July 18 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of South Africa's most revered political leader and reconciliatory hero, Nelson Mandela, in 1918. Having endured 27 years in prison, Mandela went on to become South Africa’s first black president and the first elected in a fully representative democratic election, serving as head of state from 1994-1999. TASS remembers one of the most significant figures of the 20th and 21st centuries.