Early life
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 ruler of the Thembu Kingdom
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 descendan of his cadet branch ofthe royal family were
morganatic, ineligible to inherit the throne but recognised as hereditary royal councillors.
Nelson Mandela's father, Gadla Henry Mphakanyiswa Mandela (1880–1928), was a local chief and councillor to the
monarch; he was appointed to the position in 1915, after his predecessor was accused of corruption by a governing whi
te 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 polygami
st 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 Xhosa 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 tim
e outside with other boys. Both his parents were illiterate, but his mother, being a devout Christian, sent hi
m to a local Methodist school when he was about seven. Baptised a Methodist, Mandela was given the English forenam
e of "Nelson" by his teacher. When Mandela was about nine, his father came to stay at Qunu, where he died of a
n undiagnosed ailment that Mandela believed to be lung disease. Feeling "cut adrift", he later said that he in
herited 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, Mandel
a felt that Jongintaba and his wife Noengland treated him as their own child, raising him alongside their son, Just
ice, and daughter, Nomafu. As Mandela attended church services every Sunday with his guardians, Christianity be
came a significant part of his life. He attended a Methodist mission school located next to the palace, where h
e 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.Nevertheless, at the time he considered the European colonizers not as oppressors but as benefactors who
had brought education and other benefits to southern Africa. Aged 16, he, Justice and several other boys trave
lled to Tyhalarha to undergo the ulwaluko circumcision ritual that symbolically marked their transition from boys
to men; afterwards he was given the name Dalibunga.
Clarkebury, Healdtown, and Fort Hare: 1934–1940
Intending to gain skills needed to become a privy councillor for the Thembu royal house, Mandela began his sec
ondary education in 1933 at Clarkebury Methodist High School in Engcobo, a Western-style institution that was the
largest school for black Africans in Thembuland. Made to socialise with other students on an equal basis, h
e claimed that he lost his "stuck up" attitude, becoming best friends with a girl for the first time; he began p
laying sports and developed his lifelong love of gardening. He completed his Junior Certificate in two years
, and in 1937 he moved to Healdtown, the Methodist college in Fort Beaufort attended by most Thembu royalty,
including Justice. The headmaster emphasised the superiority of European culture and government, but Mandel
a became increasingly interested in native African culture, making his first non-Xhosa friend, a speaker of Soth
o, and coming under the influence of one of his favourite teachers, a Xhosa who broke taboo by marrying a Sotho.
Mandela spent much of his spare time at Healdtown as a long-distance runner and boxer, and in his second ye
ar he became a prefect.In 1939, with Jongintaba's backing, Mandela began work on a BA degree at the Universi
ty of Fort Hare, an elite black institution of approximately 150 students in Alice, Eastern Cape. He studied Eng
lish, anthropology, politics, "native administration", and Roman Dutch law in his first year, desiring to become
an interpreter or clerk in the Native Affairs Department.Mandela stayed in the Wesley House dormitory, bef
riending his own kinsman, K. D. Matanzima, as well as Oliver Tambo, who became a close friend and comrade for de
cades to come. He took up ballroom dancing, performed in a drama society play about Abraham Lincoln,
and gave Bible classes in the local community as part of the Student Christian Association. Although he had
friends who held connections to the African National Congress (ANC) who wanted South Africa to be independent of
the British Empire, Mandela avoided any involvement with the nascent movement, and became a vocal supporter
of the British war effort when the Second World War broke out. He helped establish a first-year students' h
ouse committee which challenged the dominance of the second-years, and at the end of his first year became i
nvolved in a students' representative council (SRC) boycott against the quality of food, for which he was suspen
ded from the university; he never returned to complete his degree.
Arriving in Johannesburg: 1941–1943
Returning to Mqhekezweni in December 1940, Mandela found that Jongintaba had arranged marriages for him and
Justice; dismayed, they fled to Johannesburg via Queenstown, arriving in April 1941. Mandela found work as
a night watchman at Crown Mines, his "first sight of South African capitalism in action", but was fired when the
induna (headman) discovered that he was a runaway. He stayed with a cousin in George Goch Township, who int
roduced Mandela to realtor and ANC activist Walter Sisulu. The latter secured Mandela a job as an articled clerk
at the law firm of Witkin, Sidelsky and Eidelman, a company run by Lazar Sidelsky, a liberal Jew sympathetic to
the ANC's cause. At the firm, Mandela befriended Gaur Radebe—a Hlubi member of the ANC and Communist Party—an
d Nat Bregman, a Jewish communist who became his first white friend. Mandela attended Communist Party gather
ings, where he was impressed that Europeans, Africans, Indians, and Coloureds mixed as equals. He later stated th
at he did not join the party because its atheism conflicted with his Christian faith, and because he saw the Sout
h African struggle as being racially based rather than as class warfare. To continue his higher education, Ma
ndela signed up to a University of South Africa correspondence course, working on his bachelor's degree at night.
Earning a small wage, Mandela rented a room in the house of the Xhoma family in the Alexandra township; despite b
eing rife with poverty, crime and pollution, Alexandra always remained a special place for him. Although embar
rassed by his poverty, he briefly dated a Swazi woman before unsuccessfully courting his landlord's daughter.
To save money and be closer to downtown Johannesburg, Mandela moved into the compound of the Witwatersrand Native
Labour Association, living among miners of various tribes; as the compound was visited by various chiefs, he once
met the Queen Regent of Basutoland. In late 1941, Jongintaba visited Johannesburg—there forgiving Mandela fo
r running away—before returning to Thembuland, where he died in the winter of 1942. Mandela and Justice arrived a
day late for the funeral. After he passed his BA exams in early 1943, Mandela returned to Johannesburg to fol
low a political path as a lawyer rather than become a privy councillor in Thembuland.[50] He later stated that he
experienced no epiphany, but that he "simply found [himself] doing so, and could not do otherwise."
Revolutionary activity
Law studies and the ANC Youth League: 1943–1949
Mandela began studying law at the University of the Witwatersrand, where he was the only black African student
and faced racism. There, he befriended liberal and communist European, Jewish and Indian students, among them Joe
Slovo and Ruth First. Becoming increasingly politicised, Mandela marched in August 1943 in support of a succe
ssful bus boycott to reverse fare rises. Joining the ANC, he was increasingly influenced by Sisulu, spending t
ime with other activists at Sisulu's Orlando house, including his old friend Oliver Tambo. In 1943, Mandela me
t Anton Lembede, an ANC member affiliated with the "Africanist" branch of African nationalism, which was virulentl
y opposed to a racially united front against colonialism and imperialism or to an alliance with the communists.
Despite his friendships with non-blacks and communists, Mandela embraced Lembede's views, believing that black A
fricans should be entirely independent in their struggle for political self-determination. Deciding on the nee
d for a youth wing to mass-mobilise Africans in opposition to their subjugation, Mandela was among a delegation th
at approached ANC president Alfred Bitini Xuma on the subject at his home in Sophiatown; the African National Cong
ress Youth League (ANCYL) was founded on Easter Sunday 1944 in the Bantu Men's Social Centre, with Lembede as pres
ident and Mandela as a member of its executive committee.
At Sisulu's house, Mandela met Evelyn Mase, a trainee nurse and ANC activist from Engcobo, Transkei. Entering a
relationship and marrying in October 1944, they initially lived with her relatives until moving into a rented hou
se in the township of Orlando in early 1946. Their first child, Madiba "Thembi" Thembekile, was born in Februa
ry 1945; a daughter, Makaziwe, was born in 1947 but died of meningitis nine months later.[60] Mandela enjoyed home
life, welcoming his mother and his sister, Leabie, to stay with him. In early 1947, his three years of articl
es ended at Witkin, Sidelsky and Eidelman, and he decided to become a full-time student, subsisting on loans from
the Bantu Welfare Trust.
