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Friday 6 December 2013

10 amazing facts about Nelson Mandela.




THE NELSON MANDELA YOU PROBABLY DIDN'T KNOW.

One of Africa's greatest leaders he was, a true lion of the 20th century political struggle in south Africa. his life was full of events, some of which one may find intriguing. Although the South Africans and probably many other nationalities see him as a god and his struggle for freedom was one of the most popular not only in South Africa, but all over the globe. here are some interesting facts about his life.
  1. HE HATED HIS PUBLIC IMAGE. As stated earlier, Mandela was regarded by many as a supernatural human, but deep down, he rejected this.when he was first elected president of South Africa, he had clearly stated in his speech that he wasn't a messiah and many newspapers quoted him in front pager 'I AM NOT A MESSIAH'. he saw himself as just anybody struggling for the cause of truth and freedom.
  2. HE WAS A MARXIST. Mandela was an ardent supporter of communism. this may have been caused by his experience during the apartheid regime in south Africa where the white overlords seized and controlled almost every means of production and exploited the natives to work for them, giving them no more than peanuts as a justification for their labour. Many people him didn't know about this because he concealed it to gain American support and for the fact that he was more interested in the liberation of South-Africa than forming a Marxist society.
  3. HE WAS A WOMANIZER. Now this might not be what you think, he was human and wasn't infallible. despite his struggle, he had time for women, not just about him being sexual, but he was, according to his biographers, a Casanova. Probably for the fact that he was popular, women fell at his feet with little or no efforts and he was able to manage multiple of affairs at a time. This was well represented in David James Smith's the 'Young Mandela'
  4. HIS PRISON LIFE. Although it is a well known fact that the Late Mandela spent 27 years in Prison, some interesting events had taken place in the prison. top on the list is the fact that he was offered conditional freedom six times and at every point in time, he rejected. he was also confined to a 2m x 2.5m cell with nothing but a sheet on the floor as bed.he was also consigned to hard labour in a mine for much of that time, and could only receive a visitor, once in six months. In spite of these, he found time to write a memoir which was later discovered by the White authorities leading to a restriction on his freedom to study.
  5. HE WAS FRIEND WITH GADDAFI. Mandela was friends with erstwhile Libyan leader Col. Muammar Gaddafi, Gaddafi himself was well known for his support of the ANC. He provided funds and arms at needed times and most ANC leaders respected him a lot. This includes the Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe, Jacob Zuma to mention a few.When the struggle against apartheid was on course, Gaddafi was benevolent enough to support them and as such the late Mandela returned his gesture by paying him a courtesy visit in 1994, he also went as far as naming his grandson after the erstwhile Libyan leader.
  6. HE CREATED THE ANC MILITARY FORCE.The late Nelson mandela founded the Military wing of the African National Congress. after the sharpeville attack by the then colonial government on innocent protesters which claimed the lives of 69 South-Africans, it was the military wing of the ANC that later carried out attacks on both colonial military and sometimes civilians. This was probably one of the reasons he was on the US terror list until 2008.
  7. HIS BIRTHDAY IS AN INTERNATIONAL DAY. The United Nations in  the year the first time a day was dedicated to a single person in History of the world.
  8. HIS EX-WIFE AN IRON LADY. Mandela married three wives. His second wife Evelyn was a tough lady, she doubled as an active participant of the ANC struggle. She was once convicted of kidnapping and murdering a 14 year old who was accused of supplying evidence to the Police. She has also faced several charges of abducting and torturing whoever stood against her then Husbands struggle. She was also a staunch advocate of 'execution by burning' who ever betrayed the cause'
  9. HE IS A CANADIAN CITIZEN. The late Madiba was also a cowboy, he was awarded honorary citizenship in Canada. he was a honorary member of the British Labour Party, and also a honorary member of Manchester United. It is also noteworthy of mention that a prehistoric wood pecker was named after him 'australopicus nelsonmandelai' along with hundreds of awards and honours.  
  10.  NELSON WASN'T HIS BIRTH-NAME . Mandela's birth name was– Rolihlahla – is an           isiXhosa name that means ''pulling the branch of a tree". the name also means "troublemaker" and he probably was a trouble maker for the most part of his life, although in the right cause. His English name, Nelson, was given to him by a missionary schoolteacher.

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