While the world mourns the passing of Nelson Mandela on December 5, 2013, we look back to trace some significant events of the life of the great leader who was also a lawyer.
In early 1940s Nelson Mandela began studying 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, while increasingly politically involved from 1942, only joined the African National Congress in 1944 when he helped form the ANC Youth League.
In 1952 he was chosen at the National Volunteer-in-Chief of the defiance campaign with Maulvi Cachalia as his deputy. This campaign of civil disobedience against six unjust laws was a joint programme between the ANC and the South African Indian Congress. He and 19 others were charged under the Suppression of Communism Act for their part in the campaign and sentenced to nine months imprisonment.
A two-year diploma in law on top of his BA allowed Nelson Mandela to practice law and in August 1952 he and Oliver Tambo established South Africa’s first black law firm, Mandela and Tambo.
At the end of 1952 he 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 June 26, 1955.
Nelson Mandela was arrested in a countrywide police swoop of 156 activists on December 5, 1955, which led to the 1956 Treason Trial. Men and women of all races found themselves in the dock in the marathon trial that only ended when the last 28 accused, including Mr Mandela were acquitted on March 29, 1961.
On March 21, 1960 police killed 69 unarmed people in a protest at Sharpeville against the laws. This led to the country’s first state of emergency on March 31 and the banning of the ANC and the Pan Africanist Congress on April 8. Nelson Mandela and his colleagues in the Treason Trial were among the thousands detained during the state of emergency.
As soon as he and his colleagues were acquitted in the Treason Trial Nelson Mandela went underground and began planning a national strike for March 29, 30 and 31. In the face of a massive mobilisation 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). In October 1963 Nelson Mandela joined nine others on trial for sabotage in what became known as the Rivonia Trial. Facing the death penalty his words to the court at the end of his famous ‘Speech from the Dock’ on April 20, 1964 became immortalised:
“I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”
On June 11, 1964 Nelson Mandela and seven other were convicted and in the next days were sentenced to life imprisonment. Denis Goldberg was sent to Pretoria Prison because he was white while the others went to Robben Island.
Nelson Mandela’s mother died in 1968 and his eldest son Thembi in 1969. He was not allowed to attend their funerals.
Nelson Mandela immersed himself into official talks to end white minority rule and in 1991 was elected ANC President to replace his ailing friend Oliver Tambo. In 1993 he and President FW de Klerk jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize and on April 27, 1994 he voted for the first time in his life.
On May 10, 1994 he was sworn in as South Africa’s first democratically elected President. True to his promise Nelson Mandela stepped down in 1999 after one term as president. Nelson Mandela never wavered in his devotion to democracy, justice and equality. Despite terrible provocation, he never answered racism with racism. His life has been an inspiration to all who are oppressed and deprived, to all who are opposed to oppression and deprivation.
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http://www.dhakatribune.com/law-amp-rights/2013/dec/11/nelson-mandela-lawyer-leader-and-legend#sthash.qHYtcnli.dpuf