In July 1947, Mandela rushed Lembede, who was ill, to hospital, where he died; he was succeeded as ANCYL presid
ent by the more moderate Peter Mda, who agreed to co-operate with communists and non-blacks, appointing Mandela AN
CYL secretary. Mandela disagreed with Mda's approach, and in December 1947 supported an unsuccessful measure t
o expel communists from the ANCYL, considering their ideology un-African. In 1947, Mandela was elected to the
executive committee of the ANC's Transvaal Province branch, serving under regional president C. S. Ramohanoe. When
Ramohanoe acted against the wishes of the committee by co-operating with Indians and communists, Mandela was one
of those who forced his resignation.
In the South African general election in 1948, in which only whites were permitted to vote, the Afrikaner-domin
ated Herenigde Nasionale Party under Daniel François Malan took power, soon uniting with the Afrikaner Party to f
orm the National Party. Openly racialist, the party codified and expanded racial segregation with new apartheid l
egislation. Gaining increasing influence in the ANC, Mandela and his party cadre allies began advocating dire
ct action against apartheid, such as boycotts and strikes, influenced by the tactics already employed by South Af
rica's Indian community. Xuma did not support these measures and was removed from the presidency in a vote of no c
onfidence, replaced by James Moroka and a more militant executive committee containing Sisulu, Mda, Tambo and Godf
rey Pitje. Mandela later related that he and his colleagues had "guided the ANC to a more radical and revolutio
nary path." Having devoted his time to politics, Mandela failed his final year at Witwatersrand three times; h
e was ultimately denied his degree in December 1949.
Defiance Campaign and Transvaal ANC Presidency: 1950–1954
Mandela took Xuma's place on the ANC national executive in March 1950, and that same year was e
lected national president of the ANCYL.In March, the Defend Free Speech Convention was held in Johannesburg,
bringing together African, Indian and communist activists to call a May Day general strike in protest against aparth
eid and white minority rule. Mandela opposed the strike because it was multi-racial and not ANC-led, but a majority
of black workers took part, resulting in increased police repression and the introduction of the Suppression of Commu
nism Act, 1950, affecting the actions of all protest groups. At the ANC national conference of December 1951, he c
ontinued arguing against a racially united front, but was outvoted.
Thereafter, Mandela rejected Lembede's Africanism and embraced the idea of a multi-racial front against
apartheid. Influenced by friends like Moses Kotane and by the Soviet Union's support for wars of national liberat
ion, his mistrust of communism broke down and he began reading literature by Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, and Mao Zedong
, eventually embracing the Marxist philosophy of dialectical materialism. Commenting on communism, he later stated
that he "found [himself] strongly drawn to the idea of a classless society which, to [his] mind, was similar to tradit
ional African culture where life was shared and communal." In April 1952, Mandela began work at the H.M. Basner law
firm, which was owned by a communist, although his increasing commitment to work and activism meant he spent less
time with his family.
In 1952, the ANC began preparation for a joint Defiance Campaign against apartheid with Indian and commu
nist groups, founding a National Voluntary Board to recruit volunteers. The campaign was designed to follow the path o
f nonviolent resistance influenced by Mahatma Gandhi; some supported this for ethical reasons, but Mandela instead cons
idered it pragmatic. At a Durban rally on 22 June, Mandela addressed an assembled crowd of 10,000 people, initiatin
g the campaign protests for which he was arrested and briefly interned in Marshall Square prison.These events esta
blished Mandela as one of the best-known black political figures in South Africa. With further protests, the ANC's
membership grew from 20,000 to 100,000 members; the government responded with mass arrests and introduced the Public Sa
fety Act, 1953 to permit martial law. In May, authorities banned Transvaal ANC president J. B. Marks from making pub
lic appearances; unable to maintain his position, he recommended Mandela as his successor. Although Africanists opposed
his candidacy, Mandela was elected to be regional president in October.
In July 1952, Mandela was arrested under the Suppression of Communism Act and stood trial as one of the 2
1 accused—among them Moroka, Sisulu and Yusuf Dadoo—in Johannesburg. Found guilty of "statutory communism", a term that
the government used to describe most opposition to apartheid, their sentence of nine months' hard labour was suspended
for two years.In December, Mandela was given a six-month ban from attending meetings or talking to more than one i
ndividual at a time, making his Transvaal ANC presidency impractical, and during this period the Defiance Campaign pete
red out. In September 1953, Andrew Kunene read out Mandela's "No Easy Walk to Freedom" speech at a Transvaal ANC me
eting; the title was taken from a quote by Indian independence leader Jawaharlal Nehru, a seminal influence on Mandela'
s thought. The speech laid out a contingency plan for a scenario in which the ANC was banned. This Mandela Plan, or M-P
lan, involved dividing the organisation into a cell structure with a more centralised leadership.
Mandela obtained work as an attorney for the firm Terblanche and Briggish, before moving to the liberal-r
un Helman and Michel, passing qualification exams to become a full-fledged attorney. In August 1953, Mandela and Ta
mbo opened their own law firm, Mandela and Tambo, operating in downtown Johannesburg. The only African-run law firm in t
he country, it was popular with aggrieved black people, often dealing with cases of police brutality. Disliked by the au
thorities, the firm was forced to relocate to a remote location after their office permit was removed under the Group Are
as Act; as a result, their clientele dwindled. As a lawyer of aristocratic heritage, Mandela was part of Johannesburg
's elite black middle-class, and accorded much respect from the black community. Although a second daughter, Makaziwe
Phumia, was born in May 1954, Mandela's relationship with Evelyn became strained, and she accused him of adultery. He ma
y have had affairs with ANC member Lillian Ngoyi and secretary Ruth Mompati; various individuals close to Mandela in this
period have stated that the latter bore him a child. Disgusted by her son's behaviour, Nosekeni returned to Transkei,
while Evelyn embraced the Jehovah's Witnesses and rejected Mandela's preoccupation with politics.
Congress of the People and the Treason Trial: 1955–1961
After taking part in the unsuccessful protest to prevent the forced relocation of all black people from
the Sophiatown suburb of Johannesburg in February 1955, Mandela concluded that violent action would prove necessary to e
nd apartheid and white minority rule. On his advice, Sisulu requested weaponry from the People's Republic of China, w
hich was denied. Although the Chinese government supported the anti-apartheid struggle, they believed the movement insuff
iciently prepared for guerrilla warfare. With the involvement of the South African Indian Congress, the Coloured Peop
le's Congress, the South African Congress of Trade Unions and the Congress of Democrats, the ANC planned a Congress of the
People, calling on all South Africans to send in proposals for a post-apartheid era. Based on the responses, a Freedom C
harter was drafted by Rusty Bernstein, calling for the creation of a democratic, non-racialist state with the nationalisa
tion of major industry. The charter was adopted at a June 1955 conference in Kliptown; 3,000 delegates attended the event,
which was forcibly closed down by police. The tenets of the Freedom Charter remained important for Mandela, and in 19
56 he described it as "an inspiration to the people of South Africa".
