User:Joslinj

User:Joslinj Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela Childhood: 1918–1934

Mandela was born on 18 July 1918 in the village of mvezo in Umtata, then part of South Africa’s Cape Province. Given the forename rolihlahla, a xhosa term colloquially meaning "troublemaker", in later years he became known by his clan name, madiba. His patrilineal great-grandfather, ngubengcuka, was king of the thembu people in the transkeian territories of South Africa’s modern Eastern Cape Province. One of ngubengcuka's sons, named Mandela, was nelson's grandfather and the source of his surname. Because Mandela was the king's child by a wife of the ixhiba clan, a so-called "left-hand house", the descendants of his cadet branch of the royal family were morganatic, ineligible to inherit the throne but recognized as hereditary royal councilors. Nelson Mandela’s father, gadla henry mphakanyiswa Mandela, was a local chief and councilor to the monarch; he a appointed to the position in 1915, after his predecessor was accused of corruption by a governing white magistrate. In 1926, gadla was also sacked for corruption, but nelson was told that his father had lost his job for standing up to the magistrate's unreasonable demands. A devotee of the god qamata, gadla was a polygamist with four wives, four sons and nine daughters, who lived in different villages. Nelson's mother was gadla's third wife, nosekeni fanny, daughter of nkedama of the right hand house and a member of the amampemvu clan of the Xhosa Mandela later stated that his early life was dominated by traditional Thembu custom and taboo. He grew up with two sisters in his mother's kraal in the village of Qunu, where he tended herds as a cattle-boy and spent much time outside with other boys. Both his parents were illiterate, but being a devout Christian, his mother sent him to a local Methodist school when he was about seven. Baptized a Methodist, Mandela was given the English forename of "Nelson" by his teacher. When Mandela was about nine; his father came to stay at Qunu, where he died of an undiagnosed ailment which Mandela believed to be lung disease. Feeling "cut adrift", he later said that he inherited his father's "proud rebelliousness" and "stubborn sense of fairness". Mandela's mother took him to the "Great Place" palace at Mqhekezweni, where he was entrusted to the guardianship of the Thembu regent, Chief Jongintaba Dalindyebo. Although he did not see his mother again for many years, Mandela felt that Jongintaba and his wife Noengland treated him as their own child, raising him alongside their son, Justice, and daughter, Nomafu.As Mandela attended church services every Sunday with his guardians, Christianity became a significant part of his life. He attended a Methodist mission school located next to the palace, where he studied English, Xhosa, history and geography. He developed a love of African history, listening to the tales told by elderly visitors to the palace, and was influenced by the anti-imperialist rhetoric of a visiting chief, Joyi. At the time he nevertheless considered the European colonialists not as oppressors but as benefactors who had brought education and other benefits to Southern Africa. Aged 16, he, Justice and several other boys travelled to Tyhalarha to undergo the ulwaluko circumcision ritual that symbolically marked their transition from boys to men; afterwards he was given the name Dalibunga.

CAREER

He attended primary school in Qunu where his teacher, Miss Mdingane, gave him the name Nelson, in accordance with the custom of giving all schoolchildren “Christian” names. He completed his Junior Certificate at Clarkebury Boarding Institute and went on to Healdtown, a Wesleyan secondary school of some repute, where he matriculated. Mandela began his studies for a Bachelor of Arts degree at the University College of Fort Hare but did not complete the degree there as he was expelled for joining in a student protest On his return to the Great Place at Mqhekezweni the King was furious and said if he didn’t return to Fort Hare he would arrange wives for him and his cousin Justice. They ran away to Johannesburg instead, arriving there in 1941. There he worked as a mine security officer and after meeting Walter Sisulu, an estate agent, he was introduced to Lazer Sidelsky. He then did his articles through a firm of attorneys – Witkin, Eidelman and Sidelsky. He completed his BA through the University of South Africa and went back to Fort Hare for his graduation in 1943. Meanwhile, he began studying for an LLB at the University of the Witwatersrand. By his own admission he was a poor student and left the university in 1952 without graduating. He only started studying again through the University of London after his imprisonment in 1962 but also did not complete that degree. In 1989, while in the last months of his imprisonment, he obtained an LLB through the University of South Africa. He graduated in absentia at a ceremony in Cape Town. CAREER -EARLY 2010’S

