FAMOUS PEOPLE - AN ICON OF PEACE

Nelson Mandela

 Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, whose tribal clan name is "Madiba",was born on the 18th of July 1918 in Mvezo (Union of South Africa). He is a politician and was part of the African National Congress (ANC)

His father died of tuberculosis when he was only 9 years old and the Regent of Jongintaba became his guardian. His new school was that of a Methodist mission next to the palace of the regent. Upon reaching the age of 16, he underwent an initiation following the Thembu custom
There, he practiced boxing and running

In 1944, the African National Congress was experiencing a new force under the direction of Alfred Xuma. This is the same year that Mandela married Evelyn Mase Ntoko. In 1945, Xuma introduced for the first time the requirement of non-racial universal suffrage (one man one vote) in the demands of the movement, a major change in that community claim. The party moved from the simple struggle against racial discrimination to a broader struggle for political power. 

Fighting himself against the political domination of the white minority and racial segregation, Nelson Mandela was imprisoned because he led the military wing of the African National Congress (ANC) and fought against the political domination of the white minority rule and Apartheid in South Africa.The 27year-old Nelson Mandela was imprisoned on the island prison of Robben island (South Africa island, off Cape Town) for 18 years.

In March 1982, he was transferred to Pollsmoor Prison (outside Cape Town), where he remained seven years before being released on February 11, 1990 after 27 years in prison.If it was considered a time that the transfer was made ​​to expel the leaders of the new generation of blacks imprisoned on Robben Island, nicknamed the "Mandela University" the Minister of Justice Kobie Coetsee has said instead that the transfer was made ​​in order to establish a discreet contact between them and the South African government. In June 1988 a tribute concert was held on the 70th anniversary of Nelson Mandela at Wembley, watched by six hundred million viewers in sixty-seven countries, which denounced globally Mandela's captivity and the oppression of the Apartheid, and , according to the ANC, the South African power regime and demanded to release Mandela earlier than expected

In 1994, he became the President of South Africa and started a policy of reconciliation between the whites and the blacks in the country under the policy of the "rainbow nation". In 1999, suffering from many ailments, he decided to retire but he didn't stop his activism, fighting against injustice and the spreading of AIDS.

Nelson Mandela is now 94 years old and is suffering from a lung disease. His days are numbered but as a worldwide icon, everybody will mourn the day he eventually disappears.

Gaignot Francky and Timothy Mendes Ramires