On this day nine years ago, the country’s first democratically elected president (1994–1999), Rolihlahla Nelson Mandela, died peacefully at his home in Houghton, northern Johannesburg, at the age of 95. There was a massive outpouring of grief and pain as people across the world came together to mourn the elder statesman's death while also commemorating his life shortly after his death on 5 December 2013.
The former president was born into a royal lineage in Mvezo, Eastern Cape, and attended school in nearby Mqekezweni.
But it was Qunu in the same province where he had lived as a boy and following his release from prison.
Mandela and his cousin Justice Dalindyebo arrived in Johannesburg in 1941 after fleeing planned marriages in their native of Mvezo, a small community on the banks of the Mbashe River near Mthatha.
However, Mandela cut his political teeth in Johannesburg, where he established himself as an anti-apartheid activist, lawyer, and political prisoner.
He moved from a Xhosa village to the multi-racial cosmopolitan city of Johannesburg, which opened the world to him, introducing him to music and the ANC, and this is the place in which he left an indelible mark on society.
Mandela began his career as a security guard in Crown Mines, Johannesburg. He was fired from the short-lived job when his boss discovered he was a fugitive from his homeland of Transkei.
After Mandela lost his first job as a security guard, Walter Sisulu got him a post in 1942 as an article clerk at the law firm Witkin, Sidelsky, and Eidelma, which pioneered the employment of Black people at the time, enabling them to be articled and qualify as attorneys, in defiance of widespread practise.
In 1943, Mandela enrolled for an LLB degree at the University of Witwatersrand on Jan Smuts Avenue in Braamfontein. He was the only Black student in his class and was subjected to racism. His network later grew when he met the couple, Joe Slovo and Ruth First, as well as Nat Bregman, a Jewish communist and his first "white friend," among others.
But it was his acquaintance Gaur Radebe, a member of the ANC and the Communist Party, who sparked his political interest. He also spent a significant amount of time with the Sisulu family at their home in Orlando learning about the ANC.
Mandela married Sisulu's cousin Evelyn Mase in October 1944, and the couple moved to Soweto in 1946.
They had two sons, Madiba Thembekile "Thembi" and Makgatho, as well as two daughters, both named Makaziwe, the first of whom died in infancy. In 1958, he and Evelyn divorced.
During the divorce proceedings, Mandela began courting Winnie Madikizela, the first Black social worker at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, whom he married later that year.
They had two children together: Zenani and Zindziswa. He and Winnie announced their separation in 1992.
Their home on Vilakazi Street has been turned into a famous museum that draws visitors from all over the world. Mandela had stayed in the same house with Evelyn.
Mandela became increasingly politically involved, helping to form the ANC Youth League in 1944, for which he was elected president in 1951.
In 1952, the ANC launched a joint defiance campaign against apartheid laws with Indian and communist organisations, establishing a National Volunteer Board to recruit volunteers, with Mandela serving as Volunteer-in-Chief.
He also made a name for himself in the inner city, where he co-founded a law firm with Oliver Tambo in 1952. In the 1950s, Mandela & Tambo was the first attorneys’ firm in the country to be run by Black partners. Chancellor House, where the firm administered the affairs of countless disenfranchised Black people, is a historic monument.
Mandela co-founded the ANC’s military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) in 1961, then went underground to train as a soldier.
He later settled at Liliesleaf Farm in Rivonia, north of Johannesburg, which became a safe house and headquarters for the MK.
On 5 August 1961, Mandela was arrested in the KwaZulu-Natal midlands town of Howick and sentenced to five years in prison for leaving the country without a passport and inciting workers to strike.
On 1 July 1963, while serving his sentence, Liliesleaf Farm was raided by the security police in what subsequently became known as the Rivonia trial, in which Mandela and other high-ranking ANC activists like Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, Andrew Mlangeni, Raymond Mhlaba, Ahmed Kathrada, Elias Motsoaledi, and Denis Goldberg were convicted of sabotage and sentenced to life in prison after the trial in June 1964.
Mandela was incarcerated several times during his fight against apartheid, and he was held at the Newlands and Marshall Square Police Stations, as well as the Old Fort Prison in Johannesburg.
The cell where he was held at the Old Ford now houses a permanent Mandela exhibition and is part of the Constitution Hill precinct. Mandela spent 27 years in prison, alternating between Robben Island, the Drakenstein Correctional Centre (formerly Victor Verster Prison), and Pollsmoor, from where he was released in 1990.
He remained committed to his goal of an equal and non-racial society after his release from prison. During his first public address after his release, he quoted his famous closing speech from the Rivonia trial: "During my lifetime, I have dedicated myself to the struggle of the African people.
I have fought against white dominance, and I have fought against Black dominance.
I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal that I hope to live for and achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die".
In May 1994, Mandela was inaugurated as South Africa’s first democratically elected president.
Over the years, Mandela lived in Alexandra, Soweto, Liliesleaf Farm in Rivonia, and Houghton, where he had two properties, including the one on 13th Avenue, where he lived between 1992 and 1998.
The Nelson Mandela Foundation, which was founded in 1999, had its headquarters there until 2002 when it relocated to its current location.
The house has since been transformed into Sanctuary Mandela, a boutique hotel that officially opened to the public in September 2021.
When he married Graça Machel in 1998, they moved to his second Houghton home on 12th Avenue, where he died on 5 December 2013.
Almost every corner of Johannesburg, South Africa’s economic epicentre is adorned with artistic and other symbols of Mandela, including memorials such as his former house on Vilakazi Street in Orlando West Soweto, Constitutional Hill, and sites named after him such as Nelson Mandela Square in the heart of Sandton and the Nelson Mandela Bridge in Braamfontein, which will live on in the many hearts of South Africans who loved and treasured him deeply.
Affectionately called Tata, Madiba, and the father of the nation, Mandela truly left a mark in the hearts of Joburgers.
Razia Saleh, the director of archives and research at the Nelson Mandela Foundation, outlines Mandela’s journey in Johannesburg.
"As a member of a royal family, he was confronted with apartheid for the first time when he arrived in Johannesburg. Mandela was deeply moved by his visit to Johannesburg and by seeing the people's living conditions.
He was affected by racial discrimination, which sparked his interest in politics," Saleh explains.
Saleh adds that Mandela fought against apartheid to enable all South Africans to enjoy equal rights and opportunities. "A charismatic leader, he later became known as the father of the nation."
Written by Brümilda Swartbooi
5/12/2022
