On this day, in 1918, one of the greatest sons of Africa, was born in a small village called Qunu, in the Eastern Cape. Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, like all other boys his age, grew up herding cattle, and went to a local school for his primary education. This is where his life changed, without him knowing. A white woman, who was one of his teachers, not happy with the little boy’s Xhosa name, renamed him ‘Nelson’ after Great Britain’s great general. This must have been an indication that the little boy was going to be a conqueror of the apartheid scourge. Admiral Horatio Nelson is known for defeating France’s Napoleon Bonaparte. However, this does not mean that Mandela would not have been a great leader if the white women had not named him ‘Nelson’. The white woman was just disrespectful towards the Xhosa culture.
After being freed from jail on 11 February 1990, Mandela taught the whole world that fairness and education were a combination that could liberate the human spirit. The University has a month-long programme to honour this giant of liberation, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela.