During his role as president from 1994 until 1999, Nelson Mandela strove to combat poverty and inequality in South Africa, introducing several policies and social reforms to achieve this. Many of these policies were related to the benefitting of children, such as free health care for all children under the age of six, child support grants in the hope of reducing child poverty, bringing 1.5 million children into the education system, and furthering that making school compulsory for children between the age of six and fourteen as well as providing free meals for 3.5 - 5 million school children.
Other reforms included connecting 3 million South Africans to telephone lines, upgrading or constructing 500 health clinics across South Africa, connecting 2 million people to the electricity grid, constructing 750 000 houses and as such providing shelter for approximately 3 million people, as well as ensuring easy water access for more than 3 million people.
There's always been talk and controversy surrounding Mr. Mandela, both in positive and negative lights. As a world public figure, someone who is in the public eye of millions if not billions of people, it's expected that a little gossip will circulate. Despite all this, Nelson Mandela was clearly dedicated, as both president and still today, as an activist for equality and fairness in a human rights.
If I had a list of celebrities who I would wish to meet in life, I think that Nelson Mandela would be up there somewhere, quite high, maybe even making the top 5.
If I did meet him, I'd ask him, "Mr. Mandela, sir, what is your opinion of ice-cream?"
Then I would relate it back to politics somehow.
It's a good thing this will probably never happen, hey?
Image available: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/nelson_mandela/
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