Mandela – Before the Struggle

On 18 July 1918 Rolihlahla Mandela was born into the Madiba clan in Mvezo, Transkei. Seeing as his father died when he was a child, the young Rolihlahla became a ward of Jongintaba at the Great Place in Mqhekezweni. 

Throughout his childhood he would be hearing the elder’s stories of his ancestor’s valour during the wars of resistance and he dreamed also of making his own contribution to the freedom struggle of his people.

He attended primary school in Qunu where his teacher Miss Mdingane gave him the name Nelson, in accordance with the custom to give all school children “Christian” names. He completed his Junior Certificate at Clarkebury Boarding Institute and went on to Healdtown, a Wesleyan secondary school, where he matriculated.

He started his studies for a Bachelor of Arts Degree at the University College of Fort Hare but did not complete the degree there, because he had been expelled for joining in a student protest. He completed his BA through the University of South Africa and went back to Fort Hare for his graduation in 1943.

The King was furious and said that if he didn't return to Fort Hare, he would arrange wives for him and his cousin Justice. Instead, they ran away to Johannesburg, arriving there in 1941. There Nelson worked as a mine security officer and here he met Walter Sisulu, an estate agent, who introduced him to Lazar Sidelsky. He then did his articles through the firm of attorneys Witkin Eidelman and Sidelsky.

Meanwhile he began studying for an LLB at the University of the Witwatersrand. By his own admission he was a poor student and left the university in 1948 without graduating. He only started studying again through the University of London and also did not complete that degree. In 1989, while in the last months of his imprisonment, he obtained an LLB through the University of South Africa. He graduated in absentia at a ceremony in Cape Town.

Nelson Mandela only joined the ANC in 1944 when he helped form the ANC Youth League, although he had become increasingly involved in politics from 1942. In 1944 he married Walter Sisulu’s cousin Evelyn Mase, a nurse. They had two sons Madiba Thembekile ‘Thembi’ and Makgatho and two daughters both called Makaziwe. The couple was effectively separated in 1955 and officially divorced in 1958.

Nelson Mandela rose through the ranks of the ANCYL and through its work the ANC adopted in 1949 a more radical mass-based policy, the Programme of Action. In 1952 he was chosen at the National Volunteer-in-Chief of the Defiance Campaign with Maulvi Cachalia as his Deputy. He and 19 others were charged under the Suppression of Communism Act for their part in the campaign of civil disobedience against six unjust laws, and were sentenced to nine months hard labour suspended for two years.

Nelson finally completed a two year diploma in law and this on top of his BA allowed Nelson Mandela to practice law. In August 1952 he and Oliver Tambo established South Africa’s first black law firm, Mandela and Tambo. At the end of 1952 Nelson Mandela was banned for the first time. As a restricted person he was only able to secretly watch as the Freedom Charter was adopted at Kliptown on 26 June 1955. Nelson Mandela’s arrest in a countrywide police swoop of 156 activists on 5 December 1955 led to the 1956 Treason Trial. Men and women of all races found themselves in a marathon trial that only ended when the last 28 accused, including Mr Mandela were acquitted on 29 March 1961.

During the trial on 14 June 1958 Nelson Mandela married a social worker Winnie Madikizela. They had two daughters Zenani and Zindziswa. The couple divorced in 1996. Days before the end of the Treason Trial Nelson Mandela traveled to Pietermaritzburg to speak at the All-in Africa Conference.

Nelson Mandela went underground as soon as he and his colleagues were acquitted in the Treason Trial and began planning a national strike for 29, 30 and 31 March, but in the face of a massive mobilization of state security the strike was called off early. In June 1961 he was asked to lead the armed struggle and helped to establish Umkhonto weSizwe (Spear of the Nation).

Nelson Mandela left South Africa secretly on 11 January 1962 using the adopted name David Motsamayi. He traveled around Africa and visited England to attempt to gain support for the armed struggle. He received military training in Morocco and Ethiopia and returned to South Africa in July 1962. 

He was arrested in a police roadblock outside Howick on 5 August while returning from KwaZulu-Natal where he briefed ANC President Chief Albert Luthuli about his trip. He was charged with leaving the country illegally and inciting workers to strike. He was convicted and sentenced to five years imprisonment which he began serving in Pretoria Local Prison. On 27 May 1963 he was transferred to Robben Island and returned to Pretoria on 12 June. Within a month police raided a secret hide-out in Rivonia used by ANC and Communist Party activists and several of his comrades were arrested.

Nelson Mandela joined nine others in October 1963 on trial for sabotage in what became known as the Rivonia Trial. On 11 June 1964 Nelson Mandela and seven other accused were convicted and the next day, were sentenced to life imprisonment. Nelson Mandela was sent to Robben Island. On 31 March 1982 Nelson Mandela was transferred to Pollsmoor Prison in Cape Town.

In 1988 he was treated for Tuberculosis and was transferred on 7 December 1988 to a house at Victor Verster Prison near Paarl. He was released from its gates on Sunday 11 February 1990, nine days after the un-banning of the ANC and the PAC and nearly four months after the release of the remaining Rivonia comrades. Throughout his imprisonment he had rejected at least three conditional offers of release.

Written by: Marleen Theunissen

Creative writer at ATKA SA