【明報專訊】On 10 May 1994 Nelson Mandela (曼德拉) became the first black President of South Africa, marking a milestone in the fight for racial equality (種族平等).

Early life

Mandela was born in 1918. His father was a chief of the Xhosa people, an ethnic group living in south-east South Africa. Mandela studied law at the University of Witwatersrand. Soon after his graduation, he joined the African National Congress (非洲人國民大會, ANC), a political party which fought against injustice against black South Africans.

South Africa was then ruled by people called Afrikaners (阿非利卡人), also called Boers (布爾人), whose ancestors arrived in South Africa in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In 1948, The Afrikaner minority government of the National Party established apartheid (種族隔離) - a system of racial segregation that privileged whites. As a lawyer, Mandela campaigned for equal rights for black people. He was repeatedly arrested for his protests.

Embracing violent means

Mandela originally adopted non-violent means. But in 1960 the Sharpeville massacre happened. In the South African township of Sharpeville, today part of Gauteng (豪登省), a crowd of about 5,000 to 7,000 black African protesters marched to the police station. The police opened fire on the crowd, killing 69 people. The government proclaimed martial law(戒嚴).

In the wake of the incident, Mandela abandoned his nonviolent stance and helped found the "Spear of the Nation," the ANC's military wing. To put pressure on the government, the group carried out acts of sabotage(破壞), bombing military installations, power plants, telephone lines and transport links at night. For his part in the group, Mandela was arrested in 1962. He was subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment.

27 years in prison

Though he was in prison, Mandela was supported by many black South Africans as well as the international community. In 1989 de Klerk (德克勒克)became President of South Africa, succeeding the ailing P W Botha (波塔). Committed to ending apartheid, de Klerk met with Mandela, and had him released in 1990. Then Mandela was 71 and had spent 27 years in prison.

First black president

After his release, Mandela became president of the ANC. He worked together with de Klerk on the abolition of apartheid and the transition to non-racial democracy. For their efforts Mandela and de Klerk were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.

On 27 April 1994, another historic event took place - the first general election in which citizens of all races were allowed to participate. Mandela was elected president.

Mandela saw national reconciliation (和解) as the primary task of his presidency. Now that the South African economy was damaged by the departure of the whites, he asked de Klerk to be the first Deputy President in his attempt to reassure white people that their interests would be protected in the "Rainbow Nation". Mandela increased welfare(福利)spending, and introduced free healthcare for children under six and pregnant women. On the diplomatic front, he encouraged other nations to resolve conflicts through diplomacy and reconciliation.

When Mandela stepped down in 1999, he had already become one of the most respected statesmen in the world.

Later life and death

After he had stepped down, Mandela remained active in philanthropy, meeting with world leaders and celebrities on rural development, school construction and combating AIDS. Mandela died at 95 on 5 December 2013.