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Mandela was born in 1918 in the village of Mvezo in Umtata, in South Africa. He was the son of Henry Mphakanyiswa Mandela, a local tribal chief and royal councillor, and Nosekeni Fanny.

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Mandela lived through the apartheid period. A period of extreme racial segregation, where black South Africans were isolated by white South Africans, the latter of which had much higher living standards

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Mandela later began to be involved in politics and civil rights and joined the ANC (African National Congress) of which he then became a prominent figure (at least in the South African Branch) so much so he was later arrested for it in 1956

Flag of the ANC

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Mandela remained in prison until 1990, when he was freed by president F. W. de Klerk. When he got out of Jail he was 71

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Mandela was later elected president of the country in 1994. He was ruling over a divided country who he needed to unite. And what better way then through sport? And so he did. He made every South African proud of the national team.

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Mandela was also close friends with many presidents like former Libyan president Colonel Mu’ammar Gaddafi, former president of Mozambique Robert Mugabe, former Cuban president Fidel Castro and former Syrian president Hafiz Al-Assad who aided him in the struggle against apartheid