Following the end of a second ban in September 1955, Mandela went on a working holiday to Transkei to discus
s the implications of the Bantu Authorities Act, 1951 with local Xhosa chiefs, also visiting his mother and Noengland befo
re proceeding to Cape Town. In March 1956, he received his third ban on public appearances, restricting him to Johanne
sburg for five years, but he often defied it. Mandela's marriage broke down and Evelyn left him, taking their children
to live with her brother. Initiating divorce proceedings in May 1956, she claimed that Mandela had physically abused her; h
e denied the allegations, and fought for custody of their children. She withdrew her petition of separation in Novembe
r, but Mandela filed for divorce in January 1958; the divorce was finalised in March, with the children placed in Evelyn's
care. During the divorce proceedings, he began courting a social worker, Winnie Madikizela, whom he married in Bizana i
n June 1958. She later became involved in ANC activities, spending several weeks in prison. Together they had two child
ren: Zenani, born in February 1959, and Zindziswa (1960–2020).
In December 1956, Mandela was arrested alongside most of the ANC national executive, and accused of "high
treason" against the state. Held in Johannesburg Prison amid mass protests, they underwent a preparatory examination bef
ore being granted bail.The defence's refutation began in January 1957, overseen by defence lawyer Vernon Berrangé,
and continued until the case was adjourned in September. In January 1958, Oswald Pirow was appointed to prosecute the ca
se, and in February the judge ruled that there was "sufficient reason" for the defendants to go on trial in the Transvaal
Supreme Court. The formal Treason Trial began in Pretoria in August 1958, with the defendants successfully applying
to have the three judges—all linked to the governing National Party—replaced. In August, one charge was dropped, and in O
ctober the prosecution withdrew its indictment, submitting a reformulated version in November which argued that the ANC lea
dership committed high treason by advocating violent revolution, a charge the defendants denied.
n April 1959, Africanists dissatisfied with the ANC's united front approach founded the Pan-Africanist Congre
ss (PAC); Mandela disagreed with the PAC's racially exclusionary views, describing them as "immature" and "naïve". Bot
h parties took part in an anti-pass campaign in early 1960, in which Africans burned the passes that they were legally obli
ged to carry. One of the PAC-organised demonstrations was fired upon by police, resulting in the deaths of 69 protesters in
the Sharpeville massacre. The incident brought international condemnation of the government and resulted in rioting throug
hout South Africa, with Mandela publicly burning his pass in solidarity.
Responding to the unrest, the government implemented state of emergency measures, declaring martial law and
banning the ANC and PAC; in March, they arrested Mandela and other activists, imprisoning them for five months without char
ge in the unsanitary conditions of the Pretoria Local prison. Imprisonment caused problems for Mandela and his co-defe
ndants in the Treason Trial; their lawyers could not reach them, and so it was decided that the lawyers would withdraw in p
rotest until the accused were freed from prison when the state of emergency was lifted in late August 1960. Over the f
ollowing months, Mandela used his free time to organise an All-In African Conference near Pietermaritzburg, Natal, in March
1961, at which 1,400 anti-apartheid delegates met, agreeing on a stay-at-home strike to mark 31 May, the day South Africa
became a republic. On 29 March 1961, six years after the Treason Trial began, the judges produced a verdict of not gui
lty, ruling that there was insufficient evidence to convict the accused of "high treason", since they had advocated neither
communism nor violent revolution; the outcome embarrassed the government.
MK, the SACP, and African tour: 1961–62
Disguised as a chauffeur, Mandela travelled around the country incognito, organising the ANC's new cell struct
ure and the planned mass stay-at-home strike. Referred to as the "Black Pimpernel" in the press—a reference to Emma Orczy's
1905 novel The Scarlet Pimpernel—a warrant for his arrest was put out by the police. Mandela held secret meetings with
reporters, and after the government failed to prevent the strike, he warned them that many anti-apartheid activists would so
on resort to violence through groups like the PAC's Poqo. He believed that the ANC should form an armed group to channel
some of this violence in a controlled direction, convincing both ANC leader Albert Luthuli—who was morally opposed to violen
ce—and allied activist groups of its necessity.
Inspired by the actions of Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement in the Cuban Revolution, in 1961 Mandela, Sisul
u and Slovo co-founded Umkhonto we Sizwe ("Spear of the Nation", abbreviated MK). Becoming chairman of the militant group, Ma
ndela gained ideas from literature on guerrilla warfare by Marxist militants Mao and Che Guevara as well as from the military
theorist Carl von Clausewitz. Although initially declared officially separate from the ANC so as not to taint the latte
r's reputation, MK was later widely recognised as the party's armed wing. Most early MK members were white communists who
were able to conceal Mandela in their homes; after hiding in communist Wolfie Kodesh's flat in Berea, Mandela moved to the co
mmunist-owned Liliesleaf Farm in Rivonia, there joined by Raymond Mhlaba, Slovo and Bernstein, who put together the MK constit
ution. Although in later life Mandela denied, for political reasons, ever being a member of the Communist Party, historic
al research published in 2011 strongly suggested that he had joined in the late 1950s or early 1960s. This was confirmed
by both the SACP and the ANC after Mandela's death. According to the SACP, he was not only a member of the party, but also ser
ved on its Central Committee.
Operating through a cell structure, MK planned to carry out acts of sabotage that would exert maximum pressure on
the government with minimum casualties; they sought to bomb military installations, power plants, telephone lines, and transpo
rt links at night, when civilians were not present. Mandela stated that they chose sabotage because it was the least harmful ac
tion, did not involve killing, and offered the best hope for racial reconciliation afterwards; he nevertheless acknowledged th
at should this have failed then guerrilla warfare might have been necessary. Soon after ANC leader Luthuli was awarded the
Nobel Peace Prize, MK publicly announced its existence with 57 bombings on Dingane's Day (16 December) 1961, followed by furthe
r attacks on New Year's Eve
Imprisonment
Arrest and Rivonia trial: 1962–1964
On 5 August 1962, police captured Mandela along with fellow activist Cecil Williams near Howick. Many MK mem
bers suspected that the authorities had been tipped off with regard to Mandela's whereabouts, although Mandela himself gave thes
e ideas little credence.[ In later years, Donald Rickard, a former American diplomat, revealed that the Central Intelligenc
e Agency, which feared Mandela's associations with communists, had informed the South African police of his location.
Jailed in Johannesburg's Marshall Square prison, Mandela was charged with inciting workers' strikes and leaving the country with
out permission. Representing himself with Slovo as legal advisor, Mandela intended to use the trial to showcase "the ANC's moral
opposition to racism" while supporters demonstrated outside the court. Moved to Pretoria, where Winnie could visit him, he
began correspondence studies for a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree from the University of London International Programmes H
is hearing began in October, but he disrupted proceedings by wearing a traditional kaross, refusing to call any witnesses, and t
urning his plea of mitigation into a political speech. Found guilty, he was sentenced to five years' imprisonment; as he left th
e courtroom, supporters sang "Nkosi Sikelel iAfrika".
On 11 July 1963, police raided Liliesleaf Farm, arresting those that they found there and uncovering paperwork docu
menting MK's activities, some of which mentioned Mandela. The Rivonia Trial began at Pretoria Supreme Court in October, with Mand
ela and his comrades charged with four counts of sabotage and conspiracy to violently overthrow the government; their chief pros
ecutor was Percy Yutar. Judge Quartus de Wet soon threw out the prosecution's case for insufficient evidence, but Yutar refo
rmulated the charges, presenting his new case from December 1963 until February 1964, calling 173 witnesses and bringing thousand
s of documents and photographs to the trial.