Nelson Mandela is one of the most inspiring and iconic figures of our age. Now, after a lifetime of taking pen to paper to record thoughts and events, hardships and victories, he has opened his personal archive, which offers an unprecedented insight into his remarkable life. IN 2010 0CTOBER 15 his book called conversation with myself was published Conversations with myself gives readers access to the private man behind the public figure: from letters written in the darkest hours of Mandela's twenty-seven years of imprisonment to the draft of an unfinished sequel to Long Walk to Freedom. Here he is making notes and even doodling during meetings, or recording troubled dreams on the desk calendar of his cell on Robben Island; writing journals while on the run during the anti-apartheid struggles in the early 1960s, or conversing with friends in almost seventy hours of recorded conversations. In these pages he is neither an icon nor a saint; here he is like you and me. An intimate journey from the first stirrings of his political conscience to his galvanizing role on the world stage, Conversations with Myself is a rare chance to spend time with Nelson Mandela the man, in his own voice: direct, clear, private. Introduced with a foreword by US President Barack Obama, Conversations with Myself allows for the first time unhindered insight into the human side of the icon. ENDORSEMENT

The Nelson Mandela Foundation has been forced into an embarrassing climb down over its allegation that an African leader concocted a bogus endorsement by the anti-apartheid hero. There was anger—and worldwide astonishment—when Denis Sassou- Nguesso, president of Congo-Brazzaville, published a book containing a foreword attributed to Mandela on its front cover. The foreword praised Sassou-Nguesso as “one of our great African leaders”. The Johannesburg-based foundation was quick to condemn the “brazen abuse” of 91-year-old Mandela’s name and give a strong hint of litigation. Verne Harris, its acting chief executive, said: “Mr Mandela has neither read the book nor written a foreword for it ... we will be taking appropriate action.” Strictly speaking, Harri was correct. Mandela had indeed neither read the book nor written a foreword. Sassou-Nguesso was widely mocked for outrageous chutzpah in trying to sell books. But the case was not so simple. The South African government confirmed on Friday that the words used in the foreword were Mandela’s. They were delivered by him in a speech in 1996, according to a statement from Sassou- Nguesso’s office. Human Settlements Minister Tokyo Sexwale, who was reportedly a middle-man in granting permission for the use of the words—though not as a foreword—flew to Congo-Brazzaville this week to placate Sassou-Nguesso, who was smarting at the charge of dishonesty. Sexwale, a member of the Mandela foundation board, said: “I came here to give him a message from Nelson Mandela, who regards him as a brother and a true friend.” He continued: “The message I want to state is the following—and it must be absolutely clear—the book of President Sassou is a great book, and the quotations of Mr Mandela in that book are supported by Mr Mandela himself. The publishers just made a small mistake of saying the word ‘foreword’ but the quotation stands for itself. President Sassou-Nguesso is a leader in Africa—the words that had been put by Mandela in that book are correct.”

TELEVISION

The Nelson Mandela Foundation has discovered what is probably now the first known television interview with the former freedom fighter. It seems to have been filmed during a break at the 1956 Treason Trial which lasted four-and-a-half years. Mandela was with the last group of 28 accused in the marathon trial who were acquitted on 29 March 1961. Days later he went underground until his arrest on 5 August 1962. It was previously believed the first television interview was done while Nelson Mandela was undgerorund in late May 1961. British journalist Brian Widlake was taken to his secret hide-out in Johannesburg for the interview. The recently resurfaced video was broadcast on 31 January 1961 by a Netherlands television broadcaster, AVRO. The rights holder, AVROTROS, has waived its licence fee for the Nelson Mandela Foundation and has authorised our use of it for one year. “We are excited to have this historical material of what we now we believe is the first television interview with Nelson Mandela,” said Zanele Riba, archivist in charge of audio-visual material at the Nelson Mandela Foundation. The interview was conducted at the Old Synagogue in Pretoria Which was used as a court for the Treason Trial? It was included in a programme on apartheid South Africa called Boeren en Bantoes presented by Mr GBJ Hiltermann. It is unclear who conducted the interview and the exact date was not immediately available. Among the others interviewed were Professor ZK Matthews, Ahmed Kathrada and Helen Joseph. AWARDS

This is a comprehensive list of awards, honors and other recognitions bestowed on Nelson Mandela. Mandela received more than 260 awards over 40 years, most notably the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993. From 1994 to 1999, Mandela was President of South Africa. He was the first such African to be elected in fully representative democratic polls. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist and leader of the African National Congress and its armed wing Umkhonto we Sizwe. He spent 27 years in prison, much of it in a cell on Robben Island. The rest of his incarceration was in Pollsmoor Prison, on convictions for crimes that included sabotage committed while he spearheaded the struggle against apartheid. Following his release from prison on 11 February 1990, his advocacy of a policy of reconciliation and negotiation helped lead the transition to multi-racial democracy in South Africa. Since the end of apartheid, he was widely praised, even by former opponents. Mandela died on 5 December 2013, a celebrated elder statesman who continued to voice his opinion on topical issues. In South Africa he was often known as Madiba, an aristocratic title adopted by the elderly members of the royal clan that he belongs to. This title has come to be synonymous with Nelson Mandela. • 1942 – Bachelor of Arts degree, University of South Africa • 1964 – Elected Honorary President of the Students' Union, University of Leeds REFERENCES

