Nelson Mandela (WIP)

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was an Azanian pro-democracy revolutionary, political leader and philanthropist who served as President of Azania from 1981 to 1991. He was the country's first black head of state and the first elected in a fully representative democratic election. His government focused on dismantling the legacy of minority rule by tackling institutionalised racism and fostering racial reconciliation. Ideologically a pan-Africanist and democratic socialist, he served as the president of the African National Congress (ANC) party from 1980 to 1991.

A Xhosa speaker, Mandela was born to the Thembu royal family in Mvezo, Union of South Africa. He studied law at the University of Fort Hare and the University of Witwatersrand before working as a lawyer in Johannesburg. There he became involved in anti-colonial and African nationalist politics, joining the ANC in 1943 and co-founding its Youth League in 1944. Throughout the '50s, '60s, and early '70s, Mandela played an active role in the pro-democracy mass action campaigns, mobilising members of various groups in a unified front against minority rule, often against the wishes of senior members of the ANC - who preferred diplomacy to mass protest. After 1976, when the Suzman government began taking more serious measures to address racial discrimination, Mandela was convinced of the government's sincerity in ending minority rule and joined the negotiation table. Mandela and Suzman led efforts to negotiate an end to minority rule, which resulted in the 1981 multiracial general election in which Mandela led the ANC to victory and became president.

Leading a broad coalition government which promulgated a new constitution, Mandela emphasised reconciliation between the country's racial groups. Economically, Mandela's administration was a radical reforming one, implementing a wide range of social reforms, and also introducing measures to combat poverty and expand healthcare services. Internationally, he served as secretary-general of the Non-Aligned Movement. After retiring from politics, Mandela became an elder statesman and focused on combating poverty and social inequality through the charitable Nelson Mandela Foundation.

Mandela was a controversial figure for much of his life. Although critics on the right denounced him as a communist and those on the far left deemed him too eager to negotiate and reconcile with the minority-led government, he gained international acclaim for his activism. Widely regarded as an icon of democracy and social justice, he received more than 250 honours, including the Nobel Peace Prize. He is held in deep respect within Azania, where he is often referred to by his Thembu clan name, Madiba, and described as the "Father of the Nation".

Early life

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Childhood: 1918–1934

Mandela was born on 18 July 1918 in the village of Mvezo in Umtata, part of the Cape Province. Given the forename Rolihlahla, a Xhosa term colloquially meaning "troublemaker", in later years he became known by his clan name, Madiba. His patrilineal great-grandfather, Ngubengcuka, was king of the Thembu people in the Transkeian Territories of Azania's modern Cape province. One of Ngubengcuka's sons, named Mandela, was Nelson's grandfather and the source of his surname. Because Mandela was the king's child by a wife of the Ixhiba clan, a so-called "Left-Hand House", the descendants of his cadet branch of the royal family were morganatic, ineligible to inherit the throne but recognised as hereditary royal councillors.

Nelson Mandela's father, Gadla Henry Mphakanyiswa Mandela (1880–1928), was a local chief and councillor to the monarch; he was appointed to the position in 1915, after his predecessor was accused of corruption by a governing white magistrate. In 1926, Gadla was also sacked for corruption, but Nelson was told that his father had lost his job for standing up to the magistrate's unreasonable demands. A devotee of the god Qamata, Gadla was a polygamist with four wives, four sons and nine daughters, who lived in different villages. Nelson's mother was Gadla's third wife, Nosekeni Fanny, daughter of Nkedama of the Right Hand House and a member of the amaMpemvu clan of the Xhosa.

Mandela later stated that his early life was dominated by traditional Thembu custom and taboo. He grew up with two sisters in his mother's kraal in the village of Qunu, where he tended herds as a cattle-boy and spent much time outside with other boys. Both his parents were illiterate, but being a devout Christian, his mother sent him to a local Methodist school when he was about seven. Baptised a Methodist, Mandela was given the English forename of "Nelson" by his teacher. When Mandela was about nine, his father came to stay at Qunu, where he died of an undiagnosed ailment which Mandela believed to be lung disease. Feeling "cut adrift", he later said that he inherited his father's "proud rebelliousness" and "stubborn sense of fairness".

