Nelson Mandela - A Great Moral and Political Leader

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Nelson Mandela - A Great Moral and Political Leader

Nelson Mandela is one of the great moral and political leaders of our

time: an international hero whose lifelong dedication to the fight

against racial oppression in South Africa won him the Nobel Peace

Prize and the presidency of his country. Since his triumphant release

in 1990 from more than a quarter-century of imprisonment, Mandela has

been at the centre of the most compelling and inspiring political

drama in the world. As president of the African National Congress and

head of South Africa's antiapartheid movement, he was instrumental in

moving the nation toward multiracial government and majority rule. He

is revered everywhere as a vital force in the fight for human rights

and racial equality.

Nelson Mandela was 9 years old, when he was faced with one of the most

important turning points in his life; the death of his father. He was

then put under the guardianship of Chief Jongintaba. Under his

supervision he observed the tribal meetings. In Mandela's own words it

was "democracy in its purest form". Everyone who wanted to speak did

so, each expressing his or her own opinion. The meeting that had the

biggest effect on Mandela was when he was circumcised, at the age of

16. The main speaker at the ceremony was Chief Meligqili. In his

speech he declared that the promise of manhood for could never be

fulfilled because black people were 'slaves in our own country'. The

most inspiring part of the speech for Mandela was "the abilities, the

intelligence, the promise of these young men will be squashed in their

attempt to eke out a living doing the simplest, most mindless chores

f...

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...ontinuing his fight for the black Africans freedom.

This was Mandela?s greatest moment in his fight for freedom, as it was

Mandela?s imprisonment, which led to Mandela becoming a worldwide

political icon as he was widely accepted as the most significant black

leader in South Africa and became a potent symbol of resistance as the

anti-apartheid movement gathered strength.

As a précis, it was the combination of Mandela?s imprisonment in

addition to many of the other stated turning events of Mandela?s life.

Which led to the overall, final most significant turning point in

Mandela's life when on the 27th April 1994, he was appointed president

of South Africa as he reach the highest moment in his battle to bring

about the final end of apartheid and minority rule, and the beginning

of freedom in a autonomous South Africa.

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