, his efforts paid off and the president of that time, FW de Klerk lifted the ban on ANC and Mandela was released.
