Former South Africa president Nelson Mandela dies at 95
Posted on: 06/Dec/2013 12:39:20 PM
Former South Africa president Nelson Mandela who was the Nobel Peace laureate died at his Johannesburg home surrounded by his family, after a long battle against lung infection. The news was announced to the nation and the world by a clearly emotional South African President Jacob Zuma in a live broadcast to the nation.
Mandela was discharged from hospital in September, but continued to receive intensive care at home. He had a long history of lung problems after contracting tuberculosis while in jail.Born in July 1918 in the southeastern Transkei region, Mandela carved out a career as a lawyer in Johannesburg in parallel with his political activism.
He became commander-in-chief of Umkhonto we Sizwe (Spear of the Nation), the armed wing of the by now-banned ANC, in 1961, and the following year underwent military training in Algeria and Ethiopia.
While underground back home in South Africa, Mandela was captured by police in 1962 and sentenced to five years in prison.He was then charged with sabotage and sentenced in 1964 to life in prison at the Rivonia trial, named after a Johannesburg suburb where a number of ANC leaders were arrested.He used the court hearing to deliver a speech that was to become the manifesto of the anti-apartheid movement.
America`s first black President Barack Obama led the worldwide tributes, hailing Mandela as a "profoundly good" man who "took history in his hands and bent the arc of the moral universe towards justice."
Archbishop emeritus Desmond Tutu lauded his compatriot and fellow Nobel peace laureate as the man who taught a deeply divided nation how to come together.Speaking on behalf of the United Nations, secretary general Ban Ki-moon declared Mandela a "giant for justice."The Nobel Peace Prize winner spent 27 years behind bars before being freed in 1990 to lead the African National Congress (ANC) in negotiations with the white minority rulers which culminated in the first multi-racial elections in 1994.
His death has left his family divided over his wealth. Some of his children and grandchildren are locked in a legal feud with his close friends over alleged irregularities in his two companies.
