G Gazette | Page 13

TRIBUTE Tribute to the Father of South Africa -M.Shreya Nelson Mandela was the first elected President of South Africa. He was also the first black President of the country. In South Africa, he is known by the titles, ‘the father of the nation’, ‘the founding father of democracy’, ‘the national liberator, the savior , its Washington and Lincoln rolled into one’ .Within a decade after the end of his Presidency, Mandela's era was being widely thought of as "a golden age of hope and harmony". Across the world, Mandela earned international acclaim for his activism in overcoming apartheid and fostering racial reconciliation , coming to be viewed as "a moral authority" with a great "concern for truth". FACTS: 1. 18 July 1918: Mandela was born in the village of Mvezo in Umtata, then a part of South Africa's Cape Province. 2. 1934–40: Mandela began his secondary education at Clarkebury Methodist High School Engcobo. Completing his Junior Certificate in two years, in 1937 he moved to Healdtown, the Methodist College in Fort Beaufort. Later, Mandela began work on a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree at the University of Fort Hare. 3. 1943–49: Beginning law studies at the University of Witwatersrand, Mandela was the only native African student. 4. 1950: Mandela was ele