NELSON MANDELA

GREAT LEADER OF THE 20th CENTURY

He was born in 1918 in Umtata Transkei, South Africa; son of A Tembu tribal chief, Henry Mandela. He divorced his wife Winnie Madikileza, a social worker and political activist due to a political scandal and was married to Graca Machel, a lawyer in 1998. His marriages were always affected due to his political activities.

He started a correspondence course with the University of South Africa, now UNISA to complete his first degree. He was awarded his first Bachelor’s Degree in 1941, and in 1942 he was articled to another organization of attorneys and started upon a law degree at the University of Witwatersrand. By 1948 Nelson Mandela had failed to pass the exam required for his LLB law degree, and decided instead to settle for ‘qualifying’ exam which would allow him to practice as an attorney.

Soon after, he joined the?African National Congress?in 1942, during the height of?World War II. Nelson Mandela’s personal fixation with freedom brought him to work with many other members of the African National Congress to form a group under the leadership of a colleague, Anton Lembede. The group’s main focus was to change the African National Congress into a mass movement, including all people from urban communities to those in the country.

Mandela was instrumental in many political endeavors, many of which were anti-apartheid movements such as the Program of Action, a policy based initiative which was founded on the principle of using the non-violent weapons of “boycott, strike, civil disobedience and non-co-operation”. This eventually became the modus operandi of the African National Congress.

During the 1940s and 1950s he rose rapidly through the ANC hierarchy but was frequently subject to police harassment, detention, and banning.

When the ANC was outlawed in 1960 he went underground and organized its military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation). In 1962 he was

Sentenced to five years of imprisonment for inciting Africans to strike and for leaving South Africa without a valid travel documents. In 1964, while still in detention, he was charged with treason and, after giving a memorable four-and-a-half hour speech criticizing apartheid, he was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Living in a prison had the same meaning as living in the worst place in South Africa: Robben Island. ANC prisoners earned “D” classifications, which was prisoners who were the most dangerous and had the least rights. They were kept in cells with hay carpets and thin blankets as beds and iron buckets for toilets. The daily menu was always the same; small portion of corn soup with extra vegetable or meat chop for dinner. The men were wearing thin shirts from khaki and shorts, even during the winter, and were restricted from reading newspapers or magazines-they were not allowed to read any news at all. The prisoners spent most of their time in a chalk mine, where they worked very hard

As one of the leaders of the group, Nelson received more harsh treatment than the others. He was kept 23 hours in his cell every day, shined only by a lamp. This made him unable to sleep or know what the time was. He was only allowed to have one visitor every six months and once he was not allowed to see his wife for two years, Winnie. He could only write and receive one letter every six months. The letter he received was screened by the guard, who would cut the parts that were considered to be unsafe, effectively erasing those parts even though there were writings behind those parts.

In total Mandela spent twenty-seven consecutive years in detention. From 1964 to 1982 he was held on Robben Island, from 1982 to 1988 in Pollsmoor Prison, Cape Town, and from 1988 to 1990 in Victor Verster prison paarl.

From 1985 on he rejected several offers of “conditional” release which would have imposed severe limits on his political activities. In many ways his imprisonment increased his, already considerable, political status and resulted in a worldwide campaign for his release.

During the 27 years that Mandela spent in prison, hidden from the eyes of the world while he quarried limestone and harvested seaweed, his example of quiet suffering was just one of numerous pressures on the apartheid government.

Public discussion of Mandela was illegal, and he was allowed few visitors. But as the years dragged on, he assumed the mantle of a martyr. In 1982 Mandela was moved to the

Maximum security Pollsmoor Prison outside Cape Town. This move apparently stemmed from fears by the South African authorities that Mandela was exerting too great an influence on the other prisons at Robben Island.

Mandela spent much of the next six years in solitary confinement, during which he was allowed a weekly 30-minute visit by his wife, Winnie. He was offered a conditional freedom in 1984 on the condition that he settle in the officially designated black “homeland” of Transkei, an offer Mandela refused with an affirmation of his allegiance to the African National Congress.

In 1988, Mandela was hospitalized with tuberculosis, and after his recovery he was returned to prison under somewhat less stringent circumstances. In February 1990 he was unconditionally released to scenes of joyous celebration at home and abroad. This is indeed part of Mandela’s story, for the ANC certainly began to intentionally contrive a public legend around Mandela’s?Leadership,?well before he went to prison – during the 1952 “defiance campaign”, when collective decisions and activities were attributed to his personal genius. He was eventually elected President of the African National Congress in 1991. Nelson Mandela has never wavered in his devotion to democracy, equality and learning. Despite terrible provocation, he has never answered racism with racism. His life has been an inspiration, in South Africa and throughout the world, to all who are oppressed and deprived, to all who are opposed to oppression and deprivation. Mandela personifies struggle and today he led the fight against apartheid with extraordinary resilience and vigor after spending nearly 3 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 reinforced the fact that leaders have very different qualities and that leadership success is more complex than just identifying few traits or preferable behaviors. He is endowed with many personality traits that make him a natural leader, and over the course of his lifetime, he has also developed many leadership skills and strategies.

