Ep. 179: Nelson Mandela – Top 6 Facts

March 2, 2025 Peter Jans

Intro

Hello and Welcome to this episode of the podcast, "The Mnemonic Tree", where we add a single mnemonic leaf to our Tree of Knowledge.

I’m Jans your Mnemonic Man and today's episode will be on, probably the most famous South African of all time and the first black president of that country, Nelson Mandela.

Born in a village in Mvezo, Nelson Mandela was born into the Thembu royal family. His childhood was relatively normal growing up with his two sisters, tending to cattle, and playing outside with other boys from the village.

He attended Healdtown Methodist Boarding School after which he studied at Fort Hare University College where he first became involved in student politics, and also had his first drama where he was expelled as a result of a student protest.

He completed his law degree at the University of the Witwatersrand before working as a lawyer in Johannesburg. Here he became involved in anti-colonial and African nationalist politics, joining the ANC and co-founding its Youth League.

Though his protests were initially peaceful they did evolve into encouragement to actively violate laws, along with the set up of the ANC armed wing. This eventually led to his arrest and imprisonment for sabotage in 1962 where he was eventually sentenced to life in prison on June 12, 1964.

In the end he spent around 27 years in jail, most of this time at Robben Island. During this time, he became a global symbol for resistance and furthered the push to end apartheid. In 1990 he was released and the world rejoiced and South Africa was changed forever with Nelson Mandela becoming South Africa’s first democratically elected president and apartheid officially ending.

Today’s mnemonic will be on Nelson Mandela’s top 6 facts.

So, with that being said, we will begin with a summary from Wikipedia.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nelson_Mandela_1994.jpg

Wikipedia Summary

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013)[1] was a South African politician and activist. On 27 April 1994, he was made the first President of South Africa elected in a fully represented democratic election. He was also the first black President of his country, South Africa.

Mandela was born in Mvezo, South Africa to a Thembu royal family.[2]

His government focused on throwing out the legacy of apartheid by ending racism, poverty, inequality, and on improving racial understanding in South Africa. Politically a believer in socialism, he served as the President of the African National Congress (ANC) from 1991 to 1997 and adopted new Constitution of South African in 1996 that prohibits all discrimination, based on language, religion, handicap and sexual orientation, not only on racism. Internationally, Mandela was the Secretary General of the Non-Aligned Movement from 1998 to 1999.

Mandela received more than 250 honours, including the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize, the US Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the Soviet Order of Lenin. He is often referred to by his Xhosa clan name, Madiba, or as Tata ("Father"). Mandela was described as a hero, and his actions gave thousands of people hope.

Mandela was sick for several years during his retirement. He was hospitalized in late summer of 2013 from a continuous lung infection.[3] Mandela died on 5 December 2013 in Houghton Estate, Johannesburg from a respiratory tract infection.[3] He was 95 years old.[3] (Res-Spir-A-Tree)

Extracted from: [https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson_Mandela]

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ramdane_Djamel_avec_Nelson_Mandela,_Mohamed_Lamara,_Robert_Resha_1962.jpg

Mnemonic

Nelson Mandela – Top 6 Facts Mnemonic – PoWeRFuL Mandela

(Picture the all-powerful Nelson Mandela going from prisoner to president and ending apartheid)

1. Played a leading role in ending apartheid

2. Won the Nobel Peace Prize jointly with F.W. de Klerk in 1993

3. Released from prison in 1990 after nearly 27 years

4. First Black President of South Africa

5. Loved sport

6. Mandela signed into law the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa

Five Fun Facts

1. Nelson Mandela’s birth name was Rolihlahla Mandela, which means “to pull a branch off a tree” and “troublemaker” in his Xhosa tribe. His first name of Nelson was given to him by his primary school teacher when he was seven years old. Back in the 1920s it was common to give African children English names so that their colonial masters could pronounce them.

Now, just by what I’ve heard, apparently, Nelson Mandela was a bit of a clever dick in school. One example being when his teacher asked the class to put the words cheetah, and dandelion into a sentence. To which Madela promptly replied “The cheetah is faster dandelion!”

2. Nelson Mandela was married three times, and had six children and 17 grandchildren. Tragically a daughter and two sons passed away, the daughter from infancy, one son in a car accident, and the other of an AIDS-related illness. Interesting Mandela’s third marriage to Graca Machel, who was the former wife of Mozambique’s President Samora Machel makes her the first lady of two nations.

3. Mandela spent nearly 27 years in prison from 1964 to 1990. Eighteen of these years were spent at Roben Island where tours are now organised to view Mandela’s jail cell. Initially he was sentenced to life imprisonment for trying to sabotage South Africa’s then government.

4. In 1993 Nelson Mandela won the Nobel Prize jointly with F.W. de Klerk. This prize was won for the peaceful termination of the apartheid regime, and for laying the foundation for a new democratic South Africa. This took the total of black South African men to win the Nobel Prize to three, with Desmond Tutu winning one in 1984 for Peace, and Alfred Luthuli winning one in 1960 also for peace. In total eleven South African individuals have won a Nobel Prize since 1951.

5. History will never forget Nelson Mandela and his name will live on, but in more ways than just one. For starters he has hundreds of streets named after him, a nuclear particle called “Mandela Particle,” a prehistoric woodpecker called “Australopicus nelsonmandelai,” and an orchid called “Paravanda Nelson Mandela.”

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nelson_Mandela-2008_horizontal_crop.jpg

Three Question Quiz

Q.1. What year did Nelson Mandela become president of South Africa?

Q.2. In 1989 what degree did Nelson Mandela graduate with?

Q.3. Was the law firm “Mandela & Tambo” the first black law firm in South Africa? True or False

Bonus Q. What day is celebrated as Nelson Mandela Day? Options are 18th of January, 18th of March, or 18th of July

Mnemonic Recap

Nelson Mandela – Top 6 Facts Mnemonic – PoWeRFuL Mandela

(Picture the all-powerful Nelson Mandela going from prisoner to president and ending apartheid)

1. Played a leading role in ending apartheid

2. Won the Nobel Peace Prize jointly with F.W. de Klerk in 1993

3. Released from prison in 1990 after nearly 27 years