Nelson Mandela Elected President

In May 1994, Nelson Mandela became the first president of South Africa chosen in a fully democratic election open to citizens of all races. The vote ended more than four decades of formal apartheid and, in a broader sense, centuries of white minority rule. It matters because the change came without the full-scale civil war that many people had feared, and because Mandela became a global symbol of reconciliation.

Apartheid, meaning "apartness" in Afrikaans, was introduced by the National Party government after 1948. It classified people by race, forced millions into separate neighborhoods, schools and jobs, and denied Black South Africans the vote in national elections. Mandela, a lawyer from the Eastern Cape, joined the African National Congress (ANC) in the 1940s and helped lead resistance to these laws. After the Sharpeville shootings of 1960 and the banning of the ANC, he helped found its armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe, which carried out sabotage. He was arrested and, in 1964, sentenced to life imprisonment. He spent 27 years in custody, much of it on Robben Island, off Cape Town.

By the 1980s, apartheid faced growing internal unrest, economic strain and international sanctions. President F. W. de Klerk, who took office in 1989, legalized the ANC and other banned groups and released Mandela in February 1990. Negotiations over a new constitution were tense and sometimes violent, but in 1993 an interim constitution was agreed. Mandela and de Klerk shared the Nobel Peace Prize that year.

The election took place over several days in late April 1994, with long queues of voters, many casting a ballot for the first time. The ANC won a large majority, and the new National Assembly chose Mandela as president. He was inaugurated in Pretoria in May 1994, leading a government of national unity that included de Klerk as a deputy president.

Mandela's presidency stressed reconciliation over revenge. He encouraged the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which gathered testimony about apartheid-era abuses, and he made visible gestures toward white South Africans, such as supporting the national rugby team at the 1995 World Cup. Critics note that the commission's results were mixed, and that deep economic inequality persisted. His government expanded access to housing, electricity and education, though progress was uneven.

Mandela chose to serve only one term, stepping down in 1999. He died in 2013, and his example continues to shape how people think about forgiveness, leadership and peaceful political change.