1918 - 2013

South Africa‘s first democratically elected President, President of the ANC Youth League, President of the ANC, Nobel Peace Prize winner

Former President Nelson Mandela was a South African activist who helped bring an end to apartheid.

He became an international icon as a global advocate for human rights who was honoured throughout the world. Mandela joined the African National Congress during the 1940s, and led both peaceful protests and armed resistance to the white minority's oppressive regime.

He was imprisoned for nearly three decades and he became the face of the liberation movement both within his country and internationally. After his release in 1990, he participated in the eradication of apartheid and formed a multi-party government to oversee the country's transition.

In 1994 he was elected the first Black president of South Africa. Mandela earned numerous international laurels for his role in the liberation movement, including the Nobel Prize in 1993.

After retiring from politics in 1999, he remained a devoted champion of peace and social justice in his own nation and around the world until his death, at the age of 95, in 2013.