On the occasion of what will have been his 101th birthday, we will be honouring the memory of the man who together with his friends Oliver Tambo and many others fought against a governance of oppression in his homeland and inspired many others around the world to do the same.

Early life/Royal life:

Born to Chief Gadla Henry Mphakanyiswa Mandela and his third wife Nosekeni Fanny of the Thembu royal family in Mvezo as Rolihlahla Mandela. From both parents' family tree, the young Mandela was of blue blood(royal blood). His siblings were Constance Mbekeni Mandela, Mabel Notancu Ntimakhwe

His father was a grandson of Inkosi Enkhulu Ngubengcuka who was the king of the Thembu people(Xhosa tribe). The house of Mandela originated from one of Inkosi Enkhulu's son with his many wives from the Ixhiba clan, the lesser or Left Hand House. Because Lxhiba clan was a cadet branch of the royal family, its descendants were morganatic, ineligible to inherit the throne but recognised as hereditary royal councillors.

Whereas his mother was the daughter of Nkedama of the Right Hand House and a member of the amaMpemvu clan of the Xhosa.

His father was made councillor to the monarch, then inherited the position of chief after the white/colonial government found his predecessor guilty of corruption.

Mandela once wrote in his memoire how he and his sisters were brought up dominated with Thembu traditions. His parents although they were illiterate and with a mother who was a devout christian sent him at age 7 to a Methodist school to begin his formal education and where he was christened and took the name of Nelson.

A few years later, his father who was then removed from the throne and sacked for corruption came to visit his third family in Qunu where he unfortunately died from an undiagnosed illness. With his father's passing, Madiba became chief councillor to the Thembu monarch.

Following his father's death, a young Mandela began his training to be privy councillor at the "Great Place" palace at Mqhekezweni, where he was entrusted by his mother to the guardianship of the Thembu regent, Chief Jongintaba Dalindyebo.

Education:

In his training to become a privy councillor was a motivation for to continue his education. During his guardianship at the palace, he attended a Methodist mission school located next to the palace, where he studied English, Xhosa, history and geography.

He developed a love of African history. Like in most cultures to learn about your history is to listen to the tales told by elderly visitors to the palace which he did and was also influenced by the anti-imperialist rhetoric of a visiting chief, Joyi.

At the time he nevertheless considered the European colonialists not as oppressors but as benefactors who had brought education and other benefits to southern Africa.

He then left the palace to begin his secondary education at Clarkebury Methodist High School in Engcobo where he complete his 2 years of Junior Certificate and in 1937 moved to the Methodist college in Healdtown, Fort Beaufort. The college was attended by most of Thembu royalty.

With his guardian's backing, in 1939 Mandela began working on a BA degree at the University of Fort Hare, were he studied English, anthropology, politics, native administration, and Roman Dutch law in his first year, desiring to become an interpreter or clerk in the Native Affairs Department.[31]

During his stay at the Fort Hare, Mandela stayed in the Wesley House dormitory were he befriended his own kinsman, K. D. Matanzima, as well as Oliver Tambo, who became a close friend and comrade for decades to come.

Following an uncomfortable situation, where his guardian wanted the young man to marry by arranging a few marriages, Madiba and his cousin ran away to Johannesburg where he did menial jobs.

While he was in the big city he befriended realtor and ANC activist Walter Sisulu, who found him a clerkship job at the company he was working for. He met many other political activist at the workplace, attended a few political events but never engage in any politics preferring to lay his focus on his education by doing night BA correspondence classes at University of South Africa.

Earning a first degree there, following a return from his guardian's funeral (who in the late of 1941, Jongintaba visited Johannesburg where he forgave Mandela for running away) before returning to Thembuland, where he died in the winter of 1942. After passing his BA exams in early 1943, Mandela returned to Johannesburg, he chose to focus a political path as a lawyer rather than become a privy councillor in Thembuland.

