by John Carlin
His generous pragmatism was all the more unlikely given the historical pattern of his own life. Albert Camus wrote this in his book The Rebel : Twenty-seven years in prison do not, in fact, produce a very conciliatory form of intelligence. Such a lengthy confinement makes a man either a weakling or a killeror sometimes both. In defense of the French philosopher, he died in 1960, before Mandela had even been jailed. Few would have disputed the logic of what Camus wrote when he wrote it. Mandela was a first, and quite possibly a last. He was to South Africa what George Washington had been to the United States, the indispensable man. As Archbishop Tutu remarked to me, We couldnt have done it without him, you know.
Mandela stopped a war from happening but that did not mean that he bequeathed to South Africa a state of perfect peace and harmony, any more than Washington did in the United States. After apartheid South Africa shed its global singularity, it ceased to be the paragon of injustice and the (entirely merited) scapegoat for humanitys incapacity to overcome its racial, tribal, nationalistic, ideological, and religious antagonisms. It became a country that had the same challenges as others in similar economic circumstances: how to deliver housing for the poor, how to combat violent crime, how to fight AIDS. And there was corruption, there were unsavory examples of political patronage, there were doubts as to the ANCs efficiency in government. And humanitys eternal bane, the regressive problem of skin color, did not magically disappear either, though by the start of the twenty-first century the transformation was such that there were not too many countries whose black and white citizens engaged as naturally as they did in South Africa.
It was also true that the political fundamentals remained as sound as Mandela had left them at the end of his five-year presidential term: the country remained a model of democratic stability and the rule of law remained firm.
Whether this would remain the case forever, who could possibly know? What would endure was Mandelas example, and that glimpse of Utopia his people saw from the mountaintop to which he led them on June 24, 1995. When I asked Tutu what the lasting value of that day would be, he replied, Its simple. A friend in New York gave the answer when he said to me, You know what? The great thing about everything good that has happened is that it can happen again. Simple as that.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
NIËL BARNARD: held a senior National Party position in Mandelas power-sharing government until his retirement from the post in August 1996, when Mandela hosted a farewell banquet at his official residence in Pretoria to honor his contribution to peaceful change. Today he works as a consultant, using his experience and expertise, as he puts it, advising African leaders throughout the continent on governing and governance.
JUSTICE BEKEBEKE: became chief electoral officer for the Northern Cape Province of South Africa and in 2004 formed part of a team of independent international monitors that traveled to the United States to help certify that the presidential elections that year were free and fair.
P. W. BOTHA: died of a heart attack aged ninety in 2006. Mandela sent his condolences to Bothas family and said, While to many Mr Botha will remain a symbol of apartheid, we also remember him for the steps he took to pave the way towards the eventual peacefully negotiated settlement in our country.
CHRISTO BRAND: runs the official tourist shop on Robben Island. His son Riaan, the one Mandela secretly cradled in prison when he was eight months old, died in a car crash in 2005. Mandela, whose own son died at a similar age in a car accident while Mandela was on Robben Island, flew down to Cape Town to comfort his old jailer.
KOBIE COET SEE: died of a heart attack aged sixty-nine in 2000. Mandela said, We shall always cherish and hold dear the memory of Kobie Coetsee as one of the major architects of transformation towards a democratic South Africa. It saddens us that he passed away before we, and the country, could adequately pay our tribute to this quiet and unassuming man for his pioneering contributions we are now experiencing the fruits of.
NICHOLAS HAYSOM: worked for the United Nations in conflict resolution and nation-building in Lebanon, Nigeria, Indonesia, the Philippines, East Timor, Sudan, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Lesotho, Colombia, Congo, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Nepal, Myanmar, and Iraq before being appointed director for political affairs in the Executive Office of the UN Secretary-General.
NELSON MANDELA: a few weeks short of his eighty-sixth birthday, in June 2004, he called a news conference to announce his retirement, at the end of which he said, Thank you very much for your attention, and thank you for being kind to an old manallowing him to take a rest, even if many of you may feel that after loafing somewhere on an island and other places for twenty-seven years the rest is not really deserved. Since then he has dedicated himself to his three personal charities: the Mandela Rhodes Foundation, the Nelson Mandela Foundation, and the Nelson Mandela Childrens Fund, dedicated respectively to promoting education, fighting poverty, and combating HIV/AIDS.
LINGA MO ONSAMY: is chief of corporate security for South African Airways, but remains close to Mandela. He is married to a niece of Mandelas wife, Graça Machel, and is often over at Mandelas home for Sunday lunch.
EDDIE VON MALTITZ: still lives on his farm in the Orange Free State, still wears military camouflage gear, still carries a gun, and still phones South African radio stations to denounce perceived wrongs.
