Today Nelson Mandela is acclaimed as one of the greatest personalities of our times. He belongs to that category of men who have graced our civilization with their personal charisma and noble contributions.
His life long fight for the cause of freedom in South Africa and its eventual success will be written in golden letters in the annals of history. His entire life epitomises man’s unquenchable thirst for freedom.
Nelson Mandela was born in the year 1918 in rural Umata Transkei, South Africa. His father was the chief adviser of Tembu ruler. After the death of his father in 1930, Nelson Mandela was sent to live with the chief of Tembu Nation. However, in his late teens, Nelson Mandela renounced his hereditary rights to the chiefdom and took up college studies.
During the period of college studies he came into contact with modern principles of freedom, liberty, democracy, equality, political rights, etc. He was deeply distressed to see the sufferings of his fellow Africans, who were no better than slaves under the British, who had occupied their country since 1652.Their cruel oppression of his people broke his heart and Nelson Mandela infused with the ideals of liberty and democracy took up the cause of national freedom as a student and joined the African National Congress (ANC), a small organisation which had been set up on similar lines as the Indian National Congress in India. Within a few years Nelson Mandela became its foremost leader and spokesman.
ANC challenged the racist political system of apartheid, in which black Africans were legally discriminated against, in all walks of life. ANC under Nelson Mandela’s leadership organised labour strikes and nationwide protests and demonstrations against apartheid during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s.
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