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Birth
Mandela was born Rolihlahla Mandela into the Madiba clan in Mvezo. His parents were Nonqaphi Nosekeni and Nkosi Mphakanyiswa Gadla Mandela. -
Attends primary school near Qunu (receives the name ‘Nelson’ from a teacher)
Miss Mdingane gave him the name Nelson, in accordance with the custom to give all school children “Christian” names. -
Death of his father
HIs father died when Mandela was only 12 years old. He became a ward of Jongintaba, the Acting King of the Thembu people, at the Great Place in Mqhekezweni -
Completes BA through the University of South Africa (UNISA)
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Graduates with BA from Fort Hare and enrols for an LLB at Wits University
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Co-founds the ANC Youth League (ANCYL)
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Marriage
Married Evelyn Mase, a nurse. Had two sons and two daughters. They were seperated in 1955 and offically divorced in 1958. -
Elected national secretary of the ANCYL
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Elected President of the ANCYL
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Mandela moves underground
Nelson Mandela moves underground and began planning a national strike for 29, 30 and 31 March. In the face of massive mobilisation of state security, the strike was called off early -
Nelson Mandela was arrested in a countrywide police swoop.
This event led to the 1956 Treason Trial. Mandela was found not guily on 29 March 1961. -
Marriage Round 2
Mandela married a social worker by the name of Winnie Madikizela.They had two daughters but was devorced in 1996. -
The Sharpeville Massacre
The police killed 69 unarmed people in a protest against the pass laws held at Sharpeville. This led to the country’s first state of emergency and the banning of the ANC and the Pan Africanist Congress on 8 April. Nelson Mandela and his colleagues in the Treason Trial were among thousands detained during the state of emergency. -
He lead the armed struggle and helped to establish the Umkhonto weSizwe (Spear of the Nation).
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Leaving Africa
He took the fake name of David Motsamayi and secretly left South Africa. He traveled around Africa and even visited England to gain support for the armed struggles. He had military training in Morocco and Ethiopia and returned to South Africa in July 1962. He was arrested in a police roadblock outside Howick on 5 August while returning from KwaZulu-Natal where he briefed ANC President Chief Albert Luthuli about his trip. -
The Rivonia Trail
Nelson Mandela joined ten others on trial for sabotage and conspiracy. -
His Mother died.
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Imprisonment
Mandela was transferred to Pollsmoor Prison in Cape Town with Sisulu, Mhlaba and Mlangeni. Later, Kathrada join them in October. -
He was diagnosed with tuberculosis.
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Imprisonment
After more than three months in two hospitals, he was transferred to a house at Victor Verster Prison near Paarl where he spent his last 14 months of imprisonment. -
Elected ANC President
Mandela immersed himself in official talks to end white minority rule and in 1991 was elected ANC President to replace his ailing friend Oliver Tambo. -
He and President FW de Klerk jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize
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He was inaugurated South Africa’s first democratically elected President
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He stepped down after one term as President to stay true to his promise.
He continued to work with the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund that he set up in 1995 and established the Nelson Mandela Foundation and The Mandela Rhodes Foundation. -
He dies at his home in Johannesburg.
He dies at his home in Johannesburg. -
He and Oliver Tambo established South Africa’s first black law firm, Mandela and Tambo.