CAN AFRICA EVER RECOVER? (NELSON MANDELA)

The South African activist and former president Nelson Mandela (1918-2013) helped bring an end to apartheid and
 has been a global advocate for human rights. A member of the African National Congress party beginning in the 1940s,
he was a leader of both peaceful protests and armed resistance against the white minority’s oppressive regime in a
 racially divided South Africa. His actions landed him in prison for nearly three decades and made him the face of
the antiapartheid movement both within his country and internationally. Released in 1990, he participated in the
eradication of apartheid and in 1994 became the first black president of South Africa, forming a multiethnic government
 to oversee the country’s transition. after retiring from politics in 1999, he remained a devoted champion for peace and
 social justice in his own nation and around
 the world until his death in 2013 at the age of 95.

NELSON MANDELA AND THE AFRICAN NATIONAL CONGRESS
Nelson Mandela’s commitment to politics and the ANC grew stronger after the 1948 election victory of the Afrikaner-dominated
 National Party, which introduced a formal system of racial classification and segregation—apartheid—that restricted nonwhites’ basic
rights and barred them from government while maintaining white minority rule. The following year, the ANC adopted the ANCYL’s plan to
achieve full citizenship for all South Africans through boycotts, strikes, civil disobedience and other nonviolent methods. Mandela helped
lead the ANC’s 1952 Campaign for the Defiance of Unjust Laws, traveling across the country to organize protests against discriminatory policies,
 and promoted the manifesto known as the Freedom Charter, ratified by the Congress of the People in 1955. Also in 1952, Mandela and
 Tambo opened South Africa’s first black law firm, which offered free or low-cost legal counsel to those affected by apartheid legislation.

On December 5, 1956, Mandela and 155 other activists were arrested and went on trial for treason. All of the defendants were acquitted
 in 1961, but in the meantime tensions within the ANC escalated, with a militant faction splitting off in 1959 to form the Pan
 Africanist Congress (PAC). The next year, police opened fire on peaceful black protesters in the township of Sharpeville, killing
69 people; as panic, anger and riots swept the country in the massacre’s aftermath, the apartheid government banned both the ANC and
the PAC. Forced to go underground and wear disguises to evade detection, Mandela decided that the time had come for a more radical
approach than passive resistance.



NELSON MANDELA AS PRESIDENT OF SOUTH AFRICA
After attaining his freedom, Nelson Mandela led the ANC in its negotiations with the governing National Party and various other South
 African political organizations for an end to apartheid and the establishment of a multiracial government. Though fraught with tension
and conducted against a backdrop of political instability, the talks earned Mandela and de Klerk the Nobel Peace Prize in December 1993.
 On April 26, 1994, more than 22 million South Africans turned out to cast ballots in the country’s first multiracial parliamentary elections
 in history. An overwhelming majority chose the ANC to lead the country, and on May 10 Mandela was sworn in as the first black president of
 South Africa, with de Klerk serving as his first deputy.

As president, Mandela established the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate human rights and political violations committed by
 both supporters and opponents of apartheid between 1960 and 1994. He also introduced numerous social and economic programs designed to improve
the living standards of South Africa’s black population. In 1996 Mandela presided over the enactment of a new South African constitution, which
established a strong central government based on majority rule and prohibited discrimination against minorities, including whites.

Improving race relations, discouraging blacks from retaliating against the white minority and building a new international image of a united South
Africa were central to President Mandela’s agenda. To these ends, he formed a multiracial “Government of National Unity” and proclaimed the country
a “rainbow nation at peace with itself and the world.” In a gesture seen as a major step toward reconciliation, he encouraged blacks and whites alike
 to rally around the predominantly Afrikaner national rugby team when South Africa hosted the 1995 Rugby World Cup.

On his 80th birthday in 1998, Mandela wed the politician and humanitarian Graça Machel (1945-), widow of the former president of Mozambique.
 (His marriage to Winnie had ended in divorce in 1992.) The following year, he retired from politics at the end of his first term as president
 and was succeeded by his deputy, Thabo Mbeki (1942-) of the ANC.



NELSON MANDELA’S LATER YEARS AND LEGACY
After leaving office, Nelson Mandela remained a devoted champion for peace and social justice in his own country and around the world.
 He established a number of organizations, including the influential Nelson Mandela Foundation and The Elders, an independent group of
public figures committed to addressing global problems and easing human suffering. In 2002, Mandela became a vocal advocate of AIDS awareness
 and treatment programs in a culture where the epidemic
had been cloaked in stigma and ignorance. The disease later claimed the life of his son Makgatho (1950-2005) and is believed to affect
more people in South Africa than in any other country.

Treated for prostate cancer in 2001 and weakened by other health issues, Mandela grew increasingly frail in his later
years and scaled back his schedule of public appearances. In 2009, the United Nations declared July 18 “Nelson Mandela International
Day” in recognition of the South African leader’s contributions to democracy, freedom, peace and human rights around the world. Nelson
Mandela died on December 5, 2013 from a recurring lung infection.