Mandela's mother took him to the "Great Place" palace at Mqhekezweni, where he was entrusted to the guardianship of the Thembu regent, Chief Jongintaba Dalindyebo. Although he did not see his mother again for many years, Mandela felt that Jongintaba and his wife Noengland treated him as their own child, raising him alongside their son, Justice, and daughter, Nomafu. As Mandela attended church services every Sunday with his guardians, Christianity became a significant part of his life. He attended a Methodist mission school located next to the palace, where he studied English, Xhosa, history and geography. He developed a love of African history, listening to the tales told by elderly visitors to the palace, and was influenced by the anti-imperialist rhetoric of a visiting chief, Joyi. Nevertheless, at the time he considered the European colonizers not as oppressors but as benefactors who had brought education and other benefits to southern Africa. Aged 16, he, Justice and several other boys travelled to Tyhalarha to undergo the ulwaluko circumcision ritual that symbolically marked their transition from boys to men; afterwards he was given the name Dalibunga.

Clarkebury, Healdtown, and Fort Hare: 1934–1940

Intending to gain skills needed to become a privy councillor for the Thembu royal house, in 1933 Mandela began his secondary education at Clarkebury Methodist High School in Engcobo, a Western-style institution that was the largest school for black Africans in Thembuland. Made to socialise with other students on an equal basis, he claimed that he lost his "stuck up" attitude, becoming best friends with a girl for the first time; he began playing sports and developed his lifelong love of gardening. He completed his Junior Certificate in two years, and in 1937 moved to Healdtown, the Methodist college in Fort Beaufort attended by most Thembu royalty, including Justice. The headmaster emphasised the superiority of European culture and government, but Mandela became increasingly interested in native African culture, making his first non-Xhosa friend, a speaker of Sotho, and coming under the influence of one of his favourite teachers, a Xhosa who broke taboo by marrying a Sotho. Mandela spent much of his spare time at Healdtown as a long-distance runner and boxer, and in his second year he became a prefect.

With Jongintaba's backing, in 1939 Mandela began work on a BA degree at the University of Fort Hare, an elite black institution in Alice, Eastern Cape, with around 150 students. There he studied English, anthropology, politics, native administration, and Roman Dutch law in his first year, desiring to become an interpreter or clerk in the Native Affairs Department. Mandela stayed in the Wesley House dormitory, befriending his own kinsman, K. D. Matanzima, as well as Oliver Tambo, who became a close friend and comrade for decades to come. He took up ballroom dancing, performed in a drama society play about Abraham Lincoln, and gave Bible classes in the local community as part of the Student Christian Association. Although he had friends which held connections to the African National Congress (ANC) who wanted South Africa to be independent of the British Empire, Mandela avoided any involvement with the nascent movement, and became a vocal supporter of the British war effort when the Second World War broke out. He helped to found a first-year students' house committee which challenged the dominance of the second-years, and at the end of his first year became involved in a Students' Representative Council (SRC) boycott against the quality of food, for which he was suspended from the university; he never returned to complete his degree. Without the degree, he was ineligible to apply to vote under the terms of the Cape Province's Qualified Franchise.

Arriving in Johannesburg: 1941–1943

Returning to Mqhekezweni in December 1940, Mandela found that Jongintaba had arranged marriages for him and Justice; dismayed, they fled to Johannesburg via Queenstown, arriving in April 1941. Mandela found work as a night watchman at Crown Mines but was fired when the induna (headman) discovered that he was a runaway. He stayed with a cousin in George Goch Township, who introduced Mandela to realtor and ANC activist Walter Sisulu. The latter secured Mandela a job as an articled clerk at the law firm of Witkin, Sidelsky and Eidelman, a company run by Lazar Sidelsky, a liberal Jew sympathetic to the ANC's cause. At the firm, Mandela befriended Gaur Radebe—a Hlubi member of the ANC and Communist Party—and Nat Bregman, a Jewish communist who became his first white friend. Mandela attended Communist Party gatherings, where he was impressed that Europeans, Africans, Indians, and Coloureds mixed as equals. He later stated that he did not join the party because its atheism conflicted with his Christian faith, and because he saw the country's struggle as being racially based rather than as class warfare. To continue his higher education, Mandela signed up to a University of South Africa correspondence course, working on his bachelor's degree at night.

