1.
Mandela's birth name – Rolihlahla – is an
isiXhosa name that means "pulling the branch
of the tree". Colloquially it also means
"troublemaker". His English name, Nelson, was given to him by a
missionary schoolteacher.
2.
He was expelled from the University of Fort
Hare after joining a student protest. He later completed his degree through
Unisa, which he followed up with a law degree from Wits University.
3.
He fled the Eastern Cape for Johannesburg after Jongintaba
Dalindyebo, the leader of the Tembu people, tried to set up an arranged
marriage for him. After arriving in the city, he found work as a night watchman
at a mine.
4.
He lived in Alexandra township at first but later moved in with close friend Walter Sisulu and
Sisulu's mother in Orlando, Soweto.
5.
Mandela's first wife, Evelyn Mase, was a nurse and Sisulu's
cousin. She was the breadwinner in the family and supported Mandela while he
studied law at Wits University and became further involved in politics. They
had four children together and divorced in 1958.
6.
He was not only the first commander in chief
of the ANC's armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe, but was also, together with Oliver
Tambo, co-founder of the country's first black law firm, Mandela
& Tambo, which defended people affected by apartheid laws.
7.
In 1962, he left the
country to garner support for the armed struggle. During this
time he received guerilla training in Morocco and Ethiopia.
8.
The circumstances surrounding his arrest at a police roadblock outside
of Howick later that year remain unclear but it is believed that an American CIA agent tipped off the police about his
whereabouts. He was convicted of sabotage and attempting to violently
overthrow the government.
9.
During his time in prison, Mandela was restricted to a 2m x 2.5m cell, with nothing but a
bedroll on the floor and a bucket for sanitation in it. He was consigned to
hard labour in a lime quarry for much of that time and was, at first, only
allowed one visitor and one letter every six months.
10.
The apartheid government offered to release Mandela on no less than six occasions but
he rejected them each time. On one such occasion Mandela released a statement
saying: "I cherish my own freedom dearly, but I care even more for your
freedom ... What freedom am I being offered while the organisation of the
people [the ANC] remains banned?"
11.
Mandela wrote a memoir during the 70s, copies
of which were wrapped in plastic containers and buried in a vegetable garden
which he kept at prison. It was hoped that fellow prisoner Mac Maharaj, who was
due for release, would be able to smuggle it out. But the containers were discovered when prison
authorities began building a wall through the garden. As punishment, Mandela's
study privileges were revoked.
12.
After he was separated from his second wife,
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, he asked struggle stalwart Amina Cachalia, with whom
he had a long relationship, to marry him but she turned him down. On his 80th
birthday,Mandela married Graça Machel, the widow of Mozambique's former
president Samora Machel.
13.
The ANC was labelled a
terrorist organisation by the apartheid government and was
recognised as such by countries including the US and Britain. It was only in
2008 that the United States finally removed Mandela and other ANC members from
its terror list.
14.
The United Nations declared his birthday, July 18, Nelson Mandela International Day. This was the first
time the UN dedicated a particular day to a person.
15.
Hundreds of awards and honours have been
bestowed on Mandela. Among others, he is an honorary citizen of Canada, an honorary member of the British Labour Party, and an honorary member of Manchester
United. He also had a nuclear particle (the 'Mandela particle'), a prehistoric
woodpecker (Australopicus nelsonmandelai) and an orchid (Paravanda Nelson
Mandela) named after him.
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