Nelson Mandela announces he will not stand for re-election in 1999

Date: 15 Feb 1995
Updated: 30 Sep 2019

On 15 February 1995, President Nelson Mandela revealed he will not be standing for re-election in 1999. Mandela, who was released from prison in February 1990, became the first democratic president of the Republic of South Africa in April 1994. His announcement would mean stepping down as the African National Congress's (ANC's) and as the country’s president. The struggle icon had taken over as ANC president from Oliver Reginald Tambo in 1991. Thabo Mbeki, who was not as well known as Mandela at the time, was to replace him as president of the ANC in 1998 and as State President in 1999. Mbeki led the ANC until December 2007, when he lost to Jacob Zuma in Limpopo. When Mandela retired in 2004, he said the now famous words: “don’t call me, I’ll call you.”

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How we know this

01O’Malley P. ‘1995’, from Nelson Mandela Foundation, [online], Available at www.nelsonmandela.org.za [Accessed: 23 January 2012]
02Tandfonline.com, (2011), ‘A post-Mandela South Africa’, [online], Available at www.tandfonline.com [Accessed: 23 January 2012]
03Independent Online, (2004), ‘Madiba: Don’t call me, I’ll call you’, 01 June 2004, [online], Available at www.iol.co.za [Accessed: 23 January 2012]

Last updated · 30 Sep 2019

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2012, February 10). Nelson Mandela announces he will not stand for re-election in 1999. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0074093

South African History Online (2012) 'Nelson Mandela announces he will not stand for re-election in 1999', South African History Online, 10 February. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0074093 (Accessed: 2 October 2026).

South African History Online, Nelson Mandela announces he will not stand for re-election in 1999 [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0074093, (accessed 2 October 2026).

"Nelson Mandela announces he will not stand for re-election in 1999." South African History Online, 10 Feb. 2012, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0074093. Accessed 2 Oct. 2026.

South African History Online. "Nelson Mandela announces he will not stand for re-election in 1999." South African History Online. February 10, 2012. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/E-0074093.