Nelson Mandela dies at age 95
Written by Julieanne Weatherhogge, Former Student on Monday, December 9, 2013
Some would call him one of the most influential men of our time. Nelson Mandela led South Africa in the battle against apartheid and emerged from 27 years in prison to become South Africa’s first elected black president and a global symbol of reconciliation.
He died at the age of 95 on December 5 at his home in Houghton, Johannesburg as a result of a terminal respiratory illness.
Released from prison in 1990, Mandela negotiated a peaceful end to the old regime with leaders of South Africa’s white minority government. Three years later, he won the Nobel Peace Prize. He served as president from 1994 to 1999, before voluntarily stepping down.
Instead of mourning, around 500 supporters and friends celebrated Mandela’s life with dancing and music outside his home in Johannesburg.
Nelson Mandela was born on July 18, 1918, in the remote village of Mvezo in the south-east of South Africa. He was baptized in the United Methodist Church and given the name Nelson by a teacher.
He became interested in politics in his later teen years and later went on to form the first black South African law firm.
Mandela attended a Wesleyan mission school, learning English and excelling in track and boxing. He studied law at the University of Fort Hare and University of Witwatersrand after fleeing to Johannesburg to avoid an arranged marriage.
He then became involved in the anti-apartheid movement and in 1943 joined the African National Congress, where he became a leader in resistance against the ruling National Party and its apartheid policies.
He was charged with treason in 1956, along with 155 other activists, but the charges were dropped. The government outlawed the ANC in 1960, and Mandela went underground to work against the regime.
Mandela’s greatest dream was one of racial equality for his countrymen. He said “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.”
In June 1964, he was sentenced along with seven others to life in prison for plotting to overthrow the government.
In his later more recent years, Mandela chose to slip out of the spotlight and spend his days with his family in his hometown of Qunu.
All his actions were non-violent; he has been likened unto Ghandi in this respect.
Mandela married his third wife, Graca Machel, in 1998. He also had three daughters.
As the entire world mourns and celebrates his life, he will ever be exalted as a symbol of freedom from racial inequality; the name Nelson Mandela will not easily be forgotten.
