A famous politician, Nelson Mandela was born on July 18, 1918 in Cape Province, South Africa. He eventually became the 1st President of South Africa after the apartheid era, which position he held in the period from 1994 to 1999. Actually, Nelson Mandela was considered to be one of the greatest politicians in the world, and even received the Noble Peace Prize in 1993.
So just how rich was Nelson Mandela? Sources estimate that Nelson’s net worth is $1.5 million, which was accumulated mostly through success in politics.
Nelson Mandela Net Worth $1.5 Million
As regards his overall career, Mandela joined African National Congress in 1944. At first, he was an assistant of the ANC Youth League. Probably at that time Nelson had no idea that politics would bring him any net worth, nor was he interested. Nelson Mandela’s net worth was increased when he joined the Transvaal ANC with a position on the executive committee. Five years later in 1952, Nelson started boosting his net worth with income from the H.M. Basner law firm.
Nelson was the one who started various protests with non-violent resistance against the apartheid regime in South Africa. One of the protests collected over 10,000 people for a rally which took place in Durban, and for that Nelson was arrested. Still, it did not stop Nelson Mandela from pursuing a career in politics and increasing the total size of his net worth.
In 1961 Nelson co-founded Umkhonto we Sizwe. The famous politician was the one to be selected as a delegate in one of the movements that took place in 1962. This was called the Pan-African Freedom Movement for Central, Southern and East Africa.
Nelson was such an activist that he was not allowed to participate in the politics of the state. Regardless, Nelson Mandela was a frequent participant in various boycotts and protests, and in 1962 he was arrested again, and he subsequently spent 27 years in prison. One year after his release, Nelson became the President of the African National Congress (ANC), for the period from 1991 to 1997. In 1994 Nelson was elected as the first President of democratic South Africa. Nelson Mandela’s net worth was also boosted with incomes from the Non-Aligned Movement in which he was the Secretary General.
Throughout his life, Nelson Mandela not only accumulated sizeable net worth, but also received many honours: Lenin Peace Prize, Nishan–e–Pakistan, Bharat Ratna Award, The Order of Canada, and the US Presidential Medal of Freedom, in total over 250 awards. It is certainly true that Nelson Mandela was much admired as a politician: he was even called The Father of the Nation or “Madiba” in South Africa.
Nelson Mandela was known as a humanist and philanthropist, too. Not only did he support many organizations, but he also established a charitable organization in 1995 named the Nelson Mandela Children`s Fund.
In his personal life, Mandela was married three times, firstly to Evelyn Ntoko Mase from 1944-57 with whom he had two sons and two daughters – they divorced largely because her allegiance to the Jehovah’s Witnesses demanded political neutrality. Mandela’s second wife was Winnie Madikizela-Mandela: they had two daughters, but divorced in 1996, apparently because of political differences. Mandela’s third wife was Graca Michel whom he married in 1998.
The famous revolutionary, and towering figure for democratic ideals, died on December 5, 2013.
