Twenty years ago today, on February 11, 1990, Nelson Mandela was freed from the South African prison at Robben Island. Today, it seems hard to imagine how unlikely and difficult this liberation was, yet it was the result of a long and difficult struggle. The UN and many political leaders around the world, as well as the international movement urging sanctions against South Africa, all played a part in freeing Nelson Mandela after 27 years in prison. For information on his current projects, visit his foundation’s website at NelsonMandela.org.

During my years in graduate school at Notre Dame, we formed a vibrant anti-apartheid group. We gathered every Friday at noon, in front of the University’s Main Building, to demand that the university divest of holdings in South African companies. We were not successful in that hope. However, when Mandela was freed in 1990, we held quite a celebration in our usual spot.

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was born in a small village in the Transkei on July 18, 1918. He went to local missionary schools and then attended University College of Fort Hare. He was suspended for protesting apartheid but finished his degree by correspondence. He joined the African National Congress, as one of its first 60 members. In 1952, when the ANC launched its Campaign for the Defiance of Unjust Laws, Mandela was chosen volunteer-in-chief. He traveled the country, organizing resistance.

Eventually, after traveling to other countries organizing resistance to apartheid, he returned to South Africa and was arrested for illegal exit from the country and inciting strikes. While in prison, he was charged with sabotage and convicted. He was sentenced to life in prison at Robben Island. In April 1984, he was transferred to a number of other prisons where he was offered freedom if he accepted  various racist policies of the South African government. However, he always insisted that only “free men” can negotiate. In the 1980s, he rejected Prime Minister P.W. Botha’s offer of freedom, if he would reject violence. He did not. As a result, he spent 27 years in prison. Shortly after his release, on February 11, 1990, he and his delegation agreed to suspend their armed struggle. It was a matter of conscience for him, that this could not be done until he was a free man.

Once released, Mandela threw himself totally into the work of liberating South Africa’s majority black population. He was elected president of the ANC in 1991 and was inaugurated as the first democratically elected president of South Africa in on May 10, 1994. In 1993, Mandela was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. He resigned from public life in June, 1999 and still lives in his birth village, in the Transkei region of South Africa.

Perhaps one of Mandela’s most important policies, was to suspend the death penalty, immediately after his election as president. He always worked for honest and compassionate reconciliation, as was evidenced by the Truth and Reconciliation Commissions his government set up.

Nelson Mandela is one of the world’s great heros. He lives a life given over to the work of justice, equality, and democracy. His words, “The struggle is my life” have been borne true.

                              www.JosephRoss.net