Nelson Mandela is suffering from acute respiratory disorder. He was admitted in hospital and subjected to lengthened treatment. Formerly when the news aired stating him in a critical condition; eveyrbody, including me, began to equate it an irreparable loss to world in general and South African people in particular. Why is he regarded universally? Let’s go through his enormous achievements and contribution he made to human society.  

Nelson Mandela is acclaimed as one of the greatest personalities of our times. He belongs to that category of men who have graced our civilization with their personal charisma and noble contributions.

His life long fight for the cause of freedom in South Africa and its eventual success will be written in golden letters in the annals of history. His entire life epitomizes man’s unquenchable thirst for freedom.

The cruel oppression of his people broke his heart and Nelson Mandela infused with the ideals of liberty and democracy took up the cause of national freedom as a student and joined the African National Congress (ANC), a small organization which had been set up on similar lines as the Indian National Congress in India. Within a few years Nelson Mandela became its foremost leader and spokesman.

ANC challenged the racist political system of apartheid, in which black Africans were legally discriminated against, in all walks of life. ANC under Nelson Mandela’s leadership organized labor strikes and nationwide protests and demonstrations against apartheid during the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s.

Their efforts were met with cruel resistance, torture and shedding of much African blood. Nelson Mandela and other key leaders of ANC were arrested and charged with treason. In 1964, onwards Nelson Mandela was imprisoned in the famous Robben Island, where he spent 27 years.

During the 27 years that he was in jail he became the source of inspiration and example. Thousands and thousands of Africans joined the nationalist movement for freedom forcing the white rulers to give up apartheid and release their beloved leader which they captured in 1990. In the first free election that followed in 1994 ANC under Nelson Mandela won the election and he was chosen to lead the country as its First Black African President.

Nelson Mandela’s greatest achievement was not so much in becoming South Africa’s first black president as putting an end to the evil of apartheid which divided blacks and whites of South Africa. He ushered in the history of South Africa an era of social harmony, national unity, democratic governance, and building the national fabric from the scars of former regime.

His simple principles of political agitation almost on the lines of healing the wounds of hate, bringing about national unification, becoming the symbol of the oppressed people all over the world etc. are some of his noble legacies to the world. Though retired from active politics, his ‘voice’ continues to echo in our world wherever and whenever freedoms of people are threatened and chained. His life has almost mirrored the journey of an entire people; a remarkable journey of hardship, struggle and then liberation.

Nelson Mandela was born in Mvezo, a village near Mthatha in the Transkei, on July 18, 1918, to Nonqaphi Nosekeni and Henry Mgadla Mandela. After receiving a primary education at a local mission school, where he was given the name Nelson, he was sent to the Clarkebury Boarding Institute for his Junior Certificate and then to Heald town, a Wesleyan secondary school of some repute, where he matriculated. He then enrolled at the University College of Fort Hare for the Bachelor of Arts Degree where he was elected onto the Students’ Representative Council. He was suspended from college for joining in a protest boycott, along with Oliver Tambo.

For more than forty years, black South Africans were subject to the harsh racial segregation of the Apartheid system; despite making up over 70% of South Africa’s population, they had little to no rights.   
There is no easy walk to freedom anywhere, and many of us will have to pass through the valley of the shadow of death again and again before we reach the mountain top of our desires. These are the words of a man, Nelson Mandela, who fought for something that many would shy away from.

Nelson Mandela was the man who abolished Apartheid, freeing South Africa from the binds of racial segregation forever. However, it was not an easy road and Mandela needed patience, strength of character, focus, passion, understanding, perseverance, and most importantly, forgiveness, to achieve this.
Mandela had a vision for South Africa, of which he was incredibly dedicated. During his famous speech entitled ‘I am Prepared to Die’, he stated, "I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons will live together in harmony with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for, and to see realized. But my Lord, if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”

Nelson Mandela was sent to prison in 1962 after the infamous Sharpeville Massacre, the result of a violent approach to equality. During the 27 years he was in prison, Mandela changed his approach to finding and keeping equality between the blacks and the whites of South Africa at the time, from violence to peaceful strategies. Mandela realized that peace and forgiveness was the only way to bring South Africa forward to greatness.

Every year on 18 July — the day Nelson Mandela was born — the UN joins a call by the Nelson Mandela Foundation to devote 67 minutes of time to helping others, as a way to mark Nelson Mandela International Day.

For 67 years Nelson Mandela devoted his life to the service of humanity — as a human rights lawyer, a prisoner of conscience, an international peacemaker and the first democratically elected president of a free South Africa.

This day was declared in November 2009, the UN General Assembly declared 18 July "Nelson Mandela International Day" in recognition of the former South African President’s contribution to the culture of peace and freedom.

A General Assembly resolution recognizes Nelson Mandela’s values and his dedication to the service of humanity, in the fields of conflict resolution, race relations, the promotion and protection of human rights, reconciliation, gender equality and the rights of children and other vulnerable groups, as well as the uplift of poor and underdeveloped communities. It acknowledges his contribution to the struggle for democracy internationally and the promotion of a culture of peace throughout the world.