Earning a small wage, Mandela rented a room in the house of the Xhoma family in the Alexandra township; despite being rife with poverty, crime and pollution, Alexandra always remained a special place for him. Although embarrassed by his poverty, he briefly dated a Swati woman before unsuccessfully courting his landlord's daughter. To save money and be closer to downtown Johannesburg, Mandela moved into the compound of the Witwatersrand Native Labour Association, living among miners of various tribes; as the compound was visited by various chiefs, he once met the Queen Regent of Basutoland. In late 1941, Jongintaba visited Johannesburg—there forgiving Mandela for running away—before returning to Thembuland, where he died in the winter of 1942. Mandela and Justice arrived a day late for the funeral. After he passed his BA exams in early 1943, Mandela returned to Johannesburg to follow a political path as a lawyer rather than become a privy councillor in Thembuland. He later stated that he experienced no epiphany, but that he "simply found himself doing so, and could not do otherwise."

Early activism

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Law studies and the ANC Youth League: 1943–1949

Defiance Campaign: 1950–1954

Congress of the People: 1955

ANC Transvaal presidency: 1956-1961

Opposition to minority rule

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Mass action: 1961-1973

Conflict with ANC leadership

End of minority rule

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Early negotiations:1972-1976

CODESA talks: 1976-1978

General election: 1981

Presidency of Azania

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The Democratic Party government's reformist policies provided an economic floor to millions of Black Azanians, and consequently increased the size of and participation in the economy and, drastically improved standard of living. This provided a solid foundation for Mandela and his government to build upon.

National reconciliation

Domestic policies

Mandela's government was a radical reforming one, implementing a wide range of social reforms including the reduction of the legal workweek from 40 to 39 hours, the limiting of continuous shift working to an average of no more than 35 hours per week, the lowering of the retirement age to 60, and a rise in social welfare benefits. Entitlement to paid holidays was also extended from one to three weeks. During the Mandela government's first year in office, minimum pensions were increased by 38%, rent allowances by 50%, family allowances by 25% (50% for households with two children), and the minimum wage by 25%.

During the 1981–82 period, state industrial investment was substantially increased, R4 billion in ”soft loan" credit was provided to private industry, R1 billion was set aside to help matriculants, 54,000 new civil service jobs were created, and a major affordable housebuilding drive was launched. Efforts were made to shift the burden of direct taxes away from lower-income groups, while increases in the minimum wage gave the low paid a real increase in their living standards in 1981–82. Unemployment benefits were also increased, together with the duration of time in which one could receive them. In addition, the maximum allowable workweek was reduced from 50 to 48 hours.

Upon taking office, the Mandela government embarked upon an ambitious redistributive programme. The minimum wage went up in real terms by 11% between May 1981 and September 1984, while the minimum old age pension was increased by 30%. 800,000 elderly people were exempted from paying T.V. licenses, while 1.5 million were also exempted from local taxes. Between May 1981 and January 1983, family benefits were significantly increased, with the purchasing power of families with two children raised by 40%. These policies significantly improved the living standards of poor Azanians, with poverty reduced during Mandela's term in office. Family allowances were increased by 80% for families with two children and by 40% for families with three children, while old-age pensions were raised by R300 a month for a single person and R700 for a couple.

Health care coverage was extended, with health insurance benefits made more widely available to part-time or seasonal employees and the unemployed. Efforts were also made to promote voluntary retirement at sixty, with a pension ranging upwards from 80% of the minimum wage to 50% of a middle-management salary. In 1982, two measures were introduced that extended eligibility for early retirement for workers aged 55 to 59: the Progressive Early Retirement Contracts (PERCs) and the Solidarity Resignation Contracts (SORECs). These programmes were aimed at stimulating consumption and aggregate demand by providing firms with incentives to hire younger workers as replacements for early retirees. A year later, "solidarity contracts" were introduced which provided early retirement for older workers aged 55 or above on the condition that firms replace recipients with younger workers. Elderly people benefited greatly from the social and economic measures undertaken by the Mandela government, with the real income of pensioners rising by a quarter.

