Winnie Mandela describes Nelson's death: 'Then he drew his last breath. He was gone' - Telegraph Nelson Mandela Winnie Mandela describes Nelson's death: 'Then he drew his last breath. He was gone' Nelson Mandela's ex-wife describes the final moments of his life as he passed away last week at his home in Johannesburg Follow Nelson Mandela's ex wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, 77, has described how she watched as the heartbeat and blood pressure readings on Mr Mandela's life-support machine slowly dropped off as he died. She sat at his side for three and a half hours until he finally drew his last breath, she said in an interview with ITN . "I received a call in the morning and I was told ... there were difficulties about Tata," she said, referring to Mr Mandela by his Xhosa name, which means "Father". "I phoned the doctor and he said 'No Mama, I think you'd better visit'. He had never used that word before. When he spoke like that then, I knew there was a very serious problem." When she arrived at Mr Mandela's house, other relatives told her to go upstairs, to where doctors were gathered around him.

"I asked 'is this it?'"she said. "Of course they kept quiet and they did not tell me. Related Articles 'Zulu sign language? There's no such thing' 11 Dec 2013 "I sat there for three and a half hours, watching that machine. But the first shock I got was the fact they had switched off the dialysis machine and there was just a respirator registering the heartbeat and blood pressure. When I got there, the heartbeat was around 67 and the blood pressure was 55. I watched those figures going down and down so slowly. They felt eternal. They kept dropping and dropping." After Mr Mandela's readings dropped further still, she knew his very last moments were imminent, she said. "The doctors were standing around him. They told me I should move close to him. I went close to him and I noticed he was breathing really slowly. I was holding him trying to feel his temperature and he felt cold. Then he drew his last breath and just rested … He was gone." She added: "I realised all along as human beings I honestly could not find myself saying 'it is time' but I knew we had reached the end. You get this numb feeling.

You don't react to that. I can't describe that kind of sorrow. Even though he was 95 and had done so much, there was so much that was still not done." After the doctors had prepared Mr Mandela's body, President Jacob Zuma arrived, as did a group of soldiers to pick the body. "They saluted and marched upstairs and they came down so ceremoniously," said Mrs Madikizela-Mandela. "The whole thing was so official. It struck me then, he was gone and that was the last journey for him." Asked how it was to see him lying in state, she replied. "Very painful. In our African tradition we don't display the departed. It's very hard for the family to even share him even in his death after sharing with the whole world and our whole country while he was alive. He's still not really just ours, the family, he still belongs to the whole world and we have to share." Mrs Madikizela-Mandela split from her husband within two years of his release from prison in 1990.

South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission later heard from several witnesses that she had headed a Soweto-based vigilante gang that in 1988, carried out the abduction and murder of alleged police informants and traitors to her husband's cause. Mrs Madikizela-Mandela, who is a prominent ANC MP, has denied the accusations. Winnie Madikizela-Mandela | South African History Online South African History Online Posted by Anonymous (not verified) on People category: Biographical information Synopsis: ANC Political Activist and ex-wife of Nelson Mandela, Deputy Minister of Arts and Culture, President of ANCWL, member of the NEC of the ANC First name: Location of birth: Mbongweni, Transkei, Eastern Cape, South Africa Winnie Madikizela was born in the village of Mbongweni, Bizana, in the Transkei . She was the fourth of eight children. Her father, Columbus, was minister of the Transkei Governments’ Forestry and Agriculture Department during Kaizer Matanzima's rule. Her mother, Nomathamsanqa Mzaidume (Gertrude), a domestic science teacher, died when Winnie was only eight years old.

Winnie attended primary school in Bizana and matriculated at Shawbury High School, where she distinguished herself as a person with exceptional leadership qualities. In 1953, she was admitted to the Jan Hofmeyr School of Social Work in Johannesburg. She completed her degree in social work in 1955, and was offered a scholarship for further study in the USA. However she turned it down and opted for a challenging position as the first qualified Black medical social worker at the Baragwanath Hospital in Johannesburg instead. She became interested in politics while working at the hospital. She was particularly influenced by the research she had carried out in Alexandra Township to establish the rate of infantile mortality, which stood at 10 deaths for every 1,000 births. In the mid-1950s, she became involved in the African National Congress (ANC). In 1957, she met Nelson Mandela . At the time he was on trial, along with 155 other people, in the now infamous Treason Trial following the civil disobedience campaigns of the early 1950s.

