Thembu people in a small village in the Eastern Cape of
South Africa
2. He was named Rolihlahla Dalibhunga by his parents and
was given his English name, Nelson, by a teacher at his
school.
3. He is also sometimes called Madiba, which is his
traditional clan name.
4. Mandela has been called both 'the world's most famous
political prisoner' and 'South Africa's Great Black Hope.'
5. His father, a counsellor to the Thembu royal family, died
when Nelson Mandela was nine, and he was placed in the
care of the acting regent of the Thembu people, Chief
Jongintaba Dalindyebo.
6. He was circumcised at the age of 16
7. Nelson Mandela was an activist against apartheid, and he
was the leader of the armed wing of the African National
Congress.
8. Nelson Mandela was the first South African President who
was elected in a completely democratic election.
9. He was elected at the age of 77
10. Mr Mandela set up South Africa's first black law firm
with Oliver Tambo
11. Nelson Mandela was an activist against apartheid, and he
was the leader of the armed wing of the African National
Congress.
12. Nelson Mandela spent twenty-seven years in prison.
13. Nelson Mandela won the Nobel prize in 1993.
14. In 1994 he published his autobiography 'long walk to
freedom' which he wrote secretly while in prison.
15. In his spare time, Nelson Mandela studied to become a
lawyer.
16. Nelson Mandela's favorite breakfast is plain porridge,
with fresh fruit and fresh milk.
17. Nelson Mandela has honorary degrees from more than 50
international universities.
18. During his 27-year jail term, he stayed in cell number
46664
19. Besides campaigning globally for peace, Mandela focused
his still prodigious energies increasingly on empowering
disadvantaged children and fighting against HIV/Aids.
20. He was diagnosed of prostate cancer in 2001
21. In June 2004 aged 85, Mandela officially retired from
public life. His parting gift – a R1-billion endowment to
South Africa, to be raised by the three charitable organisations
that bear his name: the Nelson Mandela Foundation, the
Nelson Mandela Children's Fund and the Nelson Mandela
Rhodes Foundation.
22. He was incarcerated on Robben island for 18 of his 27
years in prison
23. While in jail on Robben Island in the 1980s, the former
president contracted tuberculosis.
24. Nelson Mandela retired from Public life in June 1999 and
currently resides in his birth place
25. 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.
26. 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.
27. 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.
28. He lived in Alexandra township at first butlater moved in
with close friend Walter Sisulu and Sisulu's mother in
Orlando, Soweto.
29. Mandela's first wife, Evelyn Mase, was a nurse and
Walter 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.
30. He was the first commander in chief of the ANC's armed
wing.
31. In 1962, he left the country to garner support for the
armed struggle. During this time he received guerilla training
in Morocco and Ethiopia.
32. 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.
33. 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.
34. 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?'
35. 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.
36. 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, the widow of Mozambique's former president Samora Machel.
37. 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.
38. 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.
39. Hundreds of awards and honours have been bestowed on
Mandela. Among others, he was 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.
40. When Mandela was 9 years old, when his father died of
lung disease, causing his life to change dramatically.
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