The last president of Apartheid-era South Africa, Mr. F.W. Deklerk hailed Nelson Mandela a great leader as a great “Unifier”, who displayed a “remarkable lack of bitterness”

Nelson Mandela was a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, political leader and philanthropist, who served as President of South Africa from 1994-1999. He was the country’s first black head of state and the first elected in a fully representative democratic election. His government focused on dismantling the legacy of apartheid by tackling institutionalized racism and fostering racial reconciliation. Ideologically an African nationalist and socialist, he served as the President of African National Congress party from 1991-1997.

He was a man of quiet dignity to match his towering achievements; a man with an ever radiant smile and immense and humble sense of?humor. Mandela was a rare visionary who would see beyond the current struggles and pain. He was convinced that one day the best parts of humanity would prevail over the worst parts. He even inspired his enemies to be better than they had been through?forgiveness?and reconciliation. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission he established is a great model for achieving justice in all nations where human rights abuses occurred and pain needs to be healed.

?One of the clear things that propelled Mandela to greatness amidst his suffering and depersonalization in prison was forgiving his jailors, feeling compassion for those who had caused him pain and his desire for reconciliation. Mandela had the capacity to transcend himself for the sake of those around him and higher causes. His personal pain at causing his family to suffer, seeing the nation he led sink into corruption, and admitting his own mistakes, after all he fought for after his release from prison, never overwhelmed him nor stopped his resolve to make things better. Mandela was not a perfect man, and in acknowledging his flaws, he becomes even greater. In his later years, Mandela acknowledged his weaknesses, his turbulent youth and his tempestuous relationship with women. Mandela once said, “One of the most difficult things is not to change society—but to change yourself.”

Zelda la Grange, Mandel’s personal assistant for almost two decades who said Mandela’s “exceptionalism” was because he inspired people to forgive, to reconcile, to be selfless and tolerant and to maintain dignity no matter what the circumstances.

But, what made him stand out from numerous other statesmen around the world??Why is he immortalized while many of his contemporaries, even, some who arguably achieved more, have slipped into the dustbin of history??After studying him rigorously, below are seven reasons why he was a remarkable Great Leader:

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·???????Self-sacrifice: ?A Messiah-like figure to his people, Nelson Mandela spent 27 years of his precious life in prison on Robben Island, hammering on rocks in the scorching heat during the day, only to retire to a tiny eight-by-seven-foot concrete cell with only a straw mat to sleep on. When he was offered freedom in 1985, he refused, saying: “I cannot and will not give any undertaking, at a time when I and you, the people, are not free.?Your freedom and mine cannot be separated!”

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·???????Compassion: It is easy to forgive a stranger, and easier to forgive a friend, but how difficult it is to forgive an enemy. Nelson Mandela forgave his greatest adversary, the Apartheid government, which not only caused tremendous suffering to himself and his family but also to his countrymen.?He could have demanded the heads of those who murdered thousands of innocent indigenous South Africans, but he chose the higher route instead.?Setting up the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, he left a legacy of forgiveness and reconciliation, not only for his people but also for the world.

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·???????He Was a Learner: While in prison, he not only threw himself into the routine of daily exercise, but he also read smuggled books as much as he could. A lover of learning, although he was restricted from access to political books he liked, he ordered books on gardening and horticulture, eventually cultivating food that fed not only his fellow prisoners but also prison officials. He also continued his legal education while in prison, often giving legal advice to both prisoners and prison staff.?His zest for learning and teaching was so great that Robben Island became known as “Nelson Mandela University.”

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·???????Ethical: In today’s increasingly competitive world, people care less about how you acquire money, power, and wealth, just as long as you amass them. Mandela, on the other hand, put people and honor before worldly gain.?At a time when most African presidents were corruptly amassing fortunes during their tenures, Mandela’s estate was roughly just US $2.9 million.?And, he not only left money for his family but for his staff as well.

·???????He Was a Unifier: As the old adage goes, “United we stand, divided we fall.” When Mandela took power, he sought to bring whites, blacks, and other minorities together.?Some expected him to favor blacks, particularly those from his Xhosa tribe, but because of his vision for a rainbow nation, South Africa is currently benefiting from its rich diversity economically, intellectually, and culturally. The last president of Apartheid-era South Africa, F.W. Deklerk, hailed Nelson Mandela as a “great unifier” who displayed a “remarkable lack of bitterness.”

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·???????He Was a Servant: He focused on the needs of others, not his own, listening to those who society had ignored and sought out those who society had cast away. He served the poor and the rich; he served the educated and the illiterate.?There is no one Mandela did not care for.?He saw everyone as his brother and sister—even his enemies.?While rulers all over the world were busy empowering themselves and their friends, he was busy empowering his people.

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·???????He Was Human: The media put him on a pedestal, classifying him as an infallible saint—an incorrigible angel who could do no wrong. He became a man of mythical proportions to many in Africa and all over the world.?The reality, however, was far from it; Mandela himself never denied his humanity, given to the same weaknesses as everyone else.?His first marriage broke down, and so did his second; he was unable to balance being a leader in the home and in the nation.?He also failed to raise the kind of children befitting a man of his nobility.?He said in an interview, “My first task when I came out was to destroy that myth that I was something other than an ordinary human being.”?In the end, although disappointing, people were still drawn to him.?In fact, his humanity made him even more appealing.

SULTAN ZAFAR

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