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Being one of the world's most admired person, Nelson Mandela is only a hero to a certain extent because he did commit crimes during his lifetime that have a negative effect on his legacy, which a lot of people do not know about. But for the most part, Mandela has left a heroic legacy, mostly for ending apartheid in South Africa. Apartheid was a system of legal racial segregation enforced by the National Party governament of South Africa between 1948 and 1994. Although Nelson Mandela was wrong to be involved with the violent ways of the Umkhonto we Sizwe, he was a hero in South Africa because of his role in ending apartheid and racial inequality in South Africa, and because of his strong leadership he provided for several years.
Nelson Mandela was involved with violent and communist activities during his struggle to end racial inequality in South Africa. Despite all of his heroic efforts, Mandela was the founder and commander of the military wing of the African
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National Congress, the Umkhonto we Sizwe. The Umkhonto we Sizwe, or the MK was known as a terrorist outfit. But Mandela never personally killed anyone (Dyer). After Mandela's release from prison, he made a speech. In that speech, he spoke on his role in the MK. He said, “I admit immediately that I was one of the persons who helped to form Umkhonto we Sizwe, and that I played a prominent role in its affairs until I was arrested in August 1962” (Mcintire). Mandela is being honest and taking responsibility for his actions in this quote, and is admitting to the world that he was aware that he was involved with an extremely violent group, which was the wrong thing to do. But Mandela may have not had a choice. The MK did not begin being a violent group. In fact, since they were a part of the African National

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