They were married on 19 June 1958 in a Methodist service in the Transkei, after which Winnie settled in Mandela’s home in Soweto. By March 1961, the Treason Trial was over and the accused were found not guilty. By this time Winnie had given birth to 2 daughters, Zenani, born in 1959 and Zinzi, born in 1960. Between March and December of 1961, the Mandela’s enjoyed a normal family life, in the sense that they were all together. Throughout most of her married life, however, Winnie Mandela had to endure a forced separation from her husband. He was detained and imprisoned on more than one occasion and spent 18 of a total of 27 years of incarceration on Robben Island . Although Winnie had visitation rights during that period, she was unable to have physical contact with him. From 1962 Winnie was subjected to a virtually uninterrupted series of legal orders, which prevented her from living, working and socializing. She was banned under the Suppression of Communism Act for her part in the struggle and was restricted to the Orlando Township in Soweto.

She started to work clandestinely for the ANC, which included participating in underground meetings and the printing and circulation of pamphlets. She decided to send her daughters to boarding school in Swaziland , in the hope that the girls could escape harassment and continue their education. In 1969, she was detained under the Terrorism Act and was placed in solitary confinement for seventeen months. In 1970, she was placed under house arrest. She repeatedly flouted this order and was charged on a number of occasions. During the 1976 youth uprisings , she established the Black Women’s Federation and the Black Parents’ Association. Both these organisations aligned themselves to the Black Consciousness Movement , an ideology that rejected all ‘White’ values and embraced a positive ‘Black’ world view. For this role Winnie was detained, in 1977, under the Internal Security Act and banished to Brandfort in the Orange Free State (now Free State ). There she helped set up a crèche and a clinic with Dr. Abu Baker Asvat . She returned to her home in 1986 and resumed her ANC activities. Although Winnie’s opposition to P.W.

Botha’s regime earned her the title of “Mother of the Nation”, her conduct was not irreproachable. In a speech at Munsieville outside Johannesburg in 1986 Winnie propagated the barbaric necklace method of killing township dissidents and alleged police informers by saying: “Together hand-in-hand, with our boxes of matches and our necklaces, we shall liberate this country.” She was referring to the method of killing in which victims had a tyre placed around their necks and were doused with petrol and set on fire. Winnie's controversial Mandela United Football Club, a group of young men who acted as her bodyguards, caused some anti-Apartheid groups to distance themselves from her in 1988. Winnie stood next to her husband Nelson when he was released from prison on 11 February 1990. However, the couple separated in April 1992 and divorced in March 1996. After the divorce, Winnie established a museum at the Orlando home where she and Mandela had lived, and adopted the surname Madikizela-Mandela. From 1991 Winnie’s life was steeped in both achievement and controversy.

In 1991, after the unbanning of the ANC and other political organisations, she was elected to the ANC’s National Executive Committee. In 1991 she was charged with the kidnapping and murder of 14 year old Stompie Seipei. Stompie was believed to be a police informant against the struggle. Consequently, Winnie was sentenced to six years in jail for the kidnapping. The sentence was reduced to a fine of R15 000 on appeal. Shortly after her conviction, in 1992, she resigned from all her ANC leadership positions, including her position as Member of Parliament. In 1993, however, she made a remarkable comeback when she was elected president of the ANC Women’s League , a position that she held until 2003. After the 1994 election, Winnie was appointed deputy minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology, but was dismissed in 1995 by Nelson Mandela following allegations of financial mismanagement. In 1997 Winnie was re-elected as president of the ANC Women's League.

