Nelson Mandela: A Revolutionary Leader Against Apartheid

This article explores the life and activism of Nelson Mandela, a South African political leader who fought against apartheid and worked towards racial reconciliation. It discusses his early life, his involvement in the African National Congress, his fight against institutionalized racism, and his presidency. It also highlights his efforts to promote gender equality and his impact on South African society.

Famous public person
Nelson Mandela

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Mr. Nelson Mandela was a South African political leader, anti apartheid revolutionary
and social philanthropist, who was born in Mvezo, Cape Province on 18th July 1918. He also
served as the President for the South Africa between time periods of 1994 to 1999. Mr. Nelson
Mandela become South Africa’s first elected governmental official though the country’s first
fully representative democratically held electoral elections and in the process also became South
Africa’s first black head of the state (Mandela, 2018). While in power as the president, Mr.
Nelson Mandela and his government focused their efforts on dismantling the past legacy of
apartheid by placing emphasis on tackling institutionalised racism within South Africa and
fostering a sense of racial reconciliation. Mr. Nelson Mandela was an ideological socialist and an
African nationalist through his entire political and social career and died on 5th December 2019,
aged 95 in Johannesburg, South Africa.
MAIN BODY
Racism or racial inequality within the society is the belief held by individuals within the
population, that humans who possess different behavioural traits based on their physical
appearance, colour of skin and are thus capable to be socially divided on the basis of superiority
of one race over that of another. This belief often results in the discrimination, prejudice or
antagonism that is directed by individuals belonging to superiorly perceived race upon the
individuals belonging to individuals of the perceived lesser race. Gender Inequality is the social
belief that is held by individuals within a population that acknowledges that women and men are
not equal on various factors and thus encourages the discrimination of one gender on the basis of
this belief in the society (Sampson, 2018). Gender discrimination is the discrimination of
individuals belonging to a particular gender simply on the basis of them belonging to that
particular gender. Both racial and gender discriminations are prevalent in human history and are
social issues that Mr. Nelson Mandela vehemently opposed and directed efforts through his
activisms, political rallies and philanthropy in order to negate and eliminate within the society of
South Africa.

Mr. Nelson Mandela was born in Mvezo in Umata part of South Africa to a royal lineage,
with his great grandfather Ngubengcuka being the king of the South African Transkeian
territories. Though being born within the royal house hold, Mr. Nelson Mandela was ineligible to
inherit the lands and titles of his family as he was the king’s child by a wife who belonged to the
so called left hand house of South Africa’s royal line called Ixhiba clan. This gives us the first
discrimination faced by Mr. Nelson Mandela based on his lineage. His father, Gadla Mandela
worked as a local chief and a councillor to the royal monarch, but was officially sacked on the
grounds of encouraging corruption. Mr. Nelson Mandela always maintained that his father was
sacked from the councillor position to the monarch because Gadla Mandela stood up for the
common people against the unreasonable demands of the magistrate. In his own words, Mr.
Nelson Mandela has stated that his father was a proud rebel with a suborn sense of fairness and
ethics, things which he definitely inherited from his family (Hamill, 2019). The name Nelson
was bestowed to him through his first teacher of a local Methodist school. Belonging to a devout
Christian family, Mr. Nelson Mandela was also raised up in traditional Christian household, with
religion becoming a significant part of his life, with Mr. Nelson Mandela along with his family
attending the church every Sunday. In his childhood, Mr. Nelson Mandela and his family didn’t
consider the European colonists as oppressors but instead considered them as benefactors who
brought to South Africa education and other benefits.
During his secondary schooling and graduation, Mr. Nelson Mandela become immensely
interested in the native African culture and history. Throughout his graduation, Mandela made
many friends, many of which belonged to the African National Congress (ANC), but did not
involve himself in any anti-imperialist movements. He was also a vocal supporter of the British
war effort during the second world war. Mr. Nelson Mandela’s first major encounter with
institutionalised racism came when he began studying law at the University of Witwatersrand
owing to being the only black African student within the institution. While studying law, Mr.
Nelson Mandela became increasingly politicised as he marched in support of the bus boycott to
reverse fare rises, joined ANC etc. In 19478, during the South African general elections, where
only white individuals of the African population were legally permitted to vote, after gaining
sufficient influence within the ANC, Mr. Nelson Mandela along with his peers began to
formulate a direct action against this institutionalised and systemic apartheid, through boycotts
and strikes.

