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-minute visits and one 500-word riage,Mr.Ma a month. On May 12, 1984, he a renounced his he reditary leadenip of the tribe and and his wife, who was herself jailed or went to Johannesburg, where he Banished through much of his con- worked as a police officer at a gold finement, were allowed to embrace mine, as a law clerk and in a real es- for,the first time in 20 years. tate agency run by Walter Sisulu, who For! many years, it,was winnie was later imprisoned with him. andela who kept his message alive, Mr. Mandela, who is 6 feet 2 and once. weighed 245 pounds, boxed as a leading anti-apartheid leaders who heavyweight for a time. He also stud- accused her of complicity in the ab- ied Iaw by correspondence at the pre- duction and fatal assault of a. youth dominantly white University of Wit- and of allowing her bodyguards to watersrand, and obtained his law de- wage a reign of terror in the black. gree from the University of South Af- /township of Soweto. An international campaign to free rica in 1942. Two years'later, with Mr. Tambg nim began in the 1980's and culmi- and Mr. Sisulu, he formed the Youth. nated in a call for his release by the United Nations Security Council. -League of the African National Con- gress,which had been founded in 1912 Around the world, streets and tofight forblack political rights. The squares were named for him.Peace Youth League eventually came to prizes and honorary degrees were dominate the congress. awarded to him. A pop song, "Free In the 1940's, Mr. Mandela married Nelson Mandela," became a hit, and a nurse, Evelyn Nomathamsanga, "$Sarafina," a musical about and his with whom he had three children. She .nation's racial struggle, appeared on Broadway helped finance his studies, but disap- proved strongly of his growing in- ni985,President P.w.Botha of- volvement in the black rights move- ered to free him if he renounced vio. ment and the marriage ended in di- ence, but he refused to do so until the vorce in 1957 After theNational.Party cameto power in South Africa in 1948 with the program of racial separation known Aany see as apartheid, Mr. Mandela led a dec- Mandela as the adelong campaign of civil disobedi- ence that included strikes and other Jast hope for protests and resulted-in thousands of arrests and more than a dozen .C deaths. peaceful change. Charged With Treason Mr.- Mandela and Mr. Tambo formed South Africa's first black law Government granted blacks full polit- partnership in Johannesburg in 1952. ical rights and took the intitiative to Soon after, they were charged under dismantle -apartheid, South Africa's the Suppression of Communism Act pervasive system of segregation and for roles in the civil disobedience white preference. campaign. Mr. Mandela, who said he While his health for'years was was-a nationalist, not a Communist, good, Mr. Mandela underwent pros- received the first of many banning or- tate surgery in 1985. And after he con- ders restricting his activities. tracted tuberculosis and nearly died Spurred by a vision of an egalitar- in1988, he was moved to a. comfort- ian'South Africa, Mr. Mandela and ablebungalow at the Victor Verster other black leaders in 1955 adopted a prison farm at Paarl, near Cape charter calling for a nonracial state, Town. There he was allowed tnre- a division of land among those who stricted family visits, strolls on the worked it and other policies that be- 3.grounds and access to television. came the credo of the African Na- Inthe past year,Mr.Mandela met tional Congress. Mr. Mandela and 155 $ with' top Government officials and others were charged with treason in issued statements saying he wanted 1956 for backing the charter. to work for peace. In July.he met While on trial the next year, he President Botha, but said later that married Winnie Nomzamo Madizeke- nothing had changed. In August, Mr.. la,with whom he later had two daugh- derKlerk replaced Mr. Botha and ters.He helped conductthe defense at Iater.released five of Mr.Mandela's the trial, which endedin 1960 with ac- comrades and three other anti-apart- quittals for all. He immediately went heid leaders. underground, fearing he would be Amid reports that the prisoner rearrested.. would-soon be freed, Mr. de Klerk Since his arrest on Aug. 5, 1962 -- 27 met Mr. Mandela in' December. On years and six monthsago -- Mr. Man- Feb. 2, the President legalized the Af- dela had not been free until yester- .rican'National Congress and 60 other day. In July 1963, while he was in banned organizations, clearing the prison, the police found the under- wayh.for Mr. Mandela's release.. ground headquarters of the African Though apartheid and security laws National Congress on a farm near Jo-. remained in place, he said he was ac- hannesburg and seized documents. cepting freedom to work for peace outlining plans for a guerrilla cam- Rolihlahla Mandela was paign, including Mr.Mandela's diary. born on July 19,1918 Omtata in He and seven co-defendants were Transkei territory of the Eastern ried for high treason, found guilty Capewhere his father was the chief and sentenced to life in prison. of.the Xhosa-speaking Tembu tribe. "I do not deny that.I planned sabo-. He nad a relatively privileged up- tage,"he said in his statement from bringing, attended Methodist schools the dock. "I did not plan it in a spirit and was admitted to the black Uni- of recklessness, nor because I have versity of Fort Hare in 1938. But he any love of violence. I planned it as a was expelled in 1940 for leading a stu- result of a calm and sober assess- dent strike with a fellow student, Oli- ment of the political situation that ver Tambo, who was to become a life-