Mandela, Nelson Rolihlahla

Mandela, Nelson Rolihlahla (b. 18 July 1918). President of South Africa 1994–9 Son of a paramount chief of the Thembu (Xhosa) people near Umtata, he studied at Fort Hare University, where together with his close friend Tambo he became one of the leaders of the ANC Youth League. In 1952, they opened the country's first Black law practice. In 1953, he was banned for his ANC activities, which restricted his movements and put him under police surveillance. In 1956, he was accused of treason in a protracted trial which he successfully used as a platform for his opposition to apartheid, and was eventually acquitted in 1961.

In the wake of the Sharpeville Massacre Mandela decided that it was pointless to pursue non-violent means against a government that did not follow the rule of law. He led the formation of the ANC's armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation), which proceeded to carry out acts of sabotage against the regime under his direction as Commander-in-Chief. For these activities he was arrested in 1962 and sentenced in 1964 to life imprisonment, which he spent first in detention at Robben Island, and then at Pollsmoor prison, both near Cape Town. During his imprisonment, he became the most powerful symbol of ANC resistance, partly because every Black leader from Buthelezi to Tutu demanded his release, and partly because his determined wife, Winnie Mandela, continued to court and attract international media attention.

He continued to demand unconditional release from gaol, so that he rejected the government's offer of February 1985 to free him if he renounced all forms of violence. The government used this to depict Mandela as a violent terrorist to the right-wing governments of the UK under Thatcher, and the USA under Reagan. At the same time, the increasingly isolated government remained in an impasse as it became clear that no solution to the country's racial problems could be found as long as the single most respected Black leader was imprisoned.

Mandela was thus released unconditionally under the pragmatic De Klerk on 11 February 1990. Elected vice-president (2 March 1990) and then president (5 July 1990) of the ANC, he renounced violence after a second meeting with De Klerk, and thus opened the way for negotiations about the end of apartheid. After a series of tough negotiations he convinced De Klerk of the necessity of achieving a full democracy, without the maintenance of special minority privileges for Whites. Together with De Klerk he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993, and on 10 November 1993 a provisional Constitution was passed which for the first time guaranteed equal rights to all South Africans.

Following the ANC victory in the 1994 elections, he became the country's first Black President on 10 May 1994. Since then, his attempt to bring about reconciliation between his country's different peoples and races has been made especially difficult through the hostility particularly of Buthelezi, ever-fearful of losing too much of his own support to Mandela. More than any other person, Mandela's integrity, enthusiasm, and charm have been instrumental in the astonishingly peaceful transition from a repressive apartheid regime to the more peaceful self-proclaimed ‘rainbow nation’. The World's most admired elder statesman, he was succeeded by Thabo Mbeki, but continued to be active in promoting peace and reconciliation in other African countries.