Although four of the accused denied involvement with MK, Mandela and the other five accused admitted sabotage but d
enied that they had ever agreed to initiate guerrilla war against the government. They used the trial to highlight their poli
tical cause; at the opening of the defence's proceedings, Mandela gave his three-hour "I Am Prepared to Die" speech. That speech—
which was inspired by Castro's "History Will Absolve Me"—was widely reported in the press despite official censorship. The tr
ial gained international attention; there were global calls for the release of the accused from the United Nations and World Peace
Council, while the University of London Union voted Mandela to its presidency. On 12 June 1964, justice De Wet found Mandela
and two of his co-accused guilty on all four charges; although the prosecution had called for the death sentence to be applied, t
he judge instead condemned them to life imprisonment.
Victor Verster Prison and release: 1988–1990
Recovering from tuberculosis exacerbated by the damp conditions in his cell, Mandela was moved to Victor Verster
Prison, near Paarl, in December 1988. He was housed in the relative comfort of a warder's house with a personal cook, and he used
the time to complete his LLB degree While there, he was permitted many visitors and organised secret communications with exil
ed ANC leader Oliver Tambo.
In 1989, Botha suffered a stroke; although he would retain the state presidency, he stepped down as leader of the N
ational Party, to be replaced by F. W. de Klerk. In a surprise move, Botha invited Mandela to a meeting over tea in July 198
9, an invitation Mandela considered genial. Botha was replaced as state president by de Klerk six weeks later; the new presi
dent believed that apartheid was unsustainable and released a number of ANC prisoners.[198] Following the fall of the Berlin Wall
in November 1989, de Klerk called his cabinet together to debate legalising the ANC and freeing Mandela. Although some were deep
ly opposed to his plans, de Klerk met with Mandela in December to discuss the situation, a meeting both men considered friendly,
before legalising all formerly banned political parties in February 1990 and announcing Mandela's unconditional release.
] Shortly thereafter, for the first time in 20 years, photographs of Mandela were allowed to be published in South Africa.
Leaving Victor Verster Prison on 11 February, Mandela held Winnie's hand in front of amassed crowds and the press;
the event was broadcast live across the world. Driven to Cape Town's City Hall through crowds, he gave a speech decla
ring his commitment to peace and reconciliation with the white minority, but he made it clear that the ANC's armed struggle was
not over and would continue as "a purely defensive action against the violence of apartheid". He expressed hope that the governm
ent would agree to negotiations, so that "there may no longer be the need for the armed struggle", and insisted that his main fo
cus was to bring peace to the black majority and give them the right to vote in national and local elections. Staying
at Tutu's home, in the following days Mandela met with friends, activists, and press, giving a speech to an estimated 100,000 peo
ple at Johannesburg's FNB Stadium.
End of apartheid
Early negotiations: 1990–91
Mandela proceeded on an African tour, meeting supporters and politicians in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Libya and Al
geria, and continuing to Sweden, where he was reunited with Tambo, and London, where he appeared at the Nelson Mandela: An Interna
tional Tribute for a Free South Africa concert at Wembley Stadium. Encouraging foreign countries to support sanctions against the
apartheid government, he met President François Mitterrand in France, Pope John Paul II in the Vatican, and Thatcher in the United
Kingdom. In the United States, he met President George H. W. Bush, addressed both Houses of Congress and visited eight cities, be
ing particularly popular among the African-American community.[208] In Cuba, he became friends with President Castro, whom he had
long admired.[209] He met President R. Venkataraman in India, President Suharto in Indonesia, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in M
alaysia, and Prime Minister Bob Hawke in Australia. He visited Japan, but not the Soviet Union, a longtime ANC supporter.
In May 1990, Mandela led a multiracial ANC delegation into preliminary negotiations with a government delegation of 1
1 Afrikaner men. Mandela impressed them with his discussions of Afrikaner history, and the negotiations led to the Groot Schuur Min
ute, in which the government lifted the state of emergency. In August, Mandela—recognising the ANC's severe military disadvantage—o
ffered a ceasefire, the Pretoria Minute, for which he was widely criticised by MK activists. He spent much time trying to unify and
build the ANC, appearing at a Johannesburg conference in December attended by 1,600 delegates, many of whom found him more moderat
e than expected.At the ANC's July 1991 national conference in Durban, Mandela admitted that the party had faults and announce
d his aim to build a "strong and well-oiled task force" for securing majority rule. At the conference, he was elected ANC Pres
ident, replacing the ailing Tambo, and a 50-strong multiracial, mixed gendered national executive was elected.
Mandela was given an office in the newly purchased ANC headquarters at Shell House, Johannesburg, and moved into Winni
e's large Soweto home. Their marriage was increasingly strained as he learned of her affair with Dali Mpofu, but he supported h
er during her trial for kidnapping and assault. He gained funding for her defence from the International Defence and Aid Fund for So
uthern Africa and from Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, but, in June 1991, she was found guilty and sentenced to six years in prison,
reduced to two on appeal. On 13 April 1992, Mandela publicly announced his separation from Winnie. The ANC forced her to step down f
rom the national executive for misappropriating ANC funds; Mandela moved into the mostly white Johannesburg suburb of Houghton.
Mandela's prospects for a peaceful transition were further damaged by an increase in "black-on-black" violence, particularly between
ANC and Inkatha supporters in KwaZulu-Natal, which resulted in thousands of deaths. Mandela met with Inkatha leader Buthelezi, but
the ANC prevented further negotiations on the issue. Mandela argued that there was a "third force" within the state intelligence ser
vices fuelling the "slaughter of the people" and openly blamed de Klerk—whom he increasingly distrusted—for the Sebokeng massacre. I
n September 1991, a national peace conference was held in Johannesburg at which Mandela, Buthelezi and de Klerk signed a peace accord
, though the violence continued.
CODESA talks: 1991–92
The Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) began in December 1991 at the Johannesburg World Trade Centre, at
tended by 228 delegates from 19 political parties. Although Cyril Ramaphosa led the ANC's delegation, Mandela remained a key figure. A
fter de Klerk used the closing speech to condemn the ANC's violence, he took to the stage to denounce de Klerk as the "head of an ille
gitimate, discredited minority regime". Dominated by the National Party and ANC, little negotiation was achieved. CODESA 2 was he
ld in May 1992, at which de Klerk insisted that post-apartheid South Africa must use a federal system with a rotating presidency to en
sure the protection of ethnic minorities; Mandela opposed this, demanding a unitary system governed by majority rule. Following t
he Boipatong massacre of ANC activists by government-aided Inkatha militants, Mandela called off the negotiations, before attending a
meeting of the Organisation of African Unity in Senegal, at which he called for a special session of the UN Security Council and propo
sed that a UN peacekeeping force be stationed in South Africa to prevent "state terrorism". Calling for domestic mass action, in
August the ANC organised the largest-ever strike in South African history, and supporters marched on Pretoria.
Following the Bisho massacre, in which 28 ANC supporters and one soldier were shot dead by the Ciskei Defence Force duri
ng a protest march, Mandela realised that mass action was leading to further violence and resumed negotiations in September. He agreed
to do so on the conditions that all political prisoners be released, that Zulu traditional weapons be banned, and that Zulu hostels wou
ld be fenced off, the latter two measures intended to prevent further Inkatha attacks; de Klerk reluctantly agreed.] The negotiatio
ns agreed that a multiracial general election would be held, resulting in a five-year coalition government of national unity and a const
itutional assembly that gave the National Party continuing influence. The ANC also conceded to safeguarding the jobs of white civil serv
ants; such concessions brought fierce internal criticism. The duo agreed on an interim constitution based on a liberal democratic m
odel, guaranteeing separation of powers, creating a constitutional court, and including a US-style bill of rights; it also divided the
country into nine provinces, each with its own premier and civil service, a concession between de Klerk's desire for federalism and Man
dela's for unitary government.