He began studying law at the University of the Witwatersrand where face racism as he was the only black Africa student on campus.

Marriage life:

During his many visits to Sisulu's house, he met his first wife fellow ANC activist and trainee nurse name  Evelyn Mase who originated from his region. They married on October 1944 and issue two children, Their first child a son, Madiba "Thembi" Thembekile, was born in February 1945 (died in July 13, 1969) and a daughter, Makaziwe, was born in 1947 but died of meningitis nine months later.

Because troublemaker is his name(Rohihlahla means trouble maker in Xhosa) and accordung to him, he inherited his father's "proud rebelliousness" and "stubborn sense of fairness", he was trouble/torn in the flesh or the apartheid government. Due to this he was arrested, found guilty and jailed atleast 3 times for a total of 38 years for his activism.

While his political life was growing, his family life was decreasing, his marriage life with Evelyn was estrange although a second daughter, Makaziwe Phumia, was born in May 1954, Evelyn accused him of adultery. Although not confirm by him but related by those close to him, a child may have been bore by one of his mistresses. The couple officially divorce on March 1958 with Evelyn having primary custody of the children.

While he was getting divorce, he met Winnie Madikizela a social worker who later became an ANC activist and they got married in June 1958. Together they have two children, HRH Princess Zenani Mandela-Dlamini born in February 1959, and Zindziswa, born in December 1960. Zenani is married to His Royal Highness Prince Thumbumuzi Dlamini (son to King Sobhuza II of Eswatini).

Although they divorced in March 1996. 2 years later Mandela married his third wife, Graça Machel, on his 80th birthday in July 1998 during his presidency.

After politics:

Although he retire from politics after serving one year a president, he didn't retire from public life as he went into social work, philanthropy and campaign for a better world by establishing the Nelson Mandela Foundation, founded in 1999 to focus on rural development, school construction, and combating HIV/AIDS.

He also met and welcome celebrities, royalties, and head of states/government at his home. He affiliated himself with many campaigns combating HIV/AIDS .

He also did many other things including inaugurating the Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture in 2002, the Mandela Rhodes Foundation which was created at Rhodes House, University of Oxford, to provide postgraduate scholarships to African students in 2003, Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory and the 46664 campaign against HIV/AIDS,  he gave the closing address at the XIII International AIDS Conference in Durban in 2000, and in 2004, spoke at the XV International AIDS Conference in Bangkok, Thailand, calling for greater measures to tackle tuberculosis as well as HIV/AIDS. Mandela publicized AIDS as the cause of his son Makgatho's death in January 2005, to defy the stigma about discussing the disease.

Even with a failing health, he was still involve in diplomacy and international affairs. In 2005, he founded the Nelson Mandela Legacy Trust, he then traveled to the US to speak before the Brookings Institution and the NAACP on the need for economic assistance to Africa and for the first time met the then-Senator Barack Obama.

In 2004, he heavy campaign for South Africa to be the host of the 2010 FIFA WORLD CUP. He officially launch the game competition which was his last public appearance.

From 2011-2013, he first suffered from a respiratory infection which led to a brief hospitalization, after that he was re-admitted for a lung infection and gallstone removal in December 2012 which led to a successful medical procedure. In early March 2013, his lung infection recurred and he was briefly hospitalised in Pretoria. Few months later, In June 2013, his lung infection worsened and he was readmitted to a Pretoria hospital in serious condition.

On December 5th 2013, Mandela died from a prolonged respiratory infection, at the age of 95 at his home in Houghton, surrounded by his family.

Back to royal life:

After given up his right of Thembu leader nearly 70 years prior to fight white rule in South Africa, his son Makgatho Mandela's death in 2005, the head of the  Mvezo Traditional Council was left empty. As the tribe did not discuss electing a member from the Mandela family until 2007, the clan ame to Mandela to reclaim his title, he suggested his grandson Zwelivelile "Mandla" Mandela assume the role.