How Important Was Mandela in Ending Apartheid

Why Mandela was an Important Person to end Apartheid.


Nelson Mandela was a major figure at the time of apartheid and after many years, he finally ended it. There were major segregations between the black and white people at the time. The government saw that white people were the dominant race and that and the government made the rule of apartheid.

In source 1, we see that Mandela comments on the Sharpeville Massacre and on his methods. This source is reliable because it was a primary source and it was directly from Mandela himself. “Wild beast cannot be fought of by bare hands alone.” Mandela emphasises that the white community was savages who had no restraint when it comes to equal rights so peaceful protest is not working and that he needs to change is strategy.   So Mandela decided to rearm and fight the white people with weapons just like the whites threatened the black people with guns just like in Sharpeville. Sixty-nine black people got shot because of a trigger finger white police officer. This means that the black community has to be a lot more aggressive to get the attention of the white government. Mandela turned to violent acts when the government banned the ANC instead giving up the fight of apartheid.

It was at this point Mandela decided to form a group called Spear of the people. Their speciality was the violent protest near surrounding countries and sent gorilla groups into South Africa to attack public buildings such as government of offices and power stations. Mandela stated, “We were not the terrorist group because we have harm no people”. This was significant because it crucially laid the foundations for the struggle against apartheid because people could sympathise with the group because they were not guilty for crimes harming other human beings. Mandela was arrested on a night drive from Durban to Johannesburg you sent put on a set of trials called the Rivonia Trial. These trials offered him a political platform in which he could...