on this day Sir Nelson Mandela was born in the East Cape Province some eleven hundred kilometres from the capital where he would later serve as the first indigenous vice-regal representative to the British Crown Colony.

Mandela's qualifications for the position of governor were impeccable. A member of the cadet branch of the Royal House of Thembu, his great-grandfather Ngubengcuka was Inkosi Enkhulu (King) of the Transkeian homeland. And his father Gadla Henry Mphakanyiska served as a chief of the town of Mvezo.

The first of his family to go to school, his Methodist teacher called him Nelson in preference to his Xhosa name of Rolihlahla.

Subsequently, he studied at Clarkebury School (completing his junior certificate in two rather than the usual three years) and then progressing to the all-British Healdtown High School, a strict Methodist College where most Thembu royalty attended.

At Fort Beaufort, he took a keen interest in boxing and running. On his matriculation, his father sent him overseas to the University of London to study for a Bachelor of Laws Degree. On his return, he established a successful legal practice in Cape Town.

In 1960 British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan toured the British territories in Africa, travelling to the Cape Colony to deliver his keynote "winds of change" speech. In recognition of the dramatic changes that were sweeping the continent, "Supermac" announced that the incoming governor would be the pin-stripe suited African lawyer, Nelson Mandela.

To be continued..