NELSON MANDELA 100 YEARS AFTER
It is all of those qualities and so much more that took Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela on a life changing journey from the a small village of Mveso, a rural area of the Transkei in the Eastern Cape of South Africa to being South Africa’s first democratically elected black president in 1994. A journey marked by a continuous struggle against inequality, racism, poor education and poverty despite being imprisoned by the South African white minority powers in 1963.
Mandela’s early life took a significant turn when Chief Jongintaba Dalindyebo, the acting regent of the Thembu people, adopted him after his father’s death. He was nine years old. Having to relocate from the village of Qunu to the more sophisticated environment of Mqhekezweni, the provincial capital of Thembuland, the chief’s royal residence, Mandela was destined for greater things and given the same status and responsibilities as the regent’s two other children.
After school, the University College of Fort Hare in Eastern Cape, the only residential centre of higher learning for black Africans in South Africa at the time beckoned, drawing scholars from all parts of Sub-Sahara Africa.
In his first year at the university, Mandela took the required courses, but focused on Roman Dutch law to prepare for a career in civil service as an interpreter or clerk—regarded as the best profession
