Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, political leader, and philanthropist who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first black head of state and the first elected in a fully representative democratic election.His government focused on dismantling the legacy of apartheid by tackling institutionalised racism and fostering racial reconciliation.
I think that the nobility in Nelson Mandela's gesture of surrendering his freedom or to a greater good, made him an admirable person and one of the most important of his century.
—Manuel Alejandro Gaytan Sandoval
