Nelson Mandela Biography | Introducing Ubuntu Stoicism
This is an excerpt from the book ‘Introducing Ubuntu Stoicism’. Buy it on Amazon. Order here if in South Africa — or visit your nearest bookstore.
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Born: 18 July 1918, Mvezo, Eastern Cape, South Africa.
Occupation: First President of democratic South Africa, former political prisoner, anti-apartheid activist, and warrior.
Died: 5 December 2013, Houghton Estate, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Nelson Mandela was born and bred in the village of Mvezo in the Eastern Cape (former Cape Province).
His father, Gadla Henry Mphakanyiswa Mandela, was a chief and councillor to the Thembu Kingdom monarchy.
Nelson Mandela described his upbringing as filled with traditional Xhosa custom and taboo.
He attended a Methodist school, and was given the name Nelson by a teacher.
In 1939, he went to study for a Bachelor of Arts degree at Fort Hare University, with backing from the Thembu monarch King Jongintaba Mtirara Dalindyebo.
He also took up drama and ballroom dancing.
He became involved in student politics and later was suspended for being involved in a protest.
Mandela returned home to a displeased King Jongintaba. The king organised wives for him and his cousin Justice Mtirara, as custom allowed. This perhaps would have threatened his return to Fort Hare.
The two fled to Johannesburg in 1941, where he got work as a mine security officer.
In 1944 he joined the anti-apartheid party, the African National Congress (ANC). The ANC had been the ruling majority party since democracy in 1994.
He went back to school, completed his BA, and served articles with a law firm. Later, he pursued an LLB at Wits University. He did not complete it and left in 1952. It was only in 1989 that he completed it while in prison.
He achieved a two-year diploma in law, and with it, along with the late anti-apartheid struggle stalwart, Oliver Reginald Tambo, founded South Africa’s first black law firm called Mandela & Tambo in 1952.
In 1961, the ANC asked him to lead an armed struggle against apartheid. The guerrilla war wing of the ANC was then formed, i.e., Umkhonto WeSizwe (Spear of the Nation, MK for short).
As a result, Mandela travelled around Africa and visited England to garner support, and received military training in Morocco and Ethiopia.
In 1963 the apartheid police raided the Liliesleaf Farm in Rovonia. They found documentation that linked Mandela to plans to overthrow the government.
The trial, dubbed the ‘Rivonia Trial,’ sentenced Mandela and seven of his comrades to life imprisonment.
At the end of the trial, he gave the famous speech, “…for which I am prepared to die.”
It seems stoic-ish, doesn’t it? Well, at least me to me.
“I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.” Nelson Mandela at the end of the Rovonia Trial.
While he was in prison, the ANC continued with civil and military operations to bring the apartheid government to its knees.
The ANC, under the strategy of Oliver Tambo, used Mandela’s image in the fight against apartheid internationally. A campaign named ‘Free Nelson Mandela’ emerged — which was a huge internal acclaim.
On 11 February 1990, nine days after the unbanning of the ANC and PAC, Nelson Mandela was released from Prison. Four months earlier, his Rovonia Trail comrades were released.
He refused at least three conditional offers of release.
On 10 May 1994 he was inaugurated as South Africa’s first democratically elected President, after having spent twenty-seven years in prison.
He’s been criticised for selling out black people who were the victims of apartheid to the interests of his family, political party, and whiteness.
To me, and millions of South Africans, he is a hero. Looking at his life and the sequence of evolution — it’s easier after victory to point to the faults of brave freedom fighters. He did well for his country and people. He was brave, honest, and harsh.