MORNÉ DU PLESSIS: runs the Sports Science Institute of South Africa and is a member of the World Sports Academy, a body of former sporting greats that includes Jack Nicklaus, Dan Marino, Martina Navratilova, and Sir Bobby Charlton. Each year they gather to select the winners of the Laureus World Sports Awards, sportss closest equivalent to the Hollywood Oscars.
CONSTAND VILJOEN: runs a farm peacefully in what is now called Mpumalanga Province (it was the Eastern Transvaal when he grew up there) and takes occasional vacations in Cape Town, staying with his wife at a seashore house available to retired servicemen called el Alamein.
BRAAM VILJOEN: devotes his working hours to his farm north of Pretoria. He and his brother are closer than at any time since their childhoods. They enjoy talking politics.
FRANÇOIS PIENAAR: works as a senior executive for First National Bank in Cape Town. Mandela, who is the godfather to his eldest son, Jean, has invited him, his wife, Nerine, and their children to his home on several occasions. Mandela nicknamed Pienaars younger son, Stephane, Gora, which means Brave One in Xhosa.
TOKYO SEXWALE: a philanthropist and multimillionaire businessman, with interests in diamond and platinum, remains a leading force in the ANC.
EUGENE TERREBLANCHE: the leader of the far-right Afrikaner Resistance Movement (AWB) was jailed in 1997 for grievous bodily harm and attempted murder, both involving defenseless black men. He was released in 2004 and now delivers sermons preaching repentance and redemption.
AWB: an editorial in the organizations newsletter, Storm, published in 2002, said, Since the 1994 election, patriotic Afrikaner organisations have been debilitated by the uncertainty existing among their supporters about whether they should vote or not. The unity which existed prior to the 1994 election has been destroyed. Our people are disappointed that the ANC has taken over power, and a feeling of powerlessness has overtaken us. Since then the attitude is one of Every man for himself and all interest in politics has disappeared.
THE SPRINGBOKS: they won the Rugby World Cup again in 2007, beating England in the final, still wearing the green and gold jersey. Yet again, the whole country exploded in celebration, black and white and all shades in between.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First of all, a thousand thanks to the many players in the South African drama who took the trouble to talk to me for this book.
Thank you to Pearlie Joubert, for fixing for me to see them, and just for being so great.
Thank you to Stephen Glover, as well as Andreas Whittam Smith, for appointing me South Africa bureau chief of the London Independent. Had they not showed such f
aith in me way back in 1989, this book would never have happened.
And thank you to Javier Moreno, my present boss at El País, for indulging me with the time necessary to write it.
A warm thanks to my private editor in Barcelona, Elena Ramírez, whose blend of rigor, intelligence, and support have made an immeasurable contribution.
Zelda la Grange (along with Pearlie, a strong contender for the title of greatest living female South African) was very kind. So too were Moegsien Williams and Kathy Macfarlane at the Johannesburg Star, and Amanda Oosthuizen at Die Burger. As was Marietta Van Wyk.
Indra Delanerolle, David Fanning, Sara Blecher, Sharon Cort, Cliff Bestall, Lindy Wilson, and the rest of the gang on the TV documentary we made on Mandela: much thanks to all.
Friends and acquaintances who prodded and suggested and encouraged, and to whom much gratitude is due, include (those I have omitted, please forgive me) Daniel Tanzer, James Lemoyne, Peter Ettedgui, Mark Phillips, Wim Trengrove, Stephen Robinson, Jorge Valdano, Jeremy Thompson, Tony OReilly, Teresa Rioné, Morgan Freeman, Sebastian Spear, Jayendra Naidoo, and Tony Peckham.
Special thanks to Lauren Jacobson and Keith Coleman, Michael Shipster, Joaquín Villalobos and Kobus Jordaan, fine friends so very generous with their time and knowledge and sharpness of mind.
Gail Behrman did a terrific job pulling together the photographs for this book. Sue Edelsteins advice and sensibility and encouragement and kindness were a huge boost, every step of the way.
Anne Edelstein (no relation), my Barcelona and New York-based agent, was decisive. The idea for this book had been stewing in my mind for years. Without the enthusiastic impulse she provided it might never have happenedand it certainly would not have happened now. Her devotion to the enterprise, both as a book and as a cause, has been invaluable and inspirational.
Thanks to Anne, I found my editor, Eamon Dolan. He (and Anne) provide confirmation of a long-standing belief that the best Americans are the finest of people. If this book has any value, a big chunk of the credit must go to Eamona brilliant, exhaustive, passionate wordsmith. I still cannot believe my luck.