In 2001 she was charged, and in April 2003 found guilty, on 43 counts of fraud and 25 of theft. She pleaded not guilty to the charges, which related to money taken from loan applicants' accounts for a funeral fund, but from which the applicants did not benefit. Madikizela-Mandela was sentenced to five years in prison. In 2004, an appeal judge of the Pretoria Supreme Court overturned the conviction for theft, but upheld the one for fraud, handing her a three year and six months suspended sentence. After her conviction she resigned as president of the ANC Women's League (2003). She was elected to the ANC National Executive Committee at the 52nd ANC conference in Polokwane . Winnie's ex husband, Nelson Mandela died on 5 December 2013. Although he left a sizeable estate, the beneficaries including his wife Graca, children, grandchildren, staff members and various educational institutions, Winnie's name was noticably missing from his will and an attempt by Winnie to sue for Nelson Mandela's Qunu home was unsuccessful.

The death of Nelson Mandela coincided with the release of the movie 'Long Walk to Freedom' in which Naomi Harris played Winnie. On 15 September 2016, in a pre-birthday celebration, Winnie celebrated her 80th birthday at the Mount Nelson Hotel. The event was attended by family, friends and a cross-mixture of politicians including Julius Malema, Cyril Ramaphosa and Patricia de Lille. References: • Campbell, C. et al. (2004)Great South Africans.Johannesburg, p.162- 3. • Ministry of Education (2004)Every Step of the Way ”“ The Journey to Freedom in South Africa. Cape Town, p.286.

• Nomzamo Nobandla Winnifred Madikizela-Mandela [online] Available at: anc.org.za [Accessed 24 July 2009] Further Reading: Nelson Mandela's Wife, Graca Machel, Says He Was 'Just Her Husband' (VIDEO) | The Huffington Post Nelson Mandela's Wife, Graca Machel, Says He Was 'Just Her Husband' (VIDEO) 12/06/2013 03:32 pm ET 310 To the rest of the world, civil rights activist Nelson Mandela -- who died on Thursday at age 95 -- was an icon. But to wife Graca Machel, he was just her husband. In a 2002 BBC profile that has recirculated since Mandela's death , Machel (the former South African president's third wife) opens up about the man Mandela was behind closed doors. "He's not a saint," she said. "He's an icon for the world. But for us at home, really, he's a head of a family. He's a father, he's a grandfather, he's a great-grandfather.

I don't think, for instance, that my grandchildren have any notion of having a grandfather who's an icon. They have him as a grandfather. That's it. I know, at the end of the day when we go back home, he is just going to be my husband." In the interview, Machel says that it was their mutual loneliness and pain that initially brought the couple together. Machel -- who was the former First Lady of Mozambique -- was widowed when her husband, Samora Machel, died in a plane crash in 1986 . Mandela and his second wife, Winnie Madikizela, divorced in 1996. "This is a person who had sort of a similar history [to me]," she said. "Because in those days, he was separated from Winnie. He was alone. So that sense of being hurt, being lonely and trying to find answers for a very deep sense of pain and loss -- I think that's what sparked our connection." The couple married on Mandela's 80th birthday in July 1998.

He is also survived by three of his daughters -- Pumla Makaziwe, Zenani and Zindziswa Mandela -- as well as multiple grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Keep in touch! Check out HuffPost Weddings on Facebook , Twitter and Pinterest . Also on HuffPost: Nelson Mandela and Winnie – portrait of a marriage - Telegraph Nelson Mandela Nelson Mandela and Winnie – portrait of a marriage A shy beauty turned volatile gang leader, Winifred Madikizela was a source of pride and despair to her husband Nelson and Winnie Mandela on their wedding day in 1958 Photo: REX FEATURES By Graham Boynton 9:15PM GMT 06 Dec 2013 When Nomzamo Winifred Madikizela married Nelson Mandela on June 14 1958, the bride’s father warned his daughter: “If your man is a wizard then you must become a witch.” His words turned out to be eerily prophetic. The marriage between the world’s most famous political prisoner and the South African liberation movement’s First Lady lasted 32 years, most of it conducted in parallel worlds.