The democratic process was threatened by the Concerned South Africans Group (COSAG), an alliance of black ethnic-secessionis
t groups like Inkatha and far-right Afrikaner parties; in June 1993, one of the latter—the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB)—attacked the
Kempton Park World Trade Centre. Following the murder of ANC activist Chris Hani, Mandela made a publicised speech to calm rioting,
soon after appearing at a mass funeral in Soweto for Tambo, who had died of a stroke. In July 1993, both Mandela and de Klerk visited
the United States, independently meeting President Bill Clinton, and each receiving the Liberty Medal. Soon after, Mandela and de Kl
erk were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in Norway. Influenced by Thabo Mbeki, Mandela began meeting with big business figures,
and he played down his support for nationalisation, fearing that he would scare away much-needed foreign investment. Although criticised b
y socialist ANC members, he had been encouraged to embrace private enterprise by members of the Chinese and Vietnamese Communist parties a
t the January 1992 World Economic Forum in Switzerland.
General election: 1994
With the election set for 27 April 1994, the ANC began campaigning, opening 100 election offices and orchestrating People's
Forums across the country at which Mandela could appear, as a popular figure with great status among black South Africans. The ANC campaign
ed on a Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) to build a million houses in five years, introduce universal free education and exte
nd access to water and electricity. The party's slogan was "a better life for all", although it was not explained how this development would
be funded. With the exception of the Weekly Mail and the New Nation, South Africa's press opposed Mandela's election, fearing continue
d ethnic strife, instead supporting the National or Democratic Party. Mandela devoted much time to fundraising for the ANC, touring Nor
th America, Europe and Asia to meet wealthy donors, including former supporters of the apartheid regime. He also urged a reduction in t
he voting age from 18 to 14; rejected by the ANC, this policy became the subject of ridicule.
Concerned that COSAG would undermine the election, particularly in the wake of the conflict in Bophuthatswana and the Shell Hou
se massacre—incidents of violence involving the AWB and Inkatha, respectively—Mandela met with Afrikaner politicians and generals, including
P. W. Botha, Pik Botha and Constand Viljoen, persuading many to work within the democratic system. With de Klerk, he also convinced Inkatha's
Buthelezi to enter the elections rather than launch a war of secession. As leaders of the two major parties, de Klerk and Mandela appeare
d on a televised debate; although de Klerk was widely considered the better speaker at the event, Mandela's offer to shake his hand surprised
him, leading some commentators to deem it a victory for Mandela. The election went ahead with little violence, although an AWB cell kille
d 20 with car bombs. As widely expected, the ANC won a sweeping victory, taking 63% of the vote, just short of the two-thirds majority needed
to unilaterally change the constitution. The ANC was also victorious in seven provinces, with Inkatha and the National Party each taking one.
Mandela voted at the Ohlange High School in Durban, and though the ANC's victory assured his election as president, he publicly accepted that
the election had been marred by instances of fraud and sabotage.
Presidency of South Africa: 1994–1999
The newly elected National Assembly's first act was to formally elect Mandela as South Africa's first black chief executive. Hi
s inauguration took place in Pretoria on 10 May 1994, televised to a billion viewers globally. The event was attended by four thousand guests,
including world leaders from a wide range of geographic and ideological backgrounds. Mandela headed a Government of National Unity dominated
by the ANC—which had no experience of governing by itself—but containing representatives from the National Party and Inkatha. Under the Interim
Constitution, Inkatha and the National Party were entitled to seats in the government by virtue of winning at least 20 seats. In keeping with e
arlier agreements, both de Klerk and Thabo Mbeki were given the position of Deputy President. Although Mbeki had not been his first ch
oice for the job, Mandela grew to rely heavily on him throughout his presidency, allowing him to shape policy details. Moving into the pre
sidential office at Tuynhuys in Cape Town, Mandela allowed de Klerk to retain the presidential residence in the Groote Schuur estate, instead s
ettling into the nearby Westbrooke manor, which he renamed "Genadendal", meaning "Valley of Mercy" in Afrikaans. Retaining his Houghton ho
me, he also had a house built in his home village of Qunu, which he visited regularly, walking around the area, meeting with locals, and judgin
g tribal disputes.
Aged 76, he faced various ailments, and although exhibiting continued energy, he felt isolated and lonely. He often entertained
celebrities, such as Michael Jackson, Whoopi Goldberg and the Spice Girls, and befriended ultra-rich businessmen, like Harry Oppenheimer of Ang
lo American. He also met with Queen Elizabeth II on her March 1995 state visit to South Africa, which earned him strong criticism from ANC anti
-capitalists. Despite his opulent surroundings, Mandela lived simply, donating a third of his R 552,000 annual income to the Nelson Mandel
a Children's Fund, which he had founded in 1995. Although dismantling press censorship, speaking out in favour of freedom of the press and
befriending many journalists, Mandela was critical of much of the country's media, noting that it was overwhelmingly owned and run by middle-
class whites and believing that it focused too heavily on scaremongering about crime.
In December 1994, Mandela published Long Walk to Freedom, an autobiography based around a manuscript he had written in prison, a
ugmented by interviews conducted with American journalist Richard Stengel. In late 1994, he attended the 49th conference of the ANC in B
loemfontein, at which a more militant national executive was elected, among them Winnie Mandela; although she expressed an interest in reconci
ling, Nelson initiated divorce proceedings in August 1995. By 1995, he had entered into a relationship with Graça Machel, a Mozambican po
litical activist 27 years his junior who was the widow of former president Samora Machel. They had first met in July 1990 when she was still in
mourning, but their friendship grew into a partnership, with Machel accompanying him on many of his foreign visits. She turned down Mandela's
first marriage proposal, wanting to retain some independence and dividing her time between Mozambique and Johannesburg.
National reconciliation
Presiding over the transition from apartheid minority rule to a multicultural democracy, Mandela saw national reconciliation
as the primary task of his presidency. Having seen other post-colonial African economies damaged by the departure of white elites, Mandel
a worked to reassure South Africa's white population that they were protected and represented in "the Rainbow Nation". Although his Government
of National Unity would be dominated by the ANC, he attempted to create a broad coalition by appointing de Klerk as Deputy President and
appointing other National Party officials as ministers for Agriculture, Environment, and Minerals and Energy, as well as naming Buthelezi as
Minister for Home Affairs. The other cabinet positions were taken by ANC members, many of whom—like Joe Modise, Alfred Nzo, Joe Slovo, Ma
c Maharaj and Dullah Omar—had long been comrades of Mandela, although others, such as Tito Mboweni and Jeff Radebe, were far younger. Ma
ndela's relationship with de Klerk was strained; Mandela thought that de Klerk was intentionally provocative, and de Klerk felt that he was be
ing intentionally humiliated by the president. In January 1995, Mandela heavily chastised de Klerk for awarding amnesty to 3,500 police o
fficers just before the election, and later criticised him for defending former Minister of Defence Magnus Malan when the latter was charged with murder.
