Nelson Mandela: The Icon and Father of Modern South Africa

Nelson Mandela was a South African political activist who fought for the rights of his people. Read this blog post to find out what he fought for and why he is called the father of modern South Africa.

Several centuries ago, when South Africa was still not a country, it was ruled by different tribes. These tribes consisted of 30 to 80 families of indigenous black people. These people lived in harmony with nature.

However, in the seventeenth century, the Dutch East India Company landed in the Cape of Good Hope. It wanted to establish a base there so that it could resupply its ships going to the Dutch colonies in Asia. All it wanted was to buy goods from the black tribal people and send them to its colonies. However, the tribal people refused to do business with the Dutch East India Company because its terms were highly disadvantageous to them. So, the Dutch East India Company fought against these tribes and drove them away from the Cape of Good Hope into the interior regions of South Africa. Then, it asked some of its own employees to settle and farm in the lands seized from the tribal people. These European settlers, the former employees of the Dutch East India Company, came to be known as Bauers.

However, with time, the terms laid down by the Dutch East India Company were unfavorable to the Bauers too. So, they distanced themselves from the company and moved into the interior regions of South Africa.

Around the end of the eighteenth century, France occupied several provinces of the Dutch Republic. Britain, which was fighting against France at that time, did not want France to occupy the Cape of Good Hope too. If that happened, Britain could have lost access to its colonies in South Asia. So, it took over the Cape of Good Hope from the Dutch. Then, it made some of its own people (Britishers) settle near the Cape of Good Hope. But at this point, Britain did not have any intentions of colonizing South Africa.

In the late half of the nineteenth century, gold and diamond were discovered in South Africa. But this changed everything. Now, Britain wanted to profit from gold and diamond mining in South Africa. So, it conquered all the black tribes and colonized South Africa. Then, it built gold and diamond mining factories. To keep these factories profitable, it imposed inhuman working conditions on its black workers.

Even though Britishers in South Africa were hugely profiting from the mining business there, the Bauers couldn't get a share of the profits because they didn't have the money to set up mining factories. They could only work in these mines alongside black workers. This annoyed the Bauers. So, they went to war with the Britishers. After fighting for three years, the Bauers realized that they couldn't win against the Britishers. At the same time, the Britishers realized that they couldn't rule South Africa without the help of Bauers. So, the Britishers and the Bauers came to a peace agreement. They decided to join hands and exploit the black people in South Africa so that they both could profit from the mining business. So, they set up an all-white government in South Africa and denied the Black people voting rights. Thus, even if they were mistreated, the Black people had no way of fighting against it.

It is at such a time that Nelson Mandela was born. As a kid, even though the all-white government mistreated the Black South Africans, Nelson Mandela didn't consider the Britishers as enemies. Instead, he regarded the Britishers as saviors who brought facilities like education to South Africa. However, his initial opinion about the Britishers was shattered when he joined a law college and faced severe racism there.

So, he joined the African National Congress (ANC). This party was fighting against the injustice committed to the black people of South Africa. Since black people did not even have any voting rights, the party could only petition the government to change its policies. However, its policies were not effective. Moreover, the party, which was fighting for justice for the Black people of South Africa, did not have the support of the millions of oppressed Black miners and farmers in South Africa. So, Nelson Mandela and other young members of the party created the Youth League of the African National Congress. They wanted to convert the ANC into a mass movement.

In 1948, the National Party came to power in South Africa. Until then, South Africa was ruled by the United Party, which mainly consisted of Britishers. In 1948, the National Party won the elections (only the white people had the right to vote) by proposing to introduce policies that would benefit the Afrikaners (descendants of Bauers), who were the majority among the white people in the country. The national party implemented the Apartheid system, which restricted the movement of black people greatly and impacted their livelihoods terribly. It segregated facilities and areas between black and white people. While the facilities meant for white people were properly maintained and offered high-quality services, the facilities meant for black people were often understaffed and offered lower-quality services. Moreover, the new government designated areas within South Africa as white South Africa. Only those black people who had passes to enter white South Africa could and hold jobs or open businesses there.

Nelson Mandela considered the Apartheid system a grave injustice against his people. So, to fight against this oppressive system, Nelson Mandela and other party members incited protests among people. They asked the people to burn their passes and the workers to stay at home and not go to work. Nelson Mandela even formed an armed group for the ANC, which planned to bomb government facilities.

When the government found out about Mandela's involvement in the planned bombings, it awarded him a life sentence. However, even after being sent to prison, the support for Mandela kept increasing. When he celebrated his 60th birthday in 1978, he had spent 14 years in prison. By that time, his fight against the Apartheid system had already become internationally known. So, people all over the world started organizing mass protests calling for his release. Therefore, several countries stopped doing trade with South Africa. As a result, South Africa's economy was devastated. Hence, South Africans started protesting against the Apartheid government.

So, succumbing to mounting pressures, the South African government released Mandela and several others in 1990. But it was not ready to end the Apartheid system yet. So, immediately after his release, Mandela started traveling to other countries, asking them to impose stricter trade sanctions against South Africa. Four years later, the government also agreed to end the Apartheid system and give black people the right to vote. Thus, Nelson Mandela dedicated most of his life to fighting for his people. Thanks to his efforts, the Black people could finally live in their own country according to their own terms.