![](https://cdn.statically.io/img/i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article11015803.ece/ALTERNATES/s615/A-statue-of-South-Africas-former-president-Nelson-Mandela.jpg)
opinion
Anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in prison, many of them on Robben Island, before his release in 1990. He went on to become the first president of South Africa in the fully democratic post-apartheid era, serving from 1994 to 1999.