Mandela personally met with senior figures of the apartheid regime, including lawyer Percy Yutar and Hendrik Verwoerd's widow, Be
tsie Schoombie, also laying a wreath by the statue of Afrikaner hero Daniel Theron.Emphasising personal forgiveness and reconciliation, he
announced that "courageous people do not fear forgiving, for the sake of peace." He encouraged black South Africans to get behind the prev
iously hated national rugby team, the Springboks, as South Africa hosted the 1995 Rugby World Cup. Mandela wore a Springbok shirt at the final aga
inst New Zealand, and after the Springboks won the match, Mandela presented the trophy to captain Francois Pienaar, an Afrikaner. This was widely
seen as a major step in the reconciliation of white and black South Africans; as de Klerk later put it, "Mandela won the hearts of millions of wh
ite rugby fans."Mandela's efforts at reconciliation assuaged the fears of white people, but also drew criticism from more militant blac
k people. Among the latter was his estranged wife, Winnie, who accused the ANC of being more interested in appeasing the white community than
in helping the black majority.
Mandela oversaw the formation of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate crimes committed under apartheid by both the go
vernment and the ANC, appointing Tutu as its chair. To prevent the creation of martyrs, the commission granted individual amnesties in exchange
for testimony of crimes committed during the apartheid era. Dedicated in February 1996, it held two years of hearings detailing rapes, torture,
bombings and assassinations before issuing its final report in October 1998. Both de Klerk and Mbeki appealed to have parts of the report suppre
ssed, though only de Klerk's appeal was successful. Mandela praised the commission's work, stating that it "had helped us move away from th
e past to concentrate on the present and the future".
Foreign affairs
Mandela expressed the view that "South Africa's future foreign relations [should] be based on our belief that human rights should
be the core of international relations". Following the South African example, Mandela encouraged other nations to resolve conflicts through
diplomacy and reconciliation. In September 1998, Mandela was appointed secretary-general of the Non-Aligned Movement, who held their annual
conference in Durban. He used the event to criticise the "narrow, chauvinistic interests" of the Israeli government in stalling negotiations to
end the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and urged India and Pakistan to negotiate to end the Kashmir conflict, for which he was criticised by both
Israel and India. Inspired by the region's economic boom, Mandela sought greater economic relations with East Asia, in particular with Mal
aysia, although this was prevented by the 1997 Asian financial crisis. He extended diplomatic recognition to the People's Republic of China
(PRC), who were growing as an economic force, and initially also to Taiwan, who were already longstanding investors in the South African economy
. However, under pressure from the PRC, he cut recognition of Taiwan in November 1996, and he paid an official visit to Beijing in May 1999.
Mandela attracted controversy for his close relationship with Indonesian president Suharto, whose regime was responsible for mas
s human rights abuses, although on a July 1997 visit to Indonesia he privately urged Suharto to withdraw from the occupation of East Timor. He a
lso faced similar criticism from the West for his government's trade links to Syria, Cuba and Libya and for his personal friendships with C
astro and Gaddafi. Castro visited South Africa in 1998 to widespread popular acclaim, and Mandela met Gaddafi in Libya to award him the Orde
r of Good Hope. When Western governments and media criticised these visits, Mandela lambasted such criticism as having racist undertones,
and stated that "the enemies of countries in the West are not our enemies." Mandela hoped to resolve the long-running dispute between Libya
and the United States and Britain over bringing to trial the two Libyans, Abdelbaset al-Megrahi and Lamin Khalifah Fhimah, who were indicted in
November 1991 and accused of sabotaging Pan Am Flight 103. Mandela proposed that they be tried in a third country, which was agreed to by all par
ties; governed by Scots law, the trial was held at Camp Zeist in the Netherlands in April 1999, and found one of the two men guilty.
Mandela echoed Mbeki's calls for an "African Renaissance", and he was greatly concerned with issues on the continent.
He took a soft diplomatic approach to removing Sani Abacha's military junta in Nigeria but later became a leading figure in calling for
sanctions when Abacha's regime increased human rights violations. In 1996, he was appointed chairman of the Southern African Devel
opment Community (SADC) and initiated unsuccessful negotiations to end the First Congo War in Zaire.He also played a key role as a
mediator in the ethnic conflict between Tutsi and Hutu political groups in the Burundian Civil War, helping to initiate a settlement wh
ich brought increased stability to the country but did not end the ethnic violence. In South Africa's first post-apartheid military
operation, troops were ordered into Lesotho in September 1998 to protect the government of Prime Minister Pakalitha Mosisili after a disp
uted election had prompted opposition uprisings. The action was not authorised by Mandela himself, who was out of the country at the time,
but by Buthelezi, who was serving as acting president during Mandela's absence.
Withdrawing from politics
The new Constitution of South Africa was agreed upon by parliament in May 1996, enshrining a series of institutions to p
lace checks on political and administrative authority within a constitutional democracy. De Klerk opposed the implementation of t
his constitution, and that month he and the National Party withdrew from the coalition government in protest, claiming that the ANC we
re not treating them as equals. The ANC took over the cabinet positions formerly held by the Nationalists, with Mbeki becoming sol
e Deputy President. Inkatha remained part of the coalition. and when both Mandela and Mbeki were out of the country in Septem
ber 1998, Buthelezi was appointed "Acting President", marking an improvement in his relationship with Mandela. Although Mandela ha
d often governed decisively in his first two years as president, he had subsequently increasingly delegated duties to Mbeki, retai
ning only a close personal supervision of intelligence and security measures. During a 1997 visit to London, he said that "the rule
r of South Africa, the de facto ruler, is Thabo Mbeki" and that he was "shifting everything to him".
Mandela stepped down as ANC President at the party's December 1997 conference. He hoped that Ramaphosa would succeed him
, believing Mbeki to be too inflexible and intolerant of criticism, but the ANC elected Mbeki regardless. Mandela and the Executiv
e supported Jacob Zuma, a Zulu who had been imprisoned on Robben Island, as Mbeki's replacement for Deputy President. Zuma's candidacy
was challenged by Winnie, whose populist rhetoric had gained her a strong following within the party, although Zuma defeated her in a la
ndslide victory vote at the election.
Mandela's relationship with Machel had intensified; in February 1998, he publicly stated that he was "in love with a rem
arkable lady", and under pressure from Tutu, who urged him to set an example for young people, he organised a wedding for his 80th birt
hday, in July that year. The following day, he held a grand party with many foreign dignitaries. Although the 1996 constituti
on allowed the president to serve two consecutive five-year terms, Mandela had never planned to stand for a second term in office. He g
ave his farewell speech to Parliament on 29 March 1999 when it adjourned prior to the 1999 general elections, after which he retired. A
lthough opinion polls in South Africa showed wavering support for both the ANC and the government, Mandela himself remained highly popul
ar, with 80% of South Africans polled in 1999 expressing satisfaction with his performance as president.
Retirement
Continued activism and philanthropy: 1999–2004
Retiring in June 1999, Mandela aimed to lead a quiet family life, divided between Johannesburg and Qunu. Although he
set about authoring a sequel to his first autobiography, to be titled The Presidential Years, it remained unfinished and was only
published posthumously in 2017. Mandela found such seclusion difficult and reverted to a busy public life involving a daily
programme of tasks, meetings with world leaders and celebrities, and—when in Johannesburg—working with the Nelson Mandela Founda
tion, founded in 1999 to focus on rural development, school construction, and combating HIV/AIDS. Although he had been heavi
ly criticised for failing to do enough to fight the HIV/AIDS pandemic during his presidency, he devoted much of his time to the is
sue following his retirement, describing it as "a war" that had killed more than "all previous wars"; affiliating himself with th
e Treatment Action Campaign, he urged Mbeki's government to ensure that HIV-positive South Africans had access to anti-retroviral
s. Meanwhile, Mandela was successfully treated for prostate cancer in July 2001.In 2002, Mandela inaugurated the Nelson Mande
la Annual Lecture, and in 2003 the Mandela Rhodes Foundation was created at Rhodes House, University of Oxford, to provide postgrad
uate scholarships to African students. These projects were followed by the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory and the 46664 campaign a
gainst HIV/AIDS. He gave the closing address at the XIII International AIDS Conference in Durban in 2000, and in 2004, sp
oke at the XV International AIDS Conference in Bangkok, Thailand, calling for greater measures to tackle tuberculosis as well as HI
V/AIDS. Mandela publicised AIDS as the cause of his son Makgatho's death in January 2005, to defy the stigma about discussing t
he disease.