For, within 20 months of the wedding, Mandela, already the father of two daughters, was arrested for treason and began an exile that would take him underground and then to prison for 27 years. By the time he re-emerged in February 1990, the world – and Winnie – had changed, and within two years the end of the marriage was announced by a grim-faced Nelson at a press conference in front of the world’s media. Over those three decades Winnie had metamorphosed from “shy country girl”, as she once described herself to me, to political firebrand and international celebrity, to street criminal and enemy of her own people, and later to populist politician with no portfolio.

Throughout all of this she remained pretty much the same person, for, as the South African political commentator Allister Sparks said: “The essential qualities – her imperiousness, her wilfulness, the combative and survivalist spirit – that helped her get through the hard years also brought about her downfall.” What had been admirable defiance of the apartheid regime in the Sixties and Seventies turned into a complete disregard for law and order as she unleashed her gang of street thugs – known as the Mandela United Football Club – on the people of Soweto in the Eighties. This trajectory from political widow and defiant anti-apartheid activist to gangland leader appeared part-Shakespearean drama and part-political soap opera. In the early days, Winnie’s rebellion against the arrests, banning orders and daily police harassment visited on her by the South African government kept the Mandela name in the international press at a time when her husband had been effectively silenced on Robben Island. The South African government’s response was to try to remove her from the public spotlight, and in 1977 she was banished to a fly‑blown Afrikaans town called Brandfort.

Related Articles Nelson by name, defender of British values by nature 06 Dec 2013 In fact, her exile in Brandfort had the opposite effect. Beautiful and banished, she attracted the attention of the world’s press and a procession of international celebrities, from Ted Kennedy to Dickie Attenborough. They came to pay their respects to Mama Wethu, the Mother of the Nation, but such pilgrimages were invariably accompanied by a host of journalists. It was also in Brandfort, according to her young lover at the time, MK Malefane, that she began drinking heavily; and with that came wild, erratic behaviour that was hidden from public view and ignored by those around her. Malefane described one occasion when he turned the garden hose on her to help sober her up before Ted Kennedy and his entourage arrived. Contact with Nelson was infrequent – she was allowed one or two visits a year to Robben Island, and not many more when he was moved to Pollsmoor on the mainland – but the letters flowed; and it was in these epistles that Nelson displayed the compassion that marked his character throughout his life.

He expressed all the usual concern that a husband and father would for his wife and children, and blamed himself for his enforced and prolonged absence. He was also gracious in letters to the lover Malefane and thanked him for holding the Mandela family together in times of great stress. In one letter to Malefane, Nelson acknowledged that Winnie’s erratic behaviour was a serious problem and urged him to stay on in Brandfort to continue his vital, if unorthodox, role in the family. By the mid-Eighties the South African government was beginning to make overtures to Mandela, and he was able to ask the then justice minister to allow Winnie to return from exile. It turned out to be a fateful request, for the erratic and sometimes violent behaviour she had displayed in Brandfort was now to reveal itself in more criminal form in late Eighties Soweto. This was a time of great social upheaval, and, in the gathering gloom of an increasingly lawless black township, Winnie assembled her army of hoodlums and delinquents to terrorise the very people she was claiming to represent . At the height of the Mandela United excesses the government was preparing the path for a lifting of the ANC ban and the release of political prisoners.

Winnie’s unchecked public statements – “we will liberate this country” with “our boxes of matches and our necklaces” was the most flagrant – were counterproductive. Both sides were aware of Winnie’s activities with her gang of thugs and both were aware of the political implications. Thus, the government hesitated to prosecute her, while Mandela engaged in a flurry of messages from his prison cell to the ANC leader-in-exile, Oliver Tambo, who was in the Zambian capital, Lusaka. In his evidence to the post-apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commission a senior police officer said that although the police at the end of the apartheid era had compiled a list of 30 crimes they believed Winnie had committed – from high treason to murder – the attorney general had refused to prosecute her because she was regarded as “untouchable”. One family friend told me that just before his release in 1990, Nelson summoned Winnie and his youngest daughter, Zindzi, to his rooms in Victor Verster prison.

