Nelson Mandela
Nelson MandelaNelson Rolihlahla Mandela was a South African resistance leader who received a life sentence on Robben Island for opposing apartheid. Nelson Mandela personified struggle throughout his life. He is still leading the fight against apartheid after spending nearly three decades of his life behind bars. He has sacrificed his private life and his youth for his people, and remains South Africa's best known and loved hero.
Nelson Mandela was born in a village near Umtata in the Transkei on July 18, 1918. His father was the principal councilor to the Acting Paramount Chief of Thembuland. After his fathers death, the young Rolihlahla became the Paramount Chiefs ward to be groomed to assume high office. However,
influenced by the cases that came before the Chief s court, he was determined to become a lawyer. Hearing the elders stories of his ancestors struggles during the wars of resistance gave him dreams of making his own contribution to
the freedom struggle of his people (Ngubane).
After receiving a primary education at a local mission school, Nelson Mandela was sent to Healdtown, a Wesleyan secondary school. He then enrolled at the University College of Fort Hare for the Bachelor of Arts Degree where he was
elected onto the Student's Representative Council. He was suspended from college for joining in a protest boycott. He went to Johannesburg where he entered politics by joining the African National Congress in 1942 (Woods).
At the height of the Second World War, members of the African National Congress set themselves the task of transforming ANC into a mass movement. In September of 1944 they came together to form the African National Congress
Youth League. Mandela soon impressed his peers by his disciplined work and consistent effort and was elected to the Secretaryship of the Youth League in 1947 (Ngubane).
By painstaking work, the ANCYL was able to get support for its policies amongst the ANC members. At the 1945 annual conference of the ANC, two of the leagues leaders, Anton Lembede and Ashby Mda, were elected onto the National
Executive Committee. Two years later another Youth League leader, Oliver R. Tambo became a member of the NEC
(Ngubane).
The victory of the National Party which won the 1948 all-white elections on the platform of Apartheid, inspired ANCYL to create the Programme of Action. The Programme of Action was simply a sub-committee of the ANCYL. The weapons of boycott, strikes, civil disobedience and non-co-operation
was accepted as official ANC policy. In 1950, Mandela was elected to the NEC at national conference (Apartheid).
The ANCYL programme aimed at attaining full citizenship and direct parliamentary representation for all South Africans. In policy documents of which Mandela was an important co-author, the ANCYL paid special attention to the redistribution of the land, trade union rights, education and culture. The ANCYL strived to free education for all children, as well as mass education for adults (Woods).
When the ANC launched...
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