References Footnotes 1. Jump up^ "Mandela". Collins English Dictionary. Archivedfrom the original on 5 April 2016. Retrieved 17 December2013. 2. Jump up^ Mandela 1994, p. 3; Boehmer 2008, p. 21; Smith 2010, p. 17; Sampson 2011, p. 3. 3. Jump up^ Benson 1986, p. 16; Mandela 1994, p. 3; Smith 2010, p. 17; Meredith 2010, p. 2; Sampson 2011, p. 3. 4. Jump up^ Mandela 1994, p. 4; Lodge 2006, p. 2; Smith 2010, p. 16. 5. Jump up^ Meer 1988, p. 3; Guiloineau & Rowe 2002, p. 23; Meredith 2010, p. 1. 6. Jump up^ Guiloineau & Rowe 2002, p. 26. 7. Jump up^ Guiloineau & Rowe 2002, p. 26; Lodge 2006, p. 1; Mafela 2008, pp. 102–103. 8. Jump up^ Smith 2010, p. 19. 9. Jump up^ Mandela 1994, pp. 8–9; Smith 2010, pp. 21–22; Sampson 2011, p. 4. 10. Jump up^ Mandela 1994, p. 17; Meredith 2010, p. 1. 11. Jump up^ Benson 1986, p. 15; Mandela 1994, pp. 7–8; Smith 2010, pp. 16, 23–24; Meredith 2010, pp. 1, 3; Sampson 2011, p. 4. 12. Jump up^ Mandela 1994, p. 19. 13. Jump up^ Mandela 1994, p. 15; Meredith 2010, p. 3. 14. Jump up^ Benson 1986, p. 16; Mandela 1994, p. 12; Smith 2010, pp. 23–24; Meredith 2010, pp. 2, 4. 15. Jump up^ Mandela 1994, pp. 18–19; Lodge 2006, p. 3; Smith 2010, p. 24; Meredith 2010, pp. 2, 4–5; Sampson 2011, pp. 5,7; Forster 2014, pp. 91–92. 16. Jump up^ Mandela 1994, p. 20; Lodge 2006, p. 3; Smith 2010, p. 25; Meredith 2010, p. 5; Sampson 2011, p. 7. 17. Jump up^ Mandela 1994, pp. 8, 20. 18. Jump up^ Benson 1986, p. 17; Meer 1988, p. 4; Mandela 1994, pp. 22–25; Lodge 2006, p. 3; Smith 2010, pp. 26–27; Meredith 2010, p. 5; Sampson 2011, pp. 7–9. 19. Jump up^ Meer 1988, p. 7; Mandela 1994, pp. 27–29; Meredith 2010, pp. 8–9. 20. Jump up^ Meer 1988, p. 7; Mandela 1994, p. 25; Smith 2010, p. 27; Meredith 2010, p. 9. 21. Jump up^ Meer 1988, pp. 11–12; Mandela 1994, pp. 31–34; Lodge 2006, p. 3; Smith 2010, p. 18; Meredith 2010, p. 8. 22. Jump up^ Mandela 1994, p. 43; Meredith 2010, p. 11. 23. Jump up^ Benson 1986, p. 17; Mandela 1994, pp. 36–42; Lodge 2006, p. 8; Smith 2010, pp. 29–31; Meredith 2010, pp. 9–11; Sampson 2011, p. 14. 24. Jump up^ Mandela 1994, pp. 45–47; Smith 2010, pp. 27, 31; Meredith 2010, pp. 12–13; Sampson 2011, p. 15. 25. Jump up^ Mandela 1994, pp. 48–50. 26. Jump up^ Sampson 2011, p. 17. 27. Jump up^ Mandela 1994, p. 52; Smith 2010, pp. 31–32; Meredith 2010, p. 14; Sampson 2011, pp. 17–18. 28. Jump up^ Mandela 1994, pp. 53–54; Smith 2010, p. 32; Meredith 2010, pp. 14–15; Sampson 2011, pp. 18–21. 29. Jump up^ Mandela 1994, p. 56; Smith 2010, p. 32; Meredith 2010, p. 15. 30. Jump up^ Mandela 1994, pp. 62–65; Lodge 2006, p. 9; Smith 2010, pp. 33–34; Meredith 2010, pp. 15–18; Sampson 2011, pp. 21, 25.

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