He sat them down and said he knew about every lover, every beating, every abduction, every crime Winnie had committed, and that he wanted to put it behind them because they had a momentous task facing them. Zindzi was so moved that she burst into tears. Winnie denied everything. Matters did not improve after Mandela’s release. The image we remember is of the apparently heroic couple making that walk to freedom, hand-in-hand, fists raised in unison. But even in those first few days of freedom Winnie was flaunting her lover of the time, a young lawyer by the name of Dali Mpofu. Mandela told his associates that while he had not expected Winnie to be celibate while he was in prison, he did expect her to be discreet. Even as their marriage was heading for the rocks, Mandela publicly supported his errant wife. When she was tried in 1991 for assault and abduction, he arranged for his old friend George Bizos to lead the defence team, attending the trial regularly, following proceedings carefully and emerging at lunchtime at Winnie’s side, publicly defending his wife.

What the public did not know was that Mandela refused to attend the consultations between lawyer and client because Winnie insisted on having Dali Mpofu with her. Mandela was later to admit that this was the loneliest period of his life. The Mandelas were formally divorced in 1996 after 38 years of marriage. Winnie took the name Madikizela-Mandela and Nelson found happiness in his later years with Graça Machel, the regal and gracious widow of Mozambique’s former president, Samora Machel. As for Winnie, she is still out there raising her fist in the political margins, to the eternal applause of the dispossessed masses. She may feel that her day is yet to come. But as the curtain falls on Nelson’s life, there is no doubt which Mandela will be remembered with unalloyed admiration. Graham Boynton is the author of 'Last Days in Cloud Cuckoo Land’, a history of the end of white rule in colonial Africa. Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (2013) - IMDb IMDb There was an error trying to load your rating for this title. Some parts of this page won't work property.

Please reload or try later. X Beta I'm Watching This! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Error Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom ( 2013 ) PG-13 | Watch Now From $2.99 (SD) on Amazon Video A chronicle of Nelson Mandela's life journey from his childhood in a rural village through to his inauguration as the first democratically elected president of South Africa. Director: a list of 40 titles created 04 Jan 2013 a list of 45 titles created 28 Feb 2013 a list of 30 titles created 01 Aug 2014 a list of 38 titles created 21 Jan 2015 a list of 28 titles created 3 months ago Title: Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (2013) 7.1/10 Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 11 wins & 29 nominations.

See more awards » Videos Edit Storyline Nelson Mandela is a South African lawyer who joins the African National Congress in the 1940s when the law under the Apartheid system's brutal tyranny proves useless for his people. Forced to abandon peaceful protest for armed resistance after the Sharpeville Massacre, Mandela pays the price when he and his comrades are sentenced to life imprisonment for treason while his wife, Winnie, is abused by the authorities herself. Over the decades in chains, Mandela's spirit is unbowed as his struggle goes on in and beyond his captivity to become an international cause. However, as Winnie's determination hardens over the years into a violent ruthlessness, Nelson's own stature rises until he becomes the renowned leader of his movement. That status would be put to the test as his release nears and a way must be found to win a peaceful victory that will leave his country, and all its peoples, unstained. Written by Kenneth Chisholm (kchishol@rogers.com) Did You Know? Trivia The film was in development for many years, initially with Morgan Freeman attached to play Nelson Mandela .

These plans were scuppered when Freeman chose to play Mandela in Clint Eastwood 's Invictus (2009). See more » Goofs When Nelson Mandela is released from prison on 11th February 1990, there is a Mercedes W140 waiting which was first manufactured in August 1991. See more » Quotes Nelson Mandela : I have walked a long walk to freedom. It has been a lonely road, and it is not over yet. I know that my country, was not made to be a land of hatred. No one is born hating another person because the color of his skin. People learn to hate. They can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart. Winnie Mandela (2011) - IMDb IMDb There was an error trying to load your rating for this title. Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later. X Beta I'm Watching This! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Error Watch Now From $2.99 (SD) on Amazon Video A drama that chronicles the life of Winnie Mandela from her childhood through her marriage and her husband's incarceration.

