CENTRAL NEWS
Born in 1918 in Transkei, a part of South Africa, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela grew up in a country where black people had little to no say in how their nation was run. His country was being run by white people only, leaving the black community to work as servants. Nelson, who had been raised hearing the stories of his ancestors’ valour during the wars of resistance, dreamed also of making his own contribution to the freedom struggle of his people.
Nelson Mandela studied as a lawyer in Johannesburg, and in 1944 joined the African National Congress, demanding black South Africans have the same human rights as whites. Following new apartheid laws in 1948, suddenly black and white people could not share a table in a restaurant, or even sit together on a bus, and black children and white children were forced to go to different schools.
Nelson formed South Africa’s first black law firm with his colleague, Oliver Tambo. Attempting peaceful protests, in 1956, Mandela and 155 other people were arrested and imprisoned for five years for treason.
In 1960, some people held a demonstration against apartheid at Sharpeville, near Johannesburg. The police shot dead 69 black people. Despite this, the government blamed the ANC, and subsequently banned the organisation. It was at this point that instead of being the leader of the ANC, Mandela formed a seld-defence army, known as Umkhonto we Sizwe, or ‘Spear of the Nation’.
As a result, he was hunted by the police, and had to go into hiding. He also travelled to other countries to ask for help, but on 5th August 1962 Mandela was arrested again and accused of plotting to overthrow the government. In 1964, at the age of 46, he was given a life sentence.
