Nelson Mandela Flaws

When we remember Nelson Mandela, most people think of social change, of leadership and of humanity. Mandela dedicated his life to his belief of equality and freedom for people in South Africa. As a strong supporter of freedom of speech, Mandela is one of the most revered speakers of the 20th century. He was born in a small village in the eastern cape of South Africa on July 18, 1918. Nelson studied law in the university of Fort Hare but never completed his degree. In 1941, he moved to Johannesburg where he encountered the racism led by the apartheid government. To further pursue his law studies, he began attending meetings of the ANC (African National Congress) – an anti-apartheid group. The ANC aimed to transform into a grassroots movement

Mandela was a very important leader in the struggle against apartheid. Like many other struggle leaders, he was thrown in jail more than once and spent 27 years of his life in jail. He became an important symbol for human rights and anti-apartheid campaigns all over the world. In 1990 he was finally released from jail, and he became an important leader in the talks with President F.W. de Klerk about a South Africa free from apartheid.

Mandela was imprisoned in South Africa from 1964-82. During the period of his imprisonment his public reputation grew. Upon his release from prison, he was considered the most prominent leader in black South Africa and he was a strong symbol of resistance in the anti-apartheid movement. Nelson Mandela became South Africa’s president in 1994. His main leadership qualities characteristics were his determination, persistence, focus and will.

Feb. 11, 1990 - South African anti-apartheid activist, Nelson Mandela, is freed after 27 years as a political prisoner in Cape Town, South Africa.

However, while in prison, Mandela was charged with treason for trying to overthrow the government and he was sentenced to life in prison (Ryan 1). Mandela was given a choice, and he chose to speak up and stand up for what was right. Although all he ever did was try to establish equality, Mandela ended up spending nearly three decades in

Following tradition, Mandela 's guardian arranged a marriage for him and Mandela was not so happy with the idea. He thought his freedom was being taken away so he decided to run away to Johannesburg. There he had many jobs and he continued studying to get his degree. Mandela then joined the African National Congress in 1942, him along with a group of young Africans wanted to make a difference. Mandela participated in nonviolent acts of defiance against the government for almost 20 years. Part of this included the 1952 Defiance Campaign and the 1955 Congress of People. In 1956, many people were charged for treason and arrested, Nelson Mandela being one of them. After being released, he was arrested once again in 1961 for 5 years because he was the leader of a strike. In 1963, he was brought to trial again . He had many plans to escape, but the British intellegence force kept ruining them. Being in prison was difficult for Mandela, but he tried to remain helping his people. When President P.W. Botha suffered a stroke, he was replaced by

However, King went to jail 30 times. All of his arrests were all about nonviolent protests against racial segregation and injustice in the American south. On the other hand, Mandela spent 27 years in prison during white racist rule in South Africa. He was released in 1990. After he was released from prison, he went on to become president and he shared the Nobel he won in 1993 with the white South African president (Stranziuso).

When Nelson Mandela was 9 his dad past away. Then eurpean people captured south africa. When his father dies he was sent to live with a chief and the chief sent him to fine schools. Then Nelson became a lawyer and protested the european laws that segregated south africans from white people and then put Nelson in jail for protesting. Then he stayed in prison for 2 weeks and got released.

    Nelson Mandela unified South Africa by using sports and the Truth Reconciliation Committee. Through sports like rugby, Mandela brought South Africa together. Rugby was mainly seen as a white game. Even today, it attracts mainly white supporters, and most of the players are white.  In 1995, there were still fears about the policies the government would adopt in regards to the treatment of white people. Mandela showed white South Africans that there was no cause for worry and that they would be included in the new South Africa. The Springboks (the name of the national rugby team) were hated by the blacks, he used this opportunity to unify the blacks and whites. At a rally he put on a Springboks hat, he supported the team every step of the way and encouraged South Africans of all races to get behind the Springboks (Bartleby.com). The Rugby World Cup was held in South Africa in 1955 and South Africa won so the whole country

In 1948, the government introduced apartheid, which left the country’s non-white majority with few economic opportunities. In response, Mandela travelled throughout South Africa and encouraged people to take part in nonviolent demonstrations against the government’s racial segregation policies. He was arrested for organizing anti-government activities and eventually sentenced to life in prison. “I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities,” he said during his trial. “It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.” Mandela’s

One large problem that occurred because of apartheid and was the cause of many protests was from 1961-1994, 3.5 million colored people and their families were forced out of their homes while their property was sold for very low prices to white farmers. This was just one example of events that were completely unfair to the colored population. Nelson Mandela was the person who stopped these acts from happening. In 1994, Mandela became the country’s first colored president. Instead of trying to make the people who put him into jail for 27 years suffer in consequences, he embraced them and used peace to unite everyone as equals, and not oppressing the people who had oppressed him for most of his life. Apartheid was a very rough time for anyone who lived in South Africa before Nelson Mandela and his peace helped to stop it.

Nelson Mandela was the man who abolished Apartheid, freeing South Africa from the binds of racial segregation forever. However, it was not an easy road and Mandela needed patience, strength of character, focus, passion, understanding, perseverance, and most importantly, forgiveness, to achieve this. For more than forty years, black South Africans were subject to the harsh racial segregation of the Apartheid system; despite making up over 70% of South Africa’s population, they had little to no rights.

Imagine being systematically oppressed from the moment you exited the womb. All your civil rights, based on the amount of melanin in your skin. Drinking from the wrong water fountain, could even get you thrown into jail. Coincidently; this was the life, of black South Africans from the moment of Dutch colonization in 1652, to the first true democratic election in 1994. Apartheid, meaning “separateness” in Afrikaans; was legal segregation enforced by The National Party (NP) from 1948 to 1994. It legally imposed preexisting policies of racial discrimination on the Majority of the South African population. The entire basis of the racist policies, was the darker your complexion the less legal rights you had. Presumably this injustice, could have continued much longer if it weren’t for all involved in the fight against the NP, however the man who arguably contributed the most, was Nelson Mandela. He ended an apartheid, with both his philanthropy and political prowess. He united a nation that used to be segregated; which seemed a daunting task at the time, but through the sweat and bloodshed he achieved the impossible. This alone exhibited his heroic characteristics, but to be more precise: both his actions and inactions lead to his success. Furthermore, Mandela was both a strong leader and forgiving at the same-time. Being in the forefront of the abolishment movement, was an extremely risky move during the apartheid. He risked his life for what he believed in, and this personal

KIELBURGER, C. (2013, July 17). Honouring Nelson Mandela—a father of peace and reconciliation - See more at: Http://www.weday.com/global-voices/honouring-nelson-mandela-a-father-of-peace-and-reconciliation/#sthash.Xm7Y1c2r.dpuf. Retrieved October 14, 2015.

From 1964 to 1982, Mandela was kept in a maximum-security prison. In 1988, he was hospitalized for tuberculosis. Amidst increasing global pressures, the South African government under President F.W. de Klerk released Mandela from prison on February 11, 1990. On March 2, Mandela was chosen deputy president of the ANC, and he replaced the president in July 1991. Mandela and de Klerk worked to end apartheid and bring about a peaceful transition to nonracial democracy in South Africa.