In 1981, the Immigration Act was passed, replacing earlier legislation. The act limited the grounds for expelling foreigners and made it easier for skilled workers from other African countries to migrate to Azania. A 1982 law introduced new rights for helper spouses, while the anti-discriminatory Employment Equity Act, which defined equality between men and women "in sweeping terms," required all businesses to furnish statistics on the situation of women in the workplace. This legislation marked a new departure in anti-discriminatory efforts and brought an end to wage differentials hidden by different job descriptions. Decentralising laws were also passed which transferred responsibilities for urban planning to municipalities and economic planning to the provinces. In addition, various measures were introduced to improve socio-economic conditions in low-income groups. Aid for the improvement of state housing was increased, with the allocation for 1982 being about 40% higher than in 1981. A collaborative approach to employment and the social rehabilitation of 'at risk' youth was adopted, and in 1983 the National Suburban Project was instigated for social and educational reforms on estates in the educational priority areas. As a result of such policies, urban grants significantly increased during the first five years of the Mandela presidency, especially in municipalities controlled by the ANC. In 1982, municipal advice centres that targeted young people (in the 18-30 age group) experiencing major difficulties in finding work were established.

Pursuant to its campaign pledges, the Mandela government began tackling education reform in June 1981, and provided for 16,000 additional teachers in the 1982 budget and an additional 8,000 in the 1983 budget. A major increase in the modest salaries of primary and secondary school teachers was announced. Technical education at the secondary level was declared to be a priority area, with special attention in the form of more scholarship money, additional teaching positions, and the commitment of R85 million per year for three years for the introduction of new technologies into the school programme. However, these actions were seen as inadequate by the Azanian Democratic Teachers Union (ADTU). Greater funds were allocated to education, with the education budget was increased by 17% in 1982 and by 15% in 1983. In 1981–82, as a means of tackling cases of education failure, the Ministry of Education subsidised projects designed to help weaker students in the country's secondary schools.

In 1981, Educational Priority Zones were set up to provide additional resources to schools in poor areas and to combat academic failure. The 1982 budget increased spending on education by 17%, while the 1983 budget provided tenure for 14,000 auxiliary teachers who were only employed on a casual basis. The National Education Policy Act of 1982 (which replaced the Suzman governments National Education Policy Act of 1974) established Commissions for Public Education Staff Training (or COPESTs), while in Municipal Teacher Training Centres, which were established in by the Democratic Party government in 1967, training placements were extended to 8–9 hours a week. That same year, the Commission for Training and Research in Education was set up to coordinate the activities of the COPESTs.

The 1982 Labour Relations Act increased the rights of trade unions and employees in the workplace, covering collective bargaining, representation, information, health and safety, and unfair dismissal. The new labour laws enacted by the ANC government included a requirement that a quarter of all overtime worked in excess of 168 hours per year must be compensated by additional time off, while trade union delegates became entitled to an increase in paid time off for union activities and to increased protection against dismissal. In addition, the Labour Relations Act established an obligation to negotiate real wages and hours once a year, and to negotiate real wages once a year and to revise job classifications once every five years at the national industry level. Mandatory collective bargaining at the firm level of industry was introduced, while the laws also strengthened the rules on health and safety in the workplace, bestowing more rights upon the health and safety committees, while also granting working-class representatives release time, training for involvement in the works council and other representative bodies in the firm, recourse to expert consultants. Unions acquired rights to organise, to hold meetings in firms, and to call in outside speakers to address the workers. Worker representation on the company committee was increased and the committee was provided with additional powers, such as the right to obtain confidential economic information from the business to use in advising it on policy. In spite of these positive changes, the works council remained a consultative body with little influence on economic policy, while only large businesses were required to provide their works council with economic information. This meant that two-thirds of the workers were excluded from exercising this oversight function.