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Rolihlahla Nelson Mandela - Facts about Nelson Mandela's Life, A Chronology or Timeline

Birth to 1949 ... Born ... 18 July, 1918

Nelson Mandela Winnie Mandela Release from prison

Rolihlahla Nelson Mandela is born in the small village of Mvezo. On the banks of the Mbasho river, in the district of Qunu near Umtata (Transkeis largest town), Mvezo is roughly 900 km south of Johannesburg in a beautiful and very poor area. His mother, Nonqaphi Nosekeni Mandela, is the junior of 4 wives of Henry Mgadla Mandela. Neither ever attended school. Mandelas father is the chief counselor to the chief of the Tembu clan.

Nelson Mandela ... His Youth timeline ...

Mandelas mother and ultimately he, is converted to Methodism. He becomes the first family member to attend a mission school. Political interest starts when he listens to the tribal elders speak of self-rule prior to the arrival of white colonists in their area.

Nelson Mandela Timeline 1920 ...

Dalidyebo, father of the Tembu Chief Jongintaba Dalindyebo, dies at Silimela. It was this latter chief to whom Henry Mandela entrusted his young son, Nelson Mandela.

1926

Jongilizwe, brother of the Tembu Chief Jongintaba Dalindyebo, dies. It was this latter chief to whom Henry Mandela entrusted his young son, Nelson Mandela.

1927

Nelson Mandelas father entrusts him to his close relative, the paramount chief of the Tembu, Chief Jongintaba Dalindyebo. Mandela takes up residence at the Great Place, Mqekezweni, and goes to the local school there, and then on to Qolweni near Umtata.

1930

Henry Mandela dies and Chief Jongintaba Dalindyebo becomes the young Mandelas guardian.

1934

According to custom at age 16, Nelson Mandela is circumsized. His circumcision school is held on the banks of the Mbashe River, where many of his ancestors went through the same ritual transition to manhood. Nelson Mandela attends Clarkebury, a Wesleyan missionary school, at the time the biggest education center in Tembuland.

1936

Hertzog Bills remove Black South Africans from the common voters roll.

1938

Graduation from Healdtown, a strict Methodist mission institution, where he immersed himself in British history and geography. Mandela and his cousin Justice Bambilanga enrol at the South African Native College of Fort Hare.
K D Matanzima and Oliver Tambo are his fellow students

1940

Elected to SRC at Fort Hare. Becomes embroiled in general student dissatisfaction with boarding house food and very low SRC poll. Because of this he follows his conscience and resigns. Both Nelson Mandela and Justice Bambalanga are expelled.

1941

At age 23 Mandela rejects the bride chosen for him by the regent. This clash brings their family relationship to a head and he sets out with Justice for Johannesburg, then only 55 years old, but a major city in Africa. Mandela and Bambilanga find temporary accommodation on Crown Mines with a "home boy" who is an induna on the compound.
Nelson Mandela is employed as a nightwatchman on mine compound. Exposed to exploitation there, but remains aloof from politics. Meets Walter Sisulu for the first time and starts to work in his estate agency.

1942

Articled to a firm of attorneys Witkin, Sidelsky and Eidelman, Mandela moves in with his mother in Orlando. Lived in Dark City, the poorest section of Alexandra township, with no electricity. Broadened his Xhosa perspective by exposure to Sotho-, Swazi-, Zulu-, etc. speaking people. Meets Gaur Radebe, a communist employed by the firm, who urges him to join the party. Nelson Mandela completes a BA degree through correspondence.

1943

Nelson Mandela enrolls at the University of the Witwatersrand Law Faculty. He meets students of all races and is exposed to radical liberal and Africanist thought, as well as racism directed at him personally. He joins the bus boycott organized by Gaur Radebe.

1944 (The year I was born)

Nelson Mandela marries Evelyn Mase, Walter Sisulu's cousin, a nurse and a 'home girl'. They set up home with Evelyn's married sister. The writer Eskia Mphalele is their neighbour. Nelson Mandela joins the African National Congress and at 25, Mandela is committed to ANC politics. Nelson Mandela, Anton Lembede, A.P. Mda, Oliver Tambo and Walter Sisulu found the ANC Youth League and adopt an Africanist position and militant orientation which rejects participation in advisory boards and the Native Representative Council. Anton Lembede is elected President of the Youth League.

1945

Evelyn gives birth to their first child a boy, Tembi. They are allocated a house in Orlando, No 8115. It has 3 rooms, no electricity or inside toilet. Mandela's mother Nosekeni and younger sister Nomabandla (Leaby) come to live with them

1946

Daughter Makaziwe born, but dies after 9 months.

1947

Mandela is elected secretary of ANC Youth League and AP Mda succeeds Lembede as president after the latter's death. Oliver Tambo is elected vice president. Met the Soweto boxing champions Jerry Moloi, Jake Ntuli and Simon Mtimkulu.

1948

A daughter is born to Nelson and Evelyn but the infant dies at nine months Meets A.C. Jordan (academic much admired by Mandelas Tembu friends) and Isaac Tabata (founder of the Unity Movement) who challenges his ANC membership. Becomes national secretary for ANCYL.

1948 May

During the Peoples' Assembly 'Votes for all' campaign Mandela refuses to speak to Walter Sisulu for a week after the latter supported Indian arguments for inclusivity at an Indian Congress meeting. Mandela is in Cape Town for the first time and stays three months. He views the isolated prison of Robben Island from the vantage point of Table Mountain. Mandela fails to get LLB at University of Witwatersrand, and leaves.

1949

The Youth League takes control of the ANC, and replaces Dr Xuma, the president-general, with Dr Moroka. Walter Sisulu is elected secretary and Mandela and Tambo are elected to the executive of the ANC. The Bloemfontein Conference adopts their Programme of Action which calls for a militant, African campaign

This timeline and facts about the Great Nelson Mandela's life supplied with permission from South African History Online: www.sahistory.org.za