10 things you should know about Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela passed away on 18 July 2013. He would have probably marked his 100th birthday today. Most of us may be familiar with his imprisonment and anti-Apartheid work, but compiled below are a few things you might not know about this great leader. – His real name wasn’t Mandela. Rolihlahla was his given name, which […]
Nelson Mandela passed away on 18 July 2013. He would have probably marked his 100th birthday today. Most of us may be familiar with his imprisonment and anti-Apartheid work, but compiled below are a few things you might not know about this great leader.
– His real name wasn’t Mandela. Rolihlahla was his given name, which his school teachers were unable to pronounce. One of them started calling him Nelson after British admiral Horatio Nelson, and the name obviously stuck. Rolihlahla, means "pulling the branch of a tree”.
– In his family, Nelson Mandela was the first to receive formal education. At that time, very few black kids attained high school education in South Africa.
– He is also known as “mkhulu” (grandfather), or Madiba, the Mandela family name for a respected elder.
– In 1994, He was the first democratically-elected president of South Africa. And also the first black and oldest president president to be elected in South Africa.
– He spent 18 years of his imprisonment on Robben Island. During these years, he was allowed to meet his wife once every six months.
– During the reign of F.W. de Klerk, the then South African state President, Nelson Mandela was released on February 11, 1990.
– Nelson Mandela is known for the anti-apartheid movement both in South Africa and globally.
– In 2009, the United Nations declared that Nelson Mandela International Day will be celebrated every year on July 18 (his birthday) to honour his legacy and promote community service.
– Some of his well-known quotes were ‘Black Man in a White Man’s Court’: This was his first court statement, in Pretoria, October, 1962, ‘An ideal I am prepared to die for’: This is also considered as his best speech after he had already been sentenced for two years.
– ‘Address in Capetown’: Delivered in February, 1990, this was Mandela’s speech after he was freed from prison. He used the same words to close the speech as he had used in his famous 1964 speech. ‘The 100-days speech’: Delivered in August, 1994 after completing his first hundred days in office as the President of South Africa.