Nelson Mandela was probably the most important person in the struggle against the apartheid system in South Africa.
He was born in 1918 to a Xhosa family with royal connections, and later studied law at university. He became involved in politics in his student days in Johannesburg, and soon joined the youth league of the African National Congress (ANC), a movement which would later become a political party and eventually be elected to government. However, at the time when the young Mandela joined it, the ANC was very much an opposition movement at a time when black Africans, the original inhabitants of the country, and indeed other non-white groups such as Indians, had their rights severely restricted. This was brutally reinforced in 1948 when the National Party was elected, and formalised the system of apartheid.
The word ‘apartheid’ is Afrikaans (the Dutch-based language spoken by the white Afrikaners who gave the National Party most of its support) and means separateness. There was already separation and extreme discrimination against black Africans, but the new apartheid laws made it all much more rigid. Blacks and whites lived, worked and did almost everything separately, and black Africans were prevented from voting.
Nelson Mandela campaigned vigorously against the injustices caused by this system. He soon became an important figure in the ANC and, as he came more often to the attention of the authorities, was arrested several times. In the late 1950s he, along with many colleagues such as Oliver Tambo, the ANC president, was tried for treason, although he was not convicted. However, in March 1960 a peaceful anti-apartheid demonstration ended with 69 protestors being shot dead by police, and with the government’s decision to ban the ANC. Up to then the ANC had been committed to non-violence, but after Sharpevillle there was a change of tactics and Mandela was instrumental in setting up the military wing of the organisation. He also increased his campaigns against the regime and travelled to other countries to raise awareness of apartheid and support for the ANC. On returning from one of these trips in 1962 he was arrested again. This time he was convicted of conspiracy to overthrow the South African government.
Mandela spent the next 27 years in prison. The prison most associated with his name was Robben Island, and in fact he did spend 18 years there, as did two other future South African presidents (the island has a long history of housing political prisoners). He was moved to two other prisons later. Over the years that he spent in prison, a growing international campaign called for his release. As more became known to the outside world about the reality of apartheid, the campaign grew more intense. By the 1980s there were international campaigns going on; in the UK, for example, many people refused to use Barclay’s bank, which had major interests in South Africa, and there were attempts to stop sports teams from playing there. Streets, buildings and even bars were named after Nelson Mandela.
Finally in 1990 he was released. He showed no bitterness towards his captors and quickly started to work with the president of the time, FW de Klerk, towards ending apartheid and bringing about a peaceful move to democracy. In 1993 Mandela and de Klerk received a joint Nobel Peace Prize for their work, and in 1994 South Africa held its first fully representative election. Mandela was elected president and remained in office until 1999. After leaving office he continued to do charitable work as long as his health allowed it, and remained a very important unifying figure who always stressed the importance of all races working together. He died on 5 December 2013 at the age of 95.