Director: Darrell Roodt Writers: Anne Marie du Preez Bezdrob (inspired by and based upon the book "Winnie Mandela: A Life"), André Pieterse (screenplay) | 2 more credits » Stars: a list of 35 titles created 19 Sep 2012 a list of 38 titles created 09 May 2013 a list of 42 titles created 10 Jan 2014 a list of 25 titles created 13 Jan 2016 a list of 44 titles created 10 months ago Search for " Winnie Mandela " on Amazon.com Connect with IMDb Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. 2 wins & 5 nominations. See more awards » Videos Danny DeVito is John Leary, a professional clown, whose wife's death in a car accident has left him to care for his two young boys. Loving, but useless at the daily job of fathering, the ...

See full summary » Director: Marshall Herskovitz Each of the women portray one of the characters represented in the collection of twenty poems, revealing different issues that impact women in general and women of color in particular. Director: Tyler Perry A chronicle of Nelson Mandela's life journey from his childhood in a rural village through to his inauguration as the first democratically elected president of South Africa. Director: Justin Chadwick After losing her employment, Emily accepts a proposal that will give her a secure future. But she soon finds trapped in her new family's deception. Director: Richard Curson Smith Edit Storyline A drama that chronicles the life of Winnie Mandela from her childhood through her marriage and her husband's incarceration. The Untold Story See more » Genres: Rated R for some violence and language Parents Guide: 6 September 2013 (USA) See more » Also Known As: Did You Know? Trivia In the end credits, Neil Sandilands is credited as Dr. Hattingh although the role was played by Albert Maritz.

See more » Crazy Credits Louis Minnaar is listed twice in the end credits for playing the character 'Man in Suite.' See more » Connections Music and Lyrics by Ben Amato and Aveline Twala Performed by Twalamato The key problem with this movie 18 November 2013 | by benbana222 (London, England) – See all my reviews I am presently watching this movie at the moment. I must say I am extremely surprised at the flawed costuming of this project. This is a movie chronicling the life of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, a woman who was born in 1936. Yet from the very start of the movie(which starts at her birth), you notice immediately that they lost it on the costumes they used as they do not depict the kind and quality of clothing worn in a 1936 South African village. For one the clothing used are really really bright and very 2011 fashionable. Regarding the styling, you can clearly tell that they probably could not produce them that way back then. They also look too bright and flashy much like modern apparel.

In certain scenes you see that the ties worn by the guards or police officers looking really modern day and therefore really makes you struggle to believe the events were actually occurring when the acting tells you they were. Talk about the wedding dress used in Winnie's wedding, it just looks out of place time-wise. So even though the acting is good, I feel that the strength of the acting was much suppressed by this flaw. It really would have been better if they had down toned the colors a bit but unfortunately they did not. 1 of 4 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes BBC - iWonder - Nelson Mandela: The last great liberator? Nelson Mandela: The last great liberator? 18 July 1918 5 December 2013Death of an icon From racial segregation to global inspiration Nelson Mandela lived one of the most remarkable lives of the 20th Century. Born in an era of racial segregation and oppression in South Africa, he made it his life’s mission to fight for an equal and democratic society in his country. After 27 years in jail, Mandela helped prevent civil war and became South Africa’s first black president.

By the time of his death he'd become a renowned statesman and global icon. Discover how Mandela went from prison cell to presidential office. 18 July 1918 One of many children You need to have JavaScript enabled to view this clip. Nelson Mandela reveals the earliest influences on his thinking. (Clip from: Mandela: The Living Legend, BBC One) Rolihlahla Mandela was born in the village of Mvezo, Transkei, South Africa on 18 July 1918. His name meant ‘trouble maker’. Mandela’s father, Hendry, was an advisor to the Thembu royal family. He was a polygamist with four wives. Mandela was one of 13 children, the youngest of four boys. He was the first in his family to go to school; the English name ‘Nelson’ was given to him by a teacher, as was the custom. As a child, Mandela said his ambitions were to eat well and be a champion stick fighter. 1930 Gaining a sense of identity Carl da Souza/AFP/Getty Images The hut Mandela lived in after being taken in by the Thembu regent.

