When Nelson Mandela Healed The Wounds Of The South African People

Nelson Mandela (Wikimedia Commons)

JAKARTA - On May 10, 1994, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was appointed as the first black president in South Africa (South Africa). In his inauguration address, Mandela, who spent 27 years of his life as a political prisoner of the South African government, stated that "the time for wound healing has come."

Two weeks earlier, more than 22 million South Africans voted in the country's first multiracial parliamentary elections. The vast majority voted for Mandela and his African National Congress (ANC) party to lead the country.

During his presidency, Mandela formed a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate human rights abuses under apartheid politics and introduced various initiatives designed to improve the living standards of black communities in South Africa. In 1996, he led the adoption of South Africa's new constitution.

Mandela retired from politics in June 1999 at the age of 80. He was later replaced by Thabo Mbeki of the ANC, but remained a global advocate for peace and social justice until his death in December 2013.

Launching History, Sunday, May 10, it is not easy for Mandela to be in the leadership chair of South Africa. Mandela is the son of the head of the Tembu who speaks Xhosa.

Instead of replacing his father as head, Mandela went to university and became a lawyer. In 1944, he joined the African National Congress (ANC), a black political organization dedicated to winning the rights of the black majority in white-controlled South Africa.

Nelson Mandela (Wikimedia Commons)

In 1948, the National Party came to power and apartheid became official government policy. The loss of black rights under apartheid politics made registration by the black community in the ANC grow rapidly and Mandela became one of the ANC leaders.

In 1952, Mandela was appointed national vice president of the ANC. He organized nonviolent rallies, boycotts, marches, and other acts of civil disobedience.

After the attacks on peaceful black demonstrators in Sharpeville in 1960, Nelson Mandela helped organize the ANC paramilitaries to engage in acts of sabotage against the white minority government. Nelson Mandela was tried and acquitted of treason charges in 1961 but in 1962 was again arrested for illegally leaving South Africa.

Sentenced

Sentenced to five years in prison on Robben Island, Mandela was tried again in 1963 along with seven others on charges of sabotage, treason and conspiracy. At the Rivonia trial, Mandela strongly defended his actions. On June 12, 1964, he was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Mandela spent 18 of his first 27 years in prison. He was locked up in a small cell without a bed and pipe and forced to do heavy labor in a mine. He writes and receives letters once every six months. Mandela is only allowed to meet with visitors for 30 minutes and only once a year.

However, Mandela's determination never broke. This is evidenced by his becoming the symbolic leader of the anti-apartheid movement. Mandela also continues to lead the prison resistance movement that has forced South African officials to improve conditions on Robben Island. In 1982, Mandela was transferred to Pollsmoor Prison and in 1988 he was sent to a hut, where he was placed under house arrest.

The election of F. De Klerk to become president of South Africa in 1989 was a turning point in the dismantling of the apartheid system. De Klerk lifted a ban on the ANC, delayed his execution, and on February 11, 1990, ordered Nelson Mandela's release. Mandela then led the ANC in negotiations with the minority government to end apartheid and the formation of a multiracial government.

In 1993, Mandela and de Klerk were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. On April 26, 1994, for the first time there were free elections in South Africa and was won by Nelson Mandela and the coalition of national unity. The coalition consisted of the National Party led by de Klerk and the Inkatha Zulus Freedom Party.