Publicly, Mandela became more vocal in criticising Western powers. He strongly opposed the 1999 NATO intervent
ion in Kosovo and called it an attempt by the world's powerful nations to police the entire world.[326] In 2003, he spoke out
against the plans for the United States to launch a war in Iraq, describing it as "a tragedy" and lambasting US president Geor
ge W. Bush and British prime minister Tony Blair (whom he referred to as an "American foreign minister") for undermining the UN
, saying, "All that (Mr. Bush) wants is Iraqi oil".[327] He attacked the United States more generally, asserting that "If there
is a country that has committed unspeakable atrocities in the world, it is the United States of America", citing the atomic bo
mbing of Japan; this attracted international controversy, although he later improved his relationship with Bush. Ret
aining an interest in the Lockerbie suspect, he visited Megrahi in Barlinnie prison and spoke out against the conditions of his t
reatment, referring to them as "psychological persecution".
"Retiring from retirement": 2004–2013
In June 2004, aged 85 and amid failing health, Mandela announced that he was "retiring from retirement" and retrea
ting from public life, remarking, "Don't call me, I will call you. Although continuing to meet with close friends and famil
y, the foundation discouraged invitations for him to appear at public events and denied most interview requests.
He retained some involvement in international affairs. In 2005, he founded the Nelson Mandela Legacy Trust,
travelling to the United States to speak before the Brookings Institution and the NAACP on the need for economic assistance to Africa.
He spoke with US senator Hillary Clinton and President George W. Bush and first met the then-senator Barack Obama. Mandela also en
couraged Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe to resign over growing human rights abuses in the country. When this proved ineffective
, he spoke out publicly against Mugabe in 2007, asking him to step down "with residual respect and a modicum of dignity. That year,
Mandela, Machel and Desmond Tutu convened a group of world leaders in Johannesburg to contribute their wisdom and independent lead
ership to some of the world's toughest problems. Mandela announced the formation of this new group, The Elders, in a speech delive
red on his 89th birthday.
Mandela's 90th birthday was marked across the country on 18 July 2008, with the main celebrations held at Qunu, and a
concert in his honour in Hyde Park, London. In a speech marking the event, Mandela called for the rich to help the poor across
the world. Throughout Mbeki's presidency, Mandela continued to support the ANC, usually overshadowing Mbeki at any public even
ts that the two attended. Mandela was more at ease with Mbeki's successor, Zuma, although the Nelson Mandela Foundation was ups
et when his grandson, Mandla Mandela, flew him out to the Eastern Cape to attend a pro-Zuma rally in the midst of a storm in 2009.
In 2004, Mandela successfully campaigned for South Africa to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup, declaring that there would
be "few better gifts for us" in the year marking a decade since the fall of apartheid. Despite maintaining a low profile during
the event due to ill health, Mandela made his final public appearance during the World Cup closing ceremony, where he received much
applause. Between 2005 and 2013, Mandela, and later his family, were embroiled in a series of legal disputes regarding mo
ney held in family trusts for the benefit of his descendants. In mid-2013, as Mandela was hospitalised for a lung infection in
Pretoria, his descendants were involved in an intra-family legal dispute relating to the burial place of Mandela's children, and ul
timately Mandela himself.
Illness and death: 2011–2013
In February 2011, Mandela was briefly hospitalised with a respiratory infection, attracting international attention,
before being re-admitted for a lung infection and gallstone removal in December 2012. After a successful medical procedure
in early March 2013, his lung infection recurred and he was briefly hospitalised in Pretoria. In June 2013, his lung infe
ction worsened and he was readmitted to a Pretoria hospital in serious condition. The Archbishop of Cape Town Thabo Makgoba visi
ted Mandela at the hospital and prayed with Machel, while Zuma cancelled a trip to Mozambique to visit him the following day.
In September 2013, Mandela was discharged from hospital, although his condition remained unstable.
After suffering from a prolonged respiratory infection, Mandela died on 5 December 2013 at the age of 95, at arou
nd 20:50 local time at his home in Houghton, surrounded by his family. Zuma publicly announced his death on television,
proclaiming ten days of national mourning, a memorial service held at Johannesburg's FNB Stadium on 10 December 2013, and 8 Dece
mber as a national day of prayer and reflection. Mandela's body lay in state from 11 to 13 December at the Union Buildings in Pret
oria and a state funeral was held on 15 December in Qunu. Approximately 90 representatives of foreign states travelled t
o South Africa to attend memorial events. It was later revealed that 300 million rand (about 20 million dollars) originally e
armarked for humanitarian development projects had been redirected to finance the funeral. The media was awash with tributes
and reminiscences, while images of tributes to Mandela proliferated across social media. His US$4.1 million estate was left
to his widow, other family members, staff, and educational institutions.
Political ideology
Mandela identified as both an African nationalist, an ideological position he held since joining the ANC, and as
a socialist. He was a practical politician, rather than an intellectual scholar or political theorist. According to biog
rapher Tom Lodge, "for Mandela, politics has always been primarily about enacting stories, about making narratives, primarily about
morally exemplary conduct, and only secondarily about ideological vision, more about means rather than ends.
The historian Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatsheni described Mandela as a "liberal African nationalist–decolonial humanist",
while political analyst Raymond Suttner cautioned against labelling Mandela a liberal and stated that Mandela displayed a "hybrid
socio-political make-up". Mandela adopted some of his political ideas from other thinkers—among them Indian independence lea
ders like Gandhi and Nehru, African-American civil rights activists, and African nationalists like Nkrumah—and applied them to the
South African situation. At the same time he rejected other aspects of their thought, such as the anti-white sentiment of many Af
rican nationalists. In doing so he synthesised both counter-cultural and hegemonic views, for instance by drawing upon ideas
from the then-dominant Afrikaner nationalism in promoting his anti-apartheid vision.
His political development was strongly influenced by his legal training and practice, in particular his hope to ach
ieve change not through violence but through "legal revolution". Over the course of his life, he began by advocating a path
of non-violence, later embracing violence, and then adopting a non-violent approach to negotiation and reconciliation. When
endorsing violence, he did so because he saw no alternative, and was always pragmatic about it, perceiving it as a means to get
his opponent to the negotiating table. He sought to target symbols of white supremacy and racist oppression rather than whi
te people as individuals, and was anxious not to inaugurate a race war in South Africa. This willingness to use violence dis
tinguishes Mandela from the ideology of Gandhism, with which some commentators have sought to associate him.
Democracy
Although he presented himself in an autocratic manner in several speeches, Mandela was a devout believer in democr
acy and abided by majority decisions even when deeply disagreeing with them. He had exhibited a commitment to the values o
f democracy and human rights since at least the 1960s. He held a conviction that "inclusivity, accountability and freedom of
speech" were the fundamentals of democracy, and was driven by a belief in natural and human rights. Suttner argued tha
t there were "two modes of leadership" that Mandela adopted. On one side he adhered to ideas about collective leadership, althoug
h on the other believed that there were scenarios in which a leader had to be decisive and act without consultation to achieve a
particular objective.
According to Lodge, Mandela's political thought reflected tensions between his support for liberal democracy and pre
-colonial African forms of consensus decision making. He was an admirer of British-style parliamentary democracy, stating
that "I regard the British Parliament as the most democratic institution in the world, and the independence and impartiality of it
s judiciary never fail to arouse my admiration. In this he has been described as being committed to "the Euro-North American
modernist project of emancipation", something which distinguishes him from other African nationalist and socialist leaders like Nyer
ere who were concerned about embracing styles of democratic governance that were Western, rather than African, in origin. Mande
la nevertheless also expressed admiration for what he deemed to be indigenous forms of democracy, describing Xhosa traditional socie
ty's mode of governance as "democracy in its purest form". He also spoke of an influential African ethical tenet, Ubuntu, which
is a Ngnuni term meaning "A person is a person through other persons" or "I am because we are.
Socialism and Marxism
Mandela advocated the ultimate establishment of a classless society, with Sampson describing him as being "openly
opposed to capitalism, private land-ownership and the power of big money". Mandela was influenced by Marxism, and during the re
volution he advocated scientific socialism. He denied being a communist at the Treason Trial, and maintained this stance b
oth when later talking to journalists, and in his autobiography. According to the sociologist Craig Soudien, "sympathetic
as Mandela was to socialism, a communist he was not. Conversely, the biographer David Jones Smith stated that Mandela "embrace
d communism and communists" in the late 1950s and early 1960s,while the historian Stephen Ellis commented that Mandela had ass
imilated much of the Marxist–Leninist ideology by 1960.
Ellis also found evidence that Mandela had been an active member of the South African Communist Party during the l
ate 1950s and early 1960s, something that was confirmed after his death by both the ANC and the SACP, the latter of which cl
aimed that he was not only a member of the party, but also served on its Central Committee. His membership had been hidden by
the ANC, aware that knowledge of Mandela's former SACP involvement might have been detrimental to his attempts to attract support
from Western countries.Mandela's view of these Western governments differed from those of Marxist–Leninists, for he did not
believe that they were anti-democratic or reactionary and remained committed to democratic systems of governance.
The 1955 Freedom Charter, which Mandela had helped create, called for the nationalisation of banks, gold mines and l
and, to ensure equal distribution of wealth. Despite these beliefs, Mandela initiated a programme of privatisation during his pr
esidency in line with trends in other countries of the time. It has been repeatedly suggested that Mandela would have preferred t
o develop a social democratic economy in South Africa but that this was not feasible as a result of the international political and e
conomic situation during the early 1990s. This decision was in part influenced by the fall of the socialist states in the Soviet
Union and Eastern Bloc during the early 1990s.
Reception and legacy
By the time of his death, within South Africa Mandela was widely considered both "the father of the nation and "the fou
nding father of democracy" Outside of South Africa, he was a "global icon", with the scholar of South African studies Rit
a Barnard describing him as "one of the most revered figures of our time". One biographer considered him "a modern democratic h
ero". Some have portrayed Mandela in messianic terms, in contrast to his own statement that "I was not a messiah, but an or
dinary man who had become a leader because of extraordinary circumstances." He is often cited alongside Mahatma Gandhi and Marti
n Luther King Jr. as one of the 20th century's exemplary anti-racist and anti-colonial leaders. Boehmer described him as "a tote
m of the totemic values of our age: toleration and liberal democracy" and "a universal symbol of social justice".
Mandela's international fame emerged during his incarceration in the 1980s, when he became the world's most famous politi
cal prisoner, a symbol of the anti-apartheid cause, and an icon for millions who embraced the ideal of human equality. In 1986, Mande
la's biographer characterised him as "the embodiment of the struggle for liberation" in South Africa. Meredith stated that in bec
oming "a potent symbol of resistance" to apartheid during the 1980s, he had gained "mythical status" internationally. Sampson commente
d that even during his life, this myth had become "so powerful that it blurs the realities", converting Mandela into "a secular saint"
. Within a decade of the end of his presidency, Mandela's era was widely thought of as "a golden age of hope and harmony", wi
th much nostalgia being expressed for it. His name was often invoked by those criticising his successors like Mbeki and Zuma.
Across the world, Mandela earned international acclaim for his activism in overcoming apartheid and fostering racial reconciliation,
coming to be viewed as "a moral authority" with a great "concern for truth". Mandela's iconic status has been blamed for con
cealing the complexities of his life.
Mandela generated controversy throughout his career as an activist and politician, having detractors on both the
right and the radical left.[ During the 1980s, Mandela was widely labelled a terrorist by prominent political figures in the Western
world for his embrace of political violence. According to Thatcher, for instance, the ANC was "a typical terrorist organisation".
The US government's State and Defense departments officially designated the ANC as a terrorist organisation, resulting in Mandela r
emaining on their terrorism watch-list until 2008. On the left, some voices in the ANC—among them Frank B. Wilderson III—accused h
im of selling out for agreeing to enter negotiations with the apartheid government and for not implementing the reforms of the Freedom
Charter during his presidency.According to Barnard, "there is also a sense in which his chiefly bearing and mode of conduct, the
very respect and authority he accrued in representing his nation in his own person, went against the spirit of democracy", and co
ncerns were similarly expressed that he placed his own status and celebrity above the transformation of his country. His governme
nt would be criticised for its failure to deal with both the HIV/AIDS pandemic and the high levels of poverty in South Africa. Man
dela was also criticised for his friendship with political leaders such as Castro, Gaddafi, and Suharto—deemed dictators by critics—as
well as his refusal to condemn their governments' human rights violations.
Orders, decorations, monuments, and honours
Over the course of his life, Mandela was given over 250 awards, accolades, prizes, honorary degrees and citizenships in
recognition of his political achievements. Among his awards were the Nobel Peace Prize, the US Presidential Medal of Freed
om, the Soviet Union's Lenin Peace Prize, and the Libyan Al-Gaddafi International Prize for Human Rights. In 1990, Ind
ia awarded him the Bharat Ratna, and in 1992 Pakistan gave him their Nishan-e-Pakistan The same year, he was awarded the A
tatürk Peace Award by Turkey; he at first refused the award, citing human rights violations committed by Turkey at the time, but
later accepted the award in 1999. He was given the Fulbright Prize for International Understanding by the Fulbright Association
in 1993. He was appointed to the Order of Isabella the Catholic and the Order of Canada, and was the first living person t
o be made an honorary Canadian citizen. Queen Elizabeth II appointed him as a Bailiff Grand Cross of the Order of St. John and g
ranted him membership in the Order of Merit.
In 2004, Johannesburg granted Mandela the Freedom of the City, and in 2008 a Mandela statue was unveiled at the
spot where Mandela was released from prison. On the Day of Reconciliation 2013, a bronze statue of Mandela was unveiled at Pre
toria's Union Buildings. In November 2009, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed Mandela's birthday, 18 July, as "Man
dela Day", marking his contribution to the anti-apartheid struggle. It called on individuals to donate 67 minutes to doing somethin
g for others, commemorating the 67 years that Mandela had been a part of the movement. In 2015 the UN General Assembly named th
e amended Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners as "the Mandela Rules" to honour his legacy.