Breaking News: Nelson Mandela dies at 95

Late Nelson Mandela

The former President and anti-Apartheid icon of South Africa has died at the age of 95. Nelson Mandela was the first black South African to hold the office of the President, and the first elected in a fully representative, multiracial election.

He had been battling health issues in recent months, including a recurring lung infection that led to numerous hospitalizations.

With advancing age and bouts of illness, Mandela retreated to a quiet life at his boyhood home in the nation's Eastern Cape Province, where he said he was most at peace.

He was known for the fact that even though he was incarcerated in jail for 27 years, he was able to forgive his jailers.

When he became President, his government focused on dismantling the legacy of apartheid through tackling institutionalised racism, poverty and inequality, and fostering racial reconciliation. Politically an African nationalist and democratic socialist, he served as the President of the African National Congress (ANC) from 1991 to 1997.