Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (born July 18, 1918) is a former President of South Africa, was one of its chief anti-apartheid activists, and was also an anti-apartheid saboteur and guerrilla leader. He is now almost universially considered to be a heroic freedom fighter, but during the time of the apartheid regime many Western politicians such as Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan considered him a terrorist. He spent his childhood in the Thembu chiefdom before embarking on a career in law.

Mandela was born in Qunu in the Transkei. His father was Hendry Mphakanyiswa Gadla, chief of Mvezo, a tiny village on the banks of the Mbashe River. At the age of seven, Rolihlahla Mandela became the first member of his family to attend school, where he was given the English name "Nelson" by a Methodist teacher. His father died when he was 10, and Nelson attended a Wesleyan mission school next door to the palace of the Regent. Following Xhosa custom he was initiated at age 16, and attended Clarkebury Boarding Institute, learning about Western culture. He completed his Junior Certificate in two years, instead of the usual three.

At age 19, in 1934, Mandela moved to the Wesleyan College in Fort Beaufort, which most Thembu royalty attended, and took an interest in boxing and running. After matriculating, he began a BA degree at Fort Hare University, where he met Oliver Tambo, who became a lifelong friend and colleague.

At the end of his first year he became involved in a boycott of the Students' Representative Council against the university policies, and was asked to leave Fort Hare. He left to go to Johannesburg, where he completed his degree with the University of South Africa (UNISA) via correspondence, then began a Law degree at Wits University.

Mandela has been married three times. His first marriage to Evelyn Ntoko Mase ended in divorce in 1957 after 13 years, and his 38-year marriage to Winnie Madikizela in separation (April 1992) and divorce (March 1996) fuelled by political estrangement. On his 80th birthday he married Graça Machel, widow of Samora Machel, the former Mozambican president and ANC ally killed in an air crash 15 years earlier.