10 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Nelson Mandela

Probably the most influential African leader of the century, Nelson Mandela remains an icon in African politics and beyond. It is simply impossible to hate the man that united a bitterly divided South Africa and steered it off from a collision with racial chaos. But what is it that made Mandela revered even beyond the African Continent? Here are some of the 10 things you probably might not have known about Africa’s beloved icon.

1.  Mandela's middle name “Rolihlahla,” colloquially means troublemaker. The name is derived from isiXhosa which means “pulling the branch of a tree”. Unlike Nelson which was given to him by his school teacher on his first day at school, “Rolihlahla” was Mandela's birth name. He was also called Tata which is isiXhosa for father and “khulu” which means great or paramount.
2. 22-year-old Mandela fled to Johannesburg after he realized that his family was arranging a marriage for him. He fled from his ancestral home in the Eastern Cape and went on to work as a security guard at mines in the city of Johannesburg.
3. He studied for a Bachelor's of Arts at the University of Fort Hare. He also studied law at the University of Witwatersrand, after which he began practicing law in Johannesburg. Mandela admitted that he was a poor student and this made him leave the University of Witwatersrand in 1952 without finishing his law degree.
4. Mandela was expelled in 1940 for partaking in a strike at the University of Fort. However, after completing his BA through the University of South Africa, he went back to Fort for his graduation in 1943.
5. His first 3 roomed house had no electricity nor an inside toilet. He also rented a room from a family in Alexandra township which saw him fall deep in love with one of the landlord's daughters, Didi Xhoma although for the year he stayed there, he never asked her out on a date. The reason was that he lacked the courage to do so.
6. Mandela spent almost 27 years in jail at Robben Island where he arrived in the winter of 1964. He was confined to a very small cell where the bucket was his toilet. It was during this brutal incarceration that the charismatic Mandela won the hearts of some prison officers and finally became a leader of the comrades that were also in the prison.
7. Upon arriving at the prison for the first time, the warden's words to Mandela were “This is the Island. This is where you will die.” However, regardless of the brutalities of the system, Mandela would emerge stronger and more adamant for justice.
8. He earned a Bachelor of Law degree from the University of London whilst in prison. This was an attempt to finish his law degree that he had abandoned whilst studying at Witswatersrand.
9. During the Rivonia trial which propelled him to global fame, he stated that the ideal of freedom was ‘An ideal I am prepared to die for’. Mandela was acquitted of the treason charges in a trial that began in 1956. He would later be detained after the Sharpeville massacre in which the police killed 69 unarmed people in a protest. It was during this trial that Mandela married Winnie Madikizela, who was a social worker at that time. The couple divorced in 1996.
10. Mandela was on the US Terrorism List until 2008. The US had considered Mandela and his political party a terrorist group until 2008, long after he had been set free from the oppressive apartheid regime. Former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was also one of the leaders that considered Mandela a terrorist.