speaking 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, his father died
of lung disease, causing his life to change
dramatically.
Sent From David Aniemeka
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