Finally, thank you to South Africa for having shared its secrets and its genius with me. Thank you to Nelson Mandela and the thousand less famous Mandelas, of all shades, whom I had the immense good fortune to meet in my time there, whose generous spirit infuses the best this book has to offer. I think of Justice Bekebeke, I think of Walter Sisulu and Ahmed Kathrada, I think of my old pal Mandla Mthembu (who saved my life at least once), I think of Kader Asmal, Terror Lekota, John Battersby, Dudu Chili, Cyril Ramaphosa, Shaun Johnson, Ronnie Kasrils, Jacques Pauw, Gill Marcus, Debora Patta, Carl Niehaus, Max du Preez, Henrietta Mqokomiso, Halton Cheadle, Aziz Pahad, Ali Bacher, Anton Lubowski, Andy Durbach, Brian Currin, Desmond Tutu, Tim Smith, John Allen, Helen Suzman, and I think of the late, great Bheki Mkhize, the kindest, bravest, noblest man with the biggest heart I ever met, anywhere. He lit up South Africa for me like the sun.
A NOTE ON SOURCES
Practically all the material for this book is based on interviews I did either specifically for the book, between 2000 and 2007, or in the course of my general journalistic work after I went to live in South Africa in 1989. One project I was closely involved in, a TV documentary on Mandela: broadcast on PBS (The Long Walk of Nelson Mandela) and SABC (The First Accused ) and elsewhere in 1999, was especially valuable. Some books proved very helpful too, among them: Nelson Mandelas autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom; Anthony Sampsons Mandela: The Authorized Biography; François Pienaars Rainbow Warrior ; Days of the Generals by Hilton Hamann; One Team, One Country by Edward Griffiths; Anatomy of a Miracle by Patti Waldmeir; One Step Behind Mandela by Rory Steyn and Debora Patta; Apartheid: The Lighter Side by Ben Maclennan; The Other Side of History by Frederik van Zyl Slabbert; and A Common Purpose: The Story of the Upington 25 by Andrea Durbach.
INDEX
Afghanistan, Soviet occupation of
African National Congress (ANC):
Afrikaner coexistence with
Afrikaners as enemy of
and Communist Party
Defiance Campaign of
and elections
exiled leaders of
Freedom Charter of
government talks with
and Mandela
militants in
National Executive Committee of
negotiations sought by
opponents of
and rugby
and SADF
secret talks with Volksfront
and Umkhonto we Sizwe
unbanned
and UNITA
Youth League
Afrikaners:
ANC coexistence with
as ANCs enemy
and apartheid; see also apartheid
bitter-enders
and Boers
changing views of
fears of Ayatollah factor
fears of black domination
independent state (Boerestaat) for
Iron Guard
journalists
language of
Mandelas study of
nonaligned faction of
political strength of
rugby as sport of
as survivors
as symbol of colonialism
white right-wing terrorism of
Afrikaner Volksfront
Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging (AWB)
Ali, Muhammad
All Blacks:
and boycott of South African rugby
international match (1992) against
Mandelas visit with
Maori war dance (Haka) of
name of
in Rugby World Cup
on tour
Andrews, Mark
Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902)
Anglo-Zulu War (1879)
apartheid:
and Afrikaners
and the Bible
Coloureds in
as crime against humanity
Defiance Campaign against
ending, process of
and international boycott
laws of
and National Party
opponents of
as out of date
and police
replaced by non-racial democracy
right-wing black supporters of
and rugby
separate schooling in
subgroups in
towns torn apart by
as unsustainable
violence of
Arafat, Yassir
Australia:
hostility toward apartheid in
and Rugby World Cup (1995)
Badenhorst, Piet
Bam, Fikile
Bantu Education Act
Barnard, Niël
and Botha
intelligence reports of
and international rugby boycott
and Mandelas influence
and Mandelas release from prison
Mandelas secret meetings with
and NIS
and World Cup
Basson, J. J.
Batty, Grant
Beeld
Bekebeke, Justice
changing views of
childhood memories of
death sentence for
and Lubowskis death
in prison
and rugby
and Upington violence
Benazzi, Abdelatif
Benn, Tony
Berlin Wall, fall of
Bizos, George
Blair, Tony
Boer Peoples Army
Boer Resistance Movement (BWB)
Boers, see Afrikaners
Botha, Pik
Botha, P. W.:
and Afrikaner power
and ANC
and Barnard
death of
image of
and Mandela
and National Party
and negotiations for peace
and violence toward blacks
Brand, Christo
Brand, Riaan
Breytenbach, Willie
Brokaw, Tom
Brooke, Zinzan
Bruin, Evelina de
Bunce, Frank
Buthelezi, Mangosuthu
Camus, Albert, The Rebel
Cetshwayo, king of South Africa
Chan, Jackie
Christie, Kitch
Churchill, Winston
Clinton, Bill
