Nelson mandela apartheid south africa

Khatanbaatar Magsarjav. What was the Golden Horde? Ancient City of Kerma. History of the Rijksmuseum. Greatest African Leaders of All Time. Donald Trump: 10 Most Significant Achievements. Kamala Harris: 10 Major Achievements. Mahatma Gandhi: 12 Most Important Achievements. How did Captain James Cook die? Mandela was an anti-Apartheid activist, which means that fought for those who were disadvantaged by the system of racial segregation.

Mandela became a civil rights leader, leading many against the Apartheid government. Apartheid was a system of racial inequality which kept all races separate from one another. InMandela was of key importance in negotiating the freedom and equality of all South Africans. Image source. Growing up he learnt about African history and the unfair discrimination faced by non-whites living in South Africa.

He wanted to help end this discrimination so that everyone could live freely and equally. Mandela later went on to study law at the University of the Witswatersrand where he met fellow activists who fought against Apartheid. While in jail on Robben Island in the s, the former president contracted tuberculosis. In early he was treated for what the president's office said was "a long-standing abdominal complaint".

But in recent months he has been troubled repeatedly by a lung infection. He was born in into the Xhosa-speaking Thembu people in a small village in the eastern Cape of South Africa. In South Africa, he is often called by his clan name - "Madiba". Born Rolihlahla Dalibhunga, he was given his English name, Nelson, by a teacher at his school.

His father, a counsellor to the Thembu royal family, died when Nelson Mandela was nine, and he was placed in the care of the acting regent of the Thembu people, chief Jongintaba Dalindyebo. Inaged 23, he ran away from an arranged marriage and went to Johannesburg. Two years later, he enrolled for a law degree at the mainly white Witswaterand University, where he met people from all races and backgrounds.

He was exposed to liberal, radical and Africanist thought, as well as racism and discrimination, which fuelled his passion for politics.

Nelson mandela apartheid south africa

He married his first wife, Evelyn Mase, in They were divorced in after having four children. Mr Mandela qualified as a lawyer and in opened a law practice in Johannesburg with his partner, Oliver Tambo. Together, Mr Mandela and Mr Tambo campaigned against apartheid, the system devised by the all-white National Party which oppressed the black majority.

InMr Mandela was charged with high treason, along with other activists, but the charges against him were dropped after a four-year trial. Resistance to apartheid grew, mainly against the new Pass Laws, which dictated where black people were allowed to live and work. InMr Mandela married Winnie Madikizela, who was later to take an active role in the campaign to free her husband from prison.

Tension with the apartheid regime grew, and soared to new heights in when 69 black people were shot dead by police in the Sharpeville massacre. No surprise, then, that 30 years on, as Du Toit reminds us, both the TRC archive and the accumulations of apartheid records secured by the TRC remain extremely difficult to access. And then, lastly, there were those opposed to prosecutions.

Some feared that litigation would force into the public domain precisely what the ANC wanted to remain hidden. Yet others were daunted by the enormous practical and ethical challenges they would present. A complex picture, then. Du Toit might be right about perpetrator findings being the tipping point. As Du Toit argues compellingly, its work was seen as threatening by too many powerful people and structures.

Needless to say, given where South Africa finds itself today, without these instruments working well, there can be no meaningful reckoning with oppressive pasts. There can be no reconciliation.