MANDELA: A LIFETIME
1985
Offered release from prison if he renounces violence. Declines: “What freedom am I being offered while the organization of the people remains banned? What freedom am I being offered when I may be arrested on a pass offence? What freedom am I being offered to live my life as a family with my dear wife who remains in banishment in Brandfort? What freedom am I being offered when I must ask for permission to live in an urban area?… What freedom am I being offered when my very South African citizenship is not respected? Only free men can negotiate. Prisoners cannot enter into contracts… I cannot and will not give any undertaking at a time when I and you, the people, are not free. Your freedom and mine cannot be separated. I will return.”
1990
Released from 27-year imprisonment on Feb. 11, shortly after the ANC is declared once again legal.
1990
Elected head of ANC.
1993
Accepts the Nobel Peace Prize with F.W. de Klerk. “I have never cared very much for personal prizes. A person does not become a freedom fighter in the hope of winning awards.” (Source: Long Walk to Freedom)
1994
Votes for the first time, is elected president of the Republic of South Africa and releases his autobiography Long Walk to Freedom
‘Never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another. The sun shall never set on so glorious a human achievement.’
NELSON MANDELA
At his 1994 presidential inauguration
1996
Divorces Winnie Mandela and two years later marries Graca Machel, on his 80th birthday.
1999
Steps down from presidency. He is succeeded by Thabo Mbeki.
2007
Mandela, retired archbishop Desmond Tutu and former U.S. president Jimmy Carter join in forming a group called The Elders aimed at “bringing light to some of the darkness that affects our world.”
March 27, 2013
Admitted to hospital with lung infection.
April 6, 2013
Discharged from hospital after being treated for pneumonia.
June 8
Admitted to hospital with a recurring lung infection.
June 25
Family members gather in his ancestral village where he has asked to be buried, according to Xhosa custom in a grave beside his mother and father.
September
Discharged from hospital. He had been receiving home-based medical attention since then.
Dec. 5
Mandela dies at the age of 95.