Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela( Madiba)

Rolihlahla a Xhosa name that signified that he could be a troublemaker. his clan honorific Madiba associated him with his aristocrafic Thembu lineage[...]Nelson, [...] imprinted his life with the name of one of the imperal Britain's naval heroes.(Ellen Boehmer.Nelson Mandela:A Very Short Introdution.p1) A man who is a hero in his own country, a country whose freedom he had to win. A living legacy of Mahatma Gandhi, The Gandhi(king) of South Africa, as known to the peeple of Burundi. A man who upon release greeted South Africa in the name of "peace, democracy and freedom for all". A father who atfer being politicaly imprison for more than 26 years Said he stood before us all not as a prophet but as a humble servant for all, and "places the remainder of his years in our hands". Mandela a man of steel, an unshakable, an absolute upright man, courageous, heroic, peace upholding, peace resembling and a father not only to me, but to all South Africans." [...] to be free is not merely to cast off one's chain, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others," this is what Mandela says in his poem Our greatest fear is not that we are inadeqeate, but that we are poerful beyond measure. You are the 'maker of your own destiny',and this is what Mandela believed.

Third marriage

Mandela remarried in 1998 on his 80th birthday, to Graça Machel, widow of Samora Machel, the former Mozambican president and ANC ally who was killed in an air crash 12 years earlier. The wedding followed months of international negotiations to set the unprecedented bride-price to be remitted to Machel's clan. Said negotiations were conducted on Mandela's behalf by his traditional sovereign, King Buyelekhaya Zwelibanzi Dalindyebo, born 1964. The paramount chief's grandfather was the regent Jongintaba Dalindyebo. Chief Jongintaba had arranged a marriage for Mandela, from which he fled to Johannesburg in 1940.[6]

Second marriage

Mandela's second wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, also came from the Transkei area, although they, too, met in Johannesburg, where she was the city's first black social worker. They had two daughters, Zenani (Zeni), born 4 February 1958, and Zindziswa (Zindzi), born 1960. Later, Winnie would be deeply torn by family discord which mirrored the country's political strife; while her husband was serving a life sentence on the Robben Island prison, her father became the agriculture minister in the Transkei. The marriage ended in separation (April 1992) and divorce (March 1996), fuelled by political estrangement.

Mandela still languished in prison when his daughter Zenani was married to Prince Thumbumuzi Dlamini in 1973, elder brother of King Mswati III of Swaziland. As a member by marriage of a reigning foreign dynasty, she was able to visit her father during his South African imprisonment while other family members were denied access. The Dlamini couple live and run a business in Boston. One of their sons, Prince Cedza Dlamini (born 1976), educated in the United States, has followed in his grandfather's footsteps as an international advocate for human rights and humanitarian aid. Thumbumuzi and Mswati's sister, Princess Mantfombi Dlamini, is the chief consort to King Goodwill Zwelithini of KwaZulu-Natal, who "reigns but does not rule" over South Africa's largest ethnic group under the auspices of South Africa's government. One of Queen Mantfombi's sons is expected to eventually succeed Goodwill as monarch of the Zulus, whose Inkatha Party leader, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, was one of the political rivals of Mandela, before and during his presidency.

first marriage

Mandela has been married three times, has fathered six children, has twenty grandchildren, and a growing number of great-grandchildren. His grandson is Chief Mandla Mandela.[39]


First marriage
Mandela's first marriage was to Evelyn Ntoko Mase who, like Mandela, was also from what later became the Transkei area of South Africa, although they actually met in Johannesburg. The couple had two sons, Madiba Thembekile (Thembi) (born 1946) and Makgatho Lewanika (born 1950), and two daughters, both named Makaziwe (known as Maki; born 1947 and 1953). Their first daughter died aged nine months, and they named their second daughter in her honour.

The couple broke up in 1957 after 13 years, divorcing under the multiple strains of his constant absences, devotion to revolutionary agitation, and the fact she was a Jehovah's Witness, a religion which requires political neutrality.

Thembi was killed in a car crash in 1969 at the age of 25, while Mandela was imprisoned on Robben Island. All their children were educated at the Waterford Kamhlaba.

Evelyn Mase died in 2004.

Marriage and family.

During his stay at Sisulu's house, Nelson met Evelyn Mase who also happened to be a nurse.They got married at 1944 and rented a house at 8115 Orlando West (LATER TO BECOME PART OF SOWETO TOWNSHIP). Their first child was named Madiba Thambekile, who was later nicknamed "Thembi".Although Mandela was rarely at home, he enjoyed playing, bathing and feeding his son whenever he got the chance. A year later they got a second child, this time a duaghter named Makaziwe. Unfortunately as i huge tragedy to the family the child died at the age of nine months. Although Mandela was still on apprenticeship they lived of the earnings of the Evelyn.

political beginnings

In 1943 he had his first taste of direct protest when he marched with his friend Gaur and the others in the support of a bus boycott. Mandela found the experience of marching with his people inspiring and was impressed by the effectiveness of the boycott. He was encouraged by Sisulu to join ANC in 1942. ANC was black organisayion founded to develop conditons of Africans. He was affected strongly by Lembede's view about llosing the respect for the Western ideas and the whites need of approval, because he knew he was in danger of becoming one African elite approved of by the British and critisezed by Lembede. Mandela and his colleaques formed the Youth Leaque after realising that the ANC organisation does not reach out to most of Africans. Together with his colleaques, Mandela produced the leaque's manifesto, and in 1947 he was appointed secretary