Why was Mandela in prision?

Answer 1

Nelson Mandela was charged for sabotage as well as other crimes he's done. He served 27 years in prison, spending many of his years in Robben Island.
Nelson Mandela was imprisoned in 1964 for planning acts of sabotage against the South African state. He declared:

"I do not deny that I planned sabotage. I did not plan it in a spirit of recklessness nor because I have any love of violence. I planned it as a result of a calm and sober assessment of the political situation that had arisen after many years of tyranny, exploitation and oppression of my people by the whites."

One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. In the eyes of the South African state he was of course a terrorist, and an unapologetic one. He was willing to take lives for the cause he believed in and the state imprisoned him in its own defence. He was not imprisoned merely for being black, or for being an ANC member although the ANC was an illegal organisation at that time.

The judge, President Quartus de Wet, said he was not convinced by their claim to have been motivated by a desire to alleviate the grievances of the African people in this country. Judge de Wet said: "People who organise revolution usually plan to take over the government as well through personal ambition."

However, he stopped short of the imposing the supreme penalty of death which he could have done, under South African law.

Along with Mandela were imprisoned many others, amongst them a large number of whites and coloureds. The anti-apartheid cause was not black vs white. Similarly there were non-whites who supported the regime.

Answer 2

Mandela was born July 18, 1918 in Umtatam Transkei South Africa.

Mandela was an educated lawyer and was brought to stand trial in 1963 at the age of 45, for plotting to overthrow the government of South Africa by violence. He was convicted of sabotoge - several bombs that went off were blamed on the African National Congress (ANC) of which he was the leader. Several people were killed and he was imprisoned for murder and sabotage. He remained in prison for 27 years.

While he was in jail his mother and son died (he was not allowed to attend their funerals), his wife was banned from seeing him and subjected to continuous arrest and harassment.

Mandela was offered a full release in 1988 - on condition that he renounced violence. Having been a lawyer for over 2 decades, Mandella noted that prisoners cannot enter into contracts - only free men can negotiate, so he refused a full release - unless it had absolutly no conditions. This set the movement to free Nelson Mandela!

Prisoner 46664 - Nelson Mandela - was released on February 11, 1990. Within days, Mr. Mandela plunged wholeheartedly into his life's work, striving to attain the goals he and others had set out to achieve in the early 1960's.

The era of apartheid formally came to an end on the April 27, 1994, when Nelson Mandela voted for the first time in his life - along with his people.

On May 10, 1994, Rolihlahla "Nelson" Dalibunga Mandela was inaugurated as the first President of a democratic South Africa.

Nelson Mandela never wavered in his devotion to democracy, equality and learning. Despite terrible provocation, he has never answered racism with racism. His life has been an inspiration, in South Africa and throughout the world, to all who are oppressed and deprived, to all who are opposed to oppression and deprivation.

He was inable to formally announce the start the World Cup Games due to a great granddaughter being killed in an automobile accident - the day before the World Cup Opening Ceremonies.
South African authorities used the "official" reason that he was a terrorist. The basis of this charge was that he and his political party (African National Congress) opposed the continuation of apartheid, the policy of separation of white and black South Africans and the maintenance of a white minority rule in the country.
Mandela was captured and jailed in 1962, and in 1964 he was convicted of treason and sentenced to life in prison. He began serving the sentence as prisoner 46664 on Robben Island, near Cape Town, but instead of disappearing from view, Mandela became a prison-bound martyr and worldwide symbol of resistance to racism.

Answer 3

He was dismantling the aprtheid in South AFrica.

Answer 4

He rebeled against the laws

Nelson Mandela was in jail for 27 years they would have had him for 42 but changed their minds and set him free.

Answer 5

he was sent to prison because he encouraged other coloured people to fight for their rights against the apartheid in his home town south africa.

Answer 6

Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for supposedly trying to overthrow the state. He was given a life sentence but was only in prison for 27 years.

Answer 7

For the freedom of south Africa