Post completing his BA in 1943, Mandela enrolled at the University of Witwatersrand to initiate his law studies. He was the only native African in his class. Mandela joined the ANC under the leadership of Sisulu, who was increasingly influencing Mandela. It was during this time that Mandela's political ideals were formed. He became actively involved in the anti-apartheid movement and even suggested the need for a youth wing in ANC, which led to the establishment of African National Congress Youth League (ANCYL), on Easter Sunday, of which Mandela was in the executive committee. In 1947, Mandela was appointed the position of a Secretary at the ANCYL. The organization was aimed at letting off of the old tactics of political petitioning and employing new methods of boycott, strike, civil disobedience and non-cooperation, with policy goals of full citizenship, redistribution of land, trade union rights, and free and compulsory education for all children Mandela was appointed as the national president of the ANCYL in 1950. In his new found position, Mandela continued his fight against racism. Other than this, he delved into a larger picture which meant working for national liberation. Two years henceforth, Mandela, profoundly influenced by Gandhi, set on the path of non-violent resistance. He formulated the Defiance Campaign against apartheid with Indian and communist groups. Starting with a group of merely 10,000 people, in no time the numbers expanded to reach 100,000. The government, in order to counterattack the campaign, permitted martial law and mass arrest. They even banned Transvaal ANU President J. B. Marks from making public appearances, a result of which was Mandela taking up the position as his successor. For his anti-apartheid movement, Mandela was arrested a couple of times. He was convicted of contravening suppression of communism for his Defiance Campaign and given a suspended prison sentence on July 30, 1952. Additionally, he was given a six-month ban from attending meeting or talking to more than one individual at a time. As a result of the ban, Mandela structured out M-Plan or Mandela Plan, which involved dividing the organisation into a cell structure with a more centralised leadership. The main aim of the plan was to enable the leading members of the ANC to maintain dynamic contact with its members without recourse to public meetings. Meanwhile, Mandela passed his qualification examination to become a full-fledged attorney. He started working for the firm Terblanche and Briggish, before opening his own law firm in collaboration with Oliver Tambo under the name, Mandela and Tambo. The firm was the only African-run law firm and often dealt with cases of police brutality. In 1955, Mandela formed the Congress of the People, with active involvements from South African Indian Congress, the Coloured People's Congress, the South African Congress of Trade Unions and the Congress of Democrats. The main aim of the move was to evoke South Africans and ask them to send in proposals for a post-apartheid era. Numerous proposals came in which were implemented upon to form the resultant, Freedom Charter. Created by Rusty Bernstein, the charter aimed at creating a democratic, non-racialist state with the nationalisation of major industry. A conference was called upon and attended by 3000 delegates. However, it did not turn out to be productive as police intervened. Despite being banned several times, which restricted him from public appearance; Mandela defied the same and often appeared in the public. Following this, on December 5, 1956, Mandela, along with other ANC activist were arrested on grounds of high treason against the state. Though they were bailed out a fortnight later, the legal proceedings began only on January 9, 1957 in which the judge resolved that there were sufficient reason to put the defendants on Trial. The trial which ended six years later, in 1961, proclaimed the innocence of the defendants and billed them as ‘not guilty’. Meanwhile, militant Africans formed a new group under the leadership of Robert Sobukwe, which was called the Pan-African Congress (PAC). The activity against the government caused mass arrest, including imprisonment of Mandela and other ANC and PAC leaders and banning of the two organizations. From 1961 until 1962, Mandela travelled throughout the country in a disguised avatar and spread the mass stay-at-home strike. He was also involved in organizing the ANC’s new cell structure - Umkhonto we Sizwe or ‘Spear of the Nation’, popularly known as MK. MK was the armed wing of ANC and was involved in channelling some violence against the government. The MK intended to exert maximum pressure on the government causing minimum civilian harm. As such, they mostly attacked the military installations, power plants, telephone lines and transport links at night. Mandela was chosen as a delegate of ANC to the February 1962 Pan-African Freedom Movement for East, Central and Southern Africa (PAFMECSA) meeting. The tour was a profitable one as Mandela was exposed to the political reforms of other countries and met prominent activists, reporters and politicians. Additionally, he also managed to collect some funds required for weaponry for MK. Upon his return to South Africa, Mandela was arrested for illegal exit from the country and sentenced to five years of imprisonment. The imprisonment protracted to become lifeimprisonment for Mandela as he was convicted for crimes that had occurred while he was spearheading the ANC struggle. He was sent to Robben Island Prison, a maximum security prison on a small island near Cape Town, where he spent nearly 18 years of his 27 years sentence. After this, he was transferred to Pollsmoor Prison in Cape Town and later to the Victor Verster Prison near Paarl from where he was eventually released. Though Mandela was offered freedom on a couple of occasions in exchange for compromising on his political position, he refused to accept the same. He stood by his opinion according to which personal freedom was of no use if the organization of the people remained banned. State president F.W. de Klerk lifted the ban on the ANC and announced the release of Nelson Mandela from the prison on February 2, 1990. His years at jail had not weakened the spirit of fighting in him, as Mandela declared his commitment to bring peace to the black majority and give them right to vote in elections. He returned to the leadership of ANCF and resumed office as the elected President of ANC, headquartered in Shell House. With his multi-party negotiation, he argued for the first multiracial elections. Though the White South African’s were willing to share power, the black wanted complete control and transfer of power. Due to this, violent eruptions became common. However, Mandela worked to achieving a delicate balance of political pressure and intense negotiation amidst armed resistance. In 1994, South Africa held its first democratic elections. The result of the election was in favour of Mandela who went on to become the country’s first Black President. As a President, Mandela worked day in and out to smoothen the transition of a minority black rule to a majority black rule. He ended the apartheid rule and established a new Constitution, according to which a strong central government based on majority rule was formed that guaranteed the rights of minorities and the freedom of expression. He introduced new reforms in economic policy to encourage land reform, combat poverty and expand healthcare services. On the international platform, Mandela served as the mediator for Libya and United Kingdom and oversaw military intervention in Lesotho After his successful first term, Mandela declined to contest for the second term and retired from active politics. However, he continued to remain active on the social front as he raised funds for building schools and healthcare centers in the rural parts of South Africa. He founded the Mandela Foundation and served as a mediator in the Burundi civil war. Ever since 2004, Mandela suffered from depreciating health condition, which worsened in 2011 when he was hospitalized due to respiratory illness. Mandela was hospitalized a number of times since then and he finally breathed his last on December 5, 2013.