Witnessing first hand the rampant racism within the South African society in the form of
apartheid made Mr. Nelson Mandela focus on his efforts within the ANC and he was elected as
the national president of the African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL). Mr. Nelson
Mandela conducted a protest against institutionalised apartheid and the white minority rule, but
was outvoted despite his valiant efforts. This led to Mr. Nelson Mandela rejecting the Africanism
ideology and embracing the multi racial front in his fight against apartheid within South Africa.
In 1952, Mr. Nelson Mandela and ANC began a defiance campaign against the institutionalised
apartheid within South Africa in collaborations with Indian and communist groups and founded a
National Voluntary Board, with the intention to recruit volunteers for the just cause (Sayed and
Badroodien, 2017). This Defiance campaign was designed to follow on the revolutionary
protesting principles of non violent resistance pioneered by Mr. Mahatma Gandhi. The support
gathered by Mr. Nelson Mandela. With the leadership and guidance of Mr. Nelson Mandela, the
membership of ANC increased from 20,000 to 100,000 members, which resulted in mass arrests
of ANC members by the south African government introducing Public Safety Act 1953.
After various unsuccessful protests and having been arrested few times in his fight
against institutionalised racism within South Africa, Mr. Nelson Mandela concluded that non-
violent protests need to change to incorporate some actions which would help end apartheid and
white minority rule. Though his fight against systemic racism in the form of apartheid in South
Africa was quite long and results in numerous arrests by European colonists, they could not stifle
his attempts. In 1991, during the CODESA talks, Mr. Nelson Mandela and the ANC supporters
faced severe challenges and accidents, with the Bisho massacre resulting in the death of 28
supporters and 1 soldier. In order to calm the political instability within the country and calm
their citizens, the CODESA negotiations which included Mandela, concluded that a multi racial
general elections for South Africa would be held, which Mr. Nelson Mandela ended up winning
in order to become the first president of the South Africa (Meyer, 2017). During his presidency,
Mr. Nelson Mandela tried to eliminate the entire racial structure within South Africa and also
oversaw the creation of Truth and reconciliation commission as part of the South African
government, which he created with the intention to investigate al crimes which were committed
on black South African citizens under apartheid and provide justice. After the end of apartheid in
South Africa, he also met with senior figures within the post South African apartheid regime, but

chose to forgive them instead of punishing them for their crimes citing that “courageous people
do not fear forgiving, for the sake of peace”.
As the president of South Africa, Mr. Nelson Mandela also encouraged the participation
and representation of women within South Africa, with women representation increasing to 27%
in his presidency from 2.7% under the apartheid regime. Mr. Nelson Mandela as the president of
South Africa also created several laws and regulations to eliminate and decrease the sexual
violence and discrimination that were faced by South African women from the society. In
addition to these Mr. Nelson Mandela also expanded on women’s access to governmental and
social services of South Africa and introduced free prenatal and postnatal care to the women as
part of his government’s public health system. Most importantly, Mr. Nelson Mandela
constitutionalised discrimination based on gender as illegal within South Africa.
CONCLUSION
Based on the findings of the report, it can be concluded that Mr. Nelson Mandela was a
revolutionary figure that became the focal point of the anti apartheid revolution in South Africa
towards its intentions of eliminating all social and racial discrimination in the South African
society and institutions against people of colour. Mr. Nelson Mandela, for his civil and social
services towards creating a better future for all citizens of the South Africa irrespective of their
colour, race or gender, became immensely famous the world over due to his social activism,
philanthropy and leadership (Suransky and Van der Merwe, 2016). Mr. Nelson Mandela became
widely regarded in the entire world as the epitome and icon for social justice and democracy due
to his operations within South Africa. For his efforts, Mr. Nelson Mandela was also awarded the
Nobel Peace Prize and is often referred to by South African population as the Father of the
Nation of South Africa.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Hamill, J., 2019. Africa's Lost Leader: South Africa's continental role since apartheid.
Routledge.
Mandela, N., 2018. The prison letters of Nelson Mandela. Liveright Publishing.
Meyer, S., 2017. Nelson Mandela: South African President and Anti-Apartheid Activist. The
Rosen Publishing Group, Inc.
Sampson, A., 2018. Nelson Mandela: the authorised biography. Bentang Pustaka.
Sayed, Y. and Badroodien, A., 2017. The Mandela Legacy: Examined through the Shaping of
Teacher and Teacher Education Policy in the Immediate Post-Apartheid South Africa
Period (1994–1999). In Nelson Mandela (pp. 137-150). Brill Sense.
Suransky, C. and Van der Merwe, J.C., 2016. Transcending apartheid in higher education:
transforming an institutional culture. Race Ethnicity and Education. 19(3). pp.577-597.