Nelson mandela biography leadership newspaper
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Nelson Mandela's life and times
His father, a counsellor to the Thembu royal family, died when Nelson Mandela was nine, and he was placed in the care of the acting regent of the Thembu people, chief Jongintaba Dalindyebo.
In 1941, aged 23, he ran away from an arranged marriage and went to Johannesburg.
Two years later, he enrolled for a law degree at the mainly white Witswaterand University, where he met people from all races and backgrounds. He was exposed to liberal, radical and Africanist thought, as well as racism and discrimination, which fuelled his passion for politics.
The same year, he joined the African National Congress (ANC) and later co-founded the ANC Youth League.
He married his first wife, Evelyn Mase, in 1944. They were divorced in 1958 after having four children.
Mr Mandela qualified as a lawyer and in 1952 opened a law practice in Johannesburg with his partner, Oliver Tambo.
Together, Mr Mandela and Mr Tambo campaigned against apartheid, the system devised by the all-white National Party which oppressed the black majority.
In 1956, Mr Mandela was charged with high treason, along with 155 other activists, but the charges against him were dropped after a four-year trial.
Resistance to apartheid grew, mainly against the new Pass Laws, which dict
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The story of Nelson Mandela The story of Nelson Mandela
Why did Mandela go to prison?
Mandela went to prison because he opposed South Africa’s apartheid laws.
Apartheid means “apartness” in the Afrikaans language. Apartheid laws separated South Africans into four different racial categories: “white/European,” “black,” “coloured (people of mixed race),” or “Indian/Asian.” White people – 15 percent of the South African population – stood at the top of society, wielding power and wealth. Black South Africans – 80 percent of the population – were relegated to the very bottom.
Many South Africans defied apartheid. Tactics included civil disobedience campaigns, national strikes and boycotts. Nelson Mandela joined this struggle in the 1940s as a young lawyer. By the 1950s, he had become an important leader in the struggle against apartheid.
The South African government responded to demands for equality and freedom with repression and violence. They shot and killed unarmed demonstrators and detained and arrested many others.
Defiance of apartheid had started peacefully, but Mandela now believed that armed struggle was the only way forward. He and others formed an armed resistance group called Umkhonto weSizwe (“Spear of the Nati