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Mandela’s birth
Rolihlahla Mandela was born into the Madiba clan in the village of Mvezo, in the Eastern Cape, 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 -
Mandela’s Child Hood
In 1930, when he was 12 years old, his father died and the young Rolihlahla became a ward of Jongintaba at the Great Place in Mqhekezweni1. Hearing the elders’ stories of his ancestors’ valour during the wars of resistance, he dreamed also of making his own contribution to the freedom struggle of his people. He attended primary school in Qunu where his teacher, Miss Mdingane, gave him the name Nelson. -
Apartheid
Apartheid (“apartness” in the language of Afrikaans) was a system of legislation that upheld segregationist policies against non-white citizens of South Africa. After the National Party gained power in South Africa in 1948, its all-white government immediately began enforcing existing policies of racial segregation -
The Group Areas Act
The Group Areas Act of 1950 established residential and business sections in urban areas for each race, and members of other races were barred from living, operating businesses, or owning land in them. In practice this act and two others (1954, 1955), which became known collectively as the Land Acts, completed a process that had begun with similar Land Acts adopted in 1913 and 1936; the end result was to set aside more than 80 percent of South Africa’s land for the white minority -
Struggle Against Apartheid
The 1960s marked an important watershed in South Africa's struggle against apartheid. The aftermath of the Sharpeville Massacre, in 1960, signalled the beginning of a far more brutal and intensive phase of state repression that would crush internal resistance in the space of a few years. -
Grand Apartheid
The new policy of 'Grand Apartheid,' as a massive social engineering project, created ethnically defined 'Bantustans' (or 'Homelands') out of the 'Reserve's carved out by the 1913 Land Act. Between 1960 and 1985, approximately 3.5 million Africans were forcibly removed to the State created 'homelands.' -
A Historical Day
The 27 April 1994 was a historical day, when South Africa’s first democratic elections were held and everyone was given the right to vote regardless of their race. The ANC won the elections and Mandela, as its leader, became the first democratically elected president. -
Mandela’s Death
On 5 December 2013, Nelson Mandela, the first President of South Africa to be elected in a fully representative democratic election, as well as the country's first black head of state, died at the age of 95 after suffering from a prolonged respiratory infection.
