Their story
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela spent 27 years in prison — 18 of them on Robben Island — for his fight against apartheid, the institutionalised system of racial segregation in South Africa. Released in 1990, he led negotiations that ended apartheid peacefully and became South Africa's first democratically elected president (1994-1999). He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize alongside F.W. de Klerk in 1993. Madiba became a global symbol of reconciliation, dignity, and the long arc of justice.