When Mandela was around 12 years old his father died and he was entrusted to the regent of the Thembu people. Here he learned the art of leadership. He watched the regent lead council meetings and run the village's business. The older men in the village taught him about his cultural heritage, and he dreamed of being a hero in another age. His eyes were also opened to the inequality of life in South Africa. The minority whites enjoyed political supremacy at the expense of the black population who were denied basic rights. The contrast became even more evident to him when he went to Healdtown College. Stirrings of discontent Luyolo Stengile Mandela (back row, third from right) in a photograph from Healdtown. It’s thought to be the earliest known picture of him. At Healdtown, the 19-year-old Mandela first learned of the existence of the African National Congress (ANC). They sought to defend the voting and land rights of black Africans. After finishing college, Mandela went to Fort Hare University. He was expelled in his second year, for refusing to join the students’ council because of a dispute over the canteen food.

He returned to his village Mqhekezweni in disgrace. The regent, his guardian, was furious at the expulsion and arranged a marriage for Mandela. Mandela was determined to choose his own wife. Feeling trapped, he fled to Johannesburg. I knew it was foolhardy of me to leave Fort Hare, but at the moment when I needed to compromise, I simply could not do so. Nelson Mandela Joining the ANC Youth League Keystone/Hulton/Getty Images Mandela boxed as a young man in Johannesburg. After a dramatic journey, including being fined for carrying his father’s old gun, Mandela settled in Alexandra township. He began attending ANC meetings in 1941 and made his made mark by helping to manage the newly founded Youth League in 1944. More radical than the main party, the Youth League increasingly rejected passive resistance to the government in favour of a more confrontational approach. In the same year Mandela also married Evelyn Mase, a nurse he met through his friend Walter Sisulu. They had two sons and two daughters, one of whom died in infancy. Apartheid begins You need to have JavaScript enabled to view this clip.

Author Deborah Posel explains how the oppressive system of apartheid affected every part of life. (Clip from Racism: A History, BBC Four) At 29, Mandela’s star was rising within the ANC. He wasn’t yet one of its foremost leaders, but was elected executive of the Transvaal Provincial ANC. In 1948, the extremist National Party was elected to government. It quickly began to implement a policy of apartheid, extending racial segregation and introducing other racist measures. Mandela sensed that South Africa would become a place of ‘tension and strife' for black South Africans. Their rights immediately came under sustained attack. Among other measures, every individual was categorised by race and it became illegal to marry across the colour line. They dressed in beautiful suits, silk shirts and silk ties, but they were like a grave – beautiful outside and full of evil inside. Nelson Mandela on National Party politicians 1950 The start of mass civil disobedience in South Africa Jurgen Schadeberg/Getty Images Mandela (centre) outside a Johannesburg courtroom during a trial connected with the defiance campaign, 1952.

In 1950 Mandela became a member of the ANC’s National Executive Committee, as well as president of its Youth League. Two years later he became deputy president of the ANC. Its hitherto cautious policies were replaced with an agenda of mass civil disobedience. Segregation laws were deliberately broken to overwhelm the criminal justice system. Mandela became volunteer-in-chief of the ‘defiance campaign’ and began to be widely recognised in public. Consequently, he was arrested, convicted and declared a ‘banned’ individual. He could no longer leave Johannesburg or meet with political compatriots. 1956 The Mandela legend starts to grow World History Archive / Alamy In the 1960s Mandela went underground and became known as the 'Black Pimpernel'. In 1961 Mandela went underground and became referred to as the `Black Pimpernel’ by the press. This was because of his audacious appearances in public and the police's inability to catch him. That year Spear of the Nation launched its first attacks. Power lines, railways and government buildings were all blown up in 200 actions from 1961 to 1964.

Loss of life was accidental or incidental – there was no policy of deliberately killing people. For Mandela and the other leaders, the purpose was mainly symbolic and intended to bring the government 'to its senses’. There are many people who feel that it is useless and futile for us to continue talking peace and non-violence. Nelson Mandela I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. Extract from Nelson Mandela's Rivonia trial speech 1964 Life in prison on Robben Island AFP/Getty Images Defiant with fists aloft, Mandela and other prisoners are taken to Robben Island after being convicted of sabotage. Mandela’s 27 years in prison were largely spent in Robben Island’s newly built political wing, in a tiny cell with a slop bucket and no proper bed. The system was designed to humiliate prisoners, reminding them of their powerlessness. He was frequently in solitary confinement, which he found challenging. Regular visitors, letters and books were strictly controlled. He often had to break rocks in a nearby quarry. He led protests against indignities like poor food, exercised every morning and played chess.

