Nelson Mandela, or Madiba as he is popularly called was born on 18 July 1918. He served as the President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, in South Africa's first every fully representative democratic elections. Prior to that, he was an anti-apartheid activist, who had spent twenty seven years in prison on Robben Island, Victor Verster Prison and Pollsmore prison. He was released on 11 February 1990. He is also the winner of the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize.
Growing up in Nigeria, I don't really recall how I got to know about Nelson Mandela. I don't think we were taught about apartheid in primary or secondary school. It's probably one of those things we learnt from watching the news which we did a lot, thanks to my parents. Shout out to CNN. One of my early exposures to apartheid was the movie "Sarafina".
Madiba was influenced by Mahatma Gandhi's non-violent resistant approach and described the move to armed struggle as a last resort. He admitted that the ANC in its struggle against apartheid also violated human rights. After his capture and trial, Madiba as a D group prisoner was allowed one visitor and one letter every six months.
During Madiba's Presidency, he introduced many progressive social reforms, although he admits that he should have paid more attention to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. He launched the 46664 campaign in 2002, in an effort to reach youth all over the world in a way that would appeal most to them while increasing HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention.
The campaign takes its name after Mandela's prison number (prisoner 466 of 1964) given to Mandela when he was incarcerated for life.
