Contemporaries
Nelson Mandela, Oliver Thambo
and Walter Sisulu.
Copyright Omar Badsha
Madiba did not achieve greatness alone; he was influenced and supported by many people who worked alongside him during the struggle. We recognise, as Mandela has, that his achievements would not have been possible without the influence and support of his comrades in the struggle for Freedom. Therefore, we have compiled a list of Mandela's contemporaries. These lists are in alphabetical order and are currently a work in progress that will be expanded.
Maulvi Cachalia (Indian Congress leader and deputy Volunteer-in-Chief to Mandela in the Defiance Campaign)
Yusuf Chachalia (Political Activist)
Dr. Yusuf Dadoo (comrade, SACP and Freedom Charter Campaign leader)
F.W. de Klerk (Politician and former president of South Africa)
Patrick Duncan (Liberal Party and defiance campaign leader)
Ruth First (activist, journalist and friend)
Bram Fischer (Lawyer in the Treason and Rivonia trials and political activist)
Archibald Gumede (Parliamentarian, lawyer and political activist)
Chris Hani (comrade and SACP leader)
Michael Harmel (intellectual and revolutionary. He was a member of the SACP and later a member of the MK’s high command)
Ahmed Kathrada (ANC leader and co-accused in the Treason and Rivonia Trials)
Moses Kotane (comrade and co-forger of the Congress Alliance and the Freedom Charter Campaign)
Anton Lembede (comrade and one of the co-founders of the ANC youth league)
Chief Albert Luthuli (comrade and fellow ANC and defiance campaign leader)
Graca Machel (Mandela's 3rd wife)
Nomzamo Winnifred Madikizela (ANC leader and Nelson Mandela's second wife)
Cecil Williams (activist and friend)
Ashley Mda (comrade and one of the co-founders of the ANC youth league)
Thabo Mbeki (Succeeded Mandela as president)
IC Meer (Lawyer and political activist)
Fatima Meer (Politician and activist)
Beyers Naude (NG Kerk minister and anti-apartheid activist)
Dorothy Nyembe (activist)
Goolam Hoosein Ismail Pahad (activist)
Thayanayagie Pillay (passive resistance activist)
Rev Michael Scott (Scottish Anglican cleric and anti-racism activist who worked in South Africa)
Joe Slovo (comrade, SACP and Freedom Charter Campaign leader)
Walter Sisulu (lifelong friend, political mentor and closest political confident)
Albertina Sisulu (activist, comrade and wife of Walter Sisulu)
Nana Sita (Gandhian and defiance campaign leader)
Robert Sobukwe (friend and political opponent, PAC leader)
Oliver Tambo (business partners, close comrades and lifelong friend)
The ten Rivonia Trialist and those arrested in the Lilliesleaf Raid:
Nelson Mandela (defendant)
Walter Sisulu (defendant)
Govan Mbeki (defendant)
Raymond Mahlaba (defendant)
Ahmed Kathrada (defendant)
Lionel Bernstein (defendant)
Bob Hepple
Dennis Goldberg (defendant)
Arthur Goldreich (defendant)
Harold Wolpe (defendant)
Elias Motsoaledi (defendant)
Andrew Mlangeni (defendant)
James Kantor
Robben Island (selection of key prisoners in the isolation section)
Eddie Daniels
MD Naidoo
more to come ...