His lowest points were the deaths of his mother and eldest son, and the maltreatment of his wife Winnie by South African authorities. International sanctions against South Africa TCI/EyeOn/UIG/Getty The 1964 Olympics in Tokyo. South Africa had been banned from attending due to its apartheid regime. After decades of racial oppression and the jailing of ANC and other political leaders, South Africa was being rejected by the international community. While Mandela was in jail, there were boycotts by musicians and cultural figures, including Dusty Springfield, who refused to play to segregated audiences. In 1970 the ‘Stop the Tour’ movement was launched, preventing white South African rugby players and cricketers from playing in test matches. The country had already been banned from the Olympics. In the mid 1970s, economic sanctions and policies of disinvestment followed. The trade in arms with the apartheid state was also prohibited. 1976 The Mandela legend spreads across the world Peter Still/Redferns The Bee Gees perform during Mandela's 70th birthday concert at Wembley Stadium in 1988.

As Mandela’s fame grew throughout the 1980s, pressure from internal and external forces to release him increased. High profile events were held, such as Nelson Mandela’s 70th birthday concert in 1988, when artists including Stevie Wonder performed to a packed Wembley Stadium. Watched by 600 million viewers worldwide, it raised awareness of his imprisonment and the anti-apartheid struggle. Meanwhile, South Africa, facing growing internal difficulties, had declared a state of emergency. The government gradually brought Mandela into informal discussions to find a solution to the political crisis. 11 February 1990 Release from prison and the dawn of a new era Allan Tannenbaum/LIFE/Getty Nelson and Winnie Mandela on his release from prison. In 1990, the South African government finally responded to internal and international pressure and released Mandela, lifting the ban on the ANC. After 27 years in prison, his release was a global news event, watched by millions across the world. The apartheid laws were repealed by President FW de Klerk, and in 1991 Mandela became the ANC's president.

The period after 1990 was marked by a major escalation in violence and fighting amongst rival political and ethnic groups. As the situation worsened, Mandela’s call for calm revealed him as a key advocate of reconciliation and a respected voice of leadership. Mandela becomes president of South Africa Per-Anders Pettersson/Getty Nelson Mandela dances at a victory party after the South African election in 1994. Mandela was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize together with FW de Klerk, then president of South Africa, in 1993. The following year, South Africa held its first non-racial, democratic election and Mandela was elected as its first black president. Throughout his presidency Mandela took on the role of global statesman, seeking to rebuild the international image of his country and attract investment. Public figures clamoured to be seen with him – from popstars and supermodels to royalty and politicians. We will do what we can to contribute to the renewal of our world.

Nelson Mandela on accepting the Nobel Peace Prize 1996 Dawn of a different life Hrvoje Polan/Getty Images The reason the world puts him at that level is because you need to feel greatness and goodness...and that greatness is possible within a human being. Graca Machel, Nelson Mandela's wife 1 June 2004 Acknowledgement and reflection You need to have JavaScript enabled to view this clip. Nelson Mandela unveils his statue in Parliament Square, London. (Clip from: This World: Mandela at 90, BBC Two) In 2004, Mandela announced his retirement from public life, although his charitable work continued. His intention was to spend more time with his family and friends and in ‘quiet reflection’. "Don't call me, I'll call you," he said. On 29 August 2007, a permanent statue of him was unveiled in Parliament Square, London, around 50 years after he'd been in the city seeking political support for the ANC. However, he was not always able to resist the call to perform certain public roles, such as his appearance at the finals of the football World Cup in South Africa in 2010.

The world remains beset by so much human suffering, poverty and deprivation. It is in your hands to make of our world a better one for all. Nelson Mandela Death of an icon Alexander Joie/AFP/Getty

Question: What was the last name of Nelson and Winnie?
Answer: Mandela