He was born at Qunu, near Umtata on 18 July 1918 among the Thembu people of Eastern Cape in South Africa. His father, Henry Gadla Mandela, was chief councilor to Thembuland's acting paramount chief David Dalindyebo. When his father died, Mandela became the chief's ward and was groomed for the chieftainship.

Mandela matriculated at Healdtown Methodist Boarding School and then started a BA degree at Fort Hare. As a Student Representative Council (SRC) member he participated in a student strike and was expelled, along with the late Oliver Tambo, in 1940. He completed his degree by correspondence from Johannesburg, did articles of clerkship and enrolled for an LL.B at the University of the Witwatersrand.

In 1944 he helped found the ANC Youth League, whose Program of Action was adopted by the ANC in 1949. In 1944 still he Mandela married his first wife in the names of Evelyn Ntoko but they divorced in 1956 before he married Winnie Madikizela. Mandela was elected national volunteer-in-chief of the 1952 Defiance Campaign. He traveled the country organising resistance to discriminatory legislation.

In the background, Mandela as a heavy weight competetor in Boxing. He also seen with his former wife Winnie

He was given a suspended sentence for his part in the campaign. Shortly afterwards a banning order confined him to Johannesburg for six months. During this period he formulated the "M Plan", in terms of which ANC branches were broken down into underground cells.

By 1952 Mandela and Tambo had opened the first black legal firm in the country, and Mandela was both Transvaal president of the ANC and deputy national president. A petition by the Transvaal Law Society to strike Mandela off the roll of attorneys was refused by the Supreme Court.

In the 'fifties, after being forced through constant banning to resign officially from the ANC, Mandela analyzed the Bantustan policy as a political swindle. He predicted mass removals, political persecutions and police terror. For the second half of the 'fifties, he was one of the accused in the Treason Trial. With Duma Nokwe, he conducted the defence.

When the ANC was banned after the Sharpeville massacre in 1960, he was detained until 1961 when he went underground to lead a campaign for a new national convention.

Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the military wing of the ANC, was born the same year. Under his leadership it launched a campaign of sabotage against government and economic installations.

In 1962 Mandela left the country for military training in Algeria and to arrange training for other MK members.

On his return he was arrested for leaving the country illegally and for incitement to strike. He conducted his own defence. He was convicted and jailed for five years in November 1962. While serving his sentence, he was charged, in the Rivonia trial, with sabotage and sentenced to life imprisonment.

A decade before being imprisoned, Mandela had spoken out against the introduction of Bantu Education, recommending that community activists "make every home, every shack or rickety structure a centre of learning".

Robben Island, where he was imprisoned, became a centre for learning, and Mandela was a central figure in the organised political education classes.

In prison Mandela never compromised his political principles and was always a source of strength for the other prisoners.

During the 'seventies he refused the offer of a remission of sentence if he recognised Transkei and settled there.

In the 'eighties he again rejected PW Botha's offer of freedom if he renounced violence. It is significant that shortly after his release on Sunday 11 February 1990, Mandela and his delegation agreed to the suspension of armed struggle.

Mandela has honorary degrees from more than 50 international universities and is chancellor of the University of the North.

He was inaugurated as the first democratically elected State President of South Africa on 10 May 1994 - June 1999.

mandela with Dai ramah 

Mandela divorced his real wife Winnie Mandela in 1993 and married Graca Machel, the widow of late former president of Mozambique, Samora Machel. Winnie was accused of kidnapping people and misappropriation of financial resources during the struggle against apartheid.
Nelson Mandela retired from Public life in June 1999. He died in December 2012.

Qn. Analyze the issues that led to the rise of Afrikaner nationalism and the establishment of Apartheid rule in South Africa

• The question is in two parts
• The first part requires factors that led to the rise of Afrikaner nationalism
• The second part requires factors that led to the establishment of Apartheid in South Africa.
• Afrikaner nationalism was a movement of resistance of the descendants of the original mainly Dutch-speaking settlers against encroaching British imperialism.
• Factors for the rise of Afrikaner nationalism were as follows
• Resistance against British interference
• Bad effects of the Act of the Union of 1910
• Effects of South Africa’s involvement in the world war I
• Effects of world War II which led to shortage of labour and favoured blacks in all sectors.
• South African liberal policy towards non whites angered the Afrikaners
• The role of the Dutch reformed church which preached Whiter supremacy
• Increased black militancy scared Afrikaners
• Desire for creation of Afrikaner republic
• The victory of Nationalist part in 1948 gave Afrikaners power to strengthen and made Apartheid constitutional.