Nelson Mandela

 Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela Xhosa: [xolilala mande:la](18 July 1918 - 5 December 2013) was a South African anti-apartheid activist and politician who served as the first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first black head of state and was the first president elected in a fully representative democratic election. His administration was focused on encouraging reconciliation as well as removing the history of apartheid. Ideologically an African socialist and nationalist, he served as the president of the African National Congress (ANC) party from 1991 until 1997.A Xhosa, Mandela was born to the Thembu royal family in Mvezo, Union of South Africa. Before becoming an Johannesburg lawyer, he was studying law at the University of Fort Hare as well as the University of Witwatersrand. He was engaged with anti-colonial as well as African nationalist politics, joining the ANC in 1943, and co-founding its Youth League in 1944. The National Party's exclusive white government instituted apartheid, a system of racial segregation that was a privilege for whites, Mandela and the ANC committed themselves to its overthrow. Mandela was elected president of the ANC's Transvaal branch, rising to fame for his participation in the 1952 Defiance Campaign and the 1955 Congress of the People. He was frequently detained for seditious activity and was not prosecuted at the 1956 Treason trial. Influenced by Marxism, he secretly became a member of the banned South African Communist Party (SACP). The initial commitment was to peaceful protest but, along with the SACP was the founder of the militant uMkhonto we Sizwe and led an attack on the government. In 1962, he was taken into prison and sentenced to life prison. He also spent 27 years in prison for conspiring against overthrow of the state. His time in prison was divided between Pollsmoor Prison, Victor Verster Prison as well as Robben Island. With the growing international and domestic pressure and fears of conflict between the races the president F. W. de Klerk released him in the year 1990. Mandela as well as de Klerk led efforts to negotiate an end to apartheid, which resulted in the 1994 general election, which was multiracial in which Mandela took the ANC to victory, and later became president. As the head of a coalition government, which promulgated the new constitution, Mandela stressed reconciliation among the various racial groups of the country and created the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to look into past human rights violations. On the economic front, his administration maintained the liberal framework of its predecessor despite his own socialist convictions as well as introducing measures to promote land reform, combat the effects of poverty, and improve healthcare. Mandela was a mediator during the Pan Am Flight 103 Bombing Trial. He also served as secretary general of the Non-Aligned Movement between 1998 and 1999. Thabo Mbeki, his deputy, succeeded him. Mandela was a senior statesman and devoted his energy to poverty and HIV/AIDS via the Nelson Mandela Foundation. Mandela was a controversial figure through much of his life. Although he was denigrated by right-wingers for being a communist terrorist and by the left for being a radical who thought he was too eager to reconcile with the people who supported apartheid and apartheid, Mandela gained international recognition through his activism. The world is awed by his emblem of democracy and social justice and social justice, he was awarded over 250 awards and awards, including the Nobel Peace Prize. In South Africa, he is well-known and known as Madiba the name of the Thembu clan's name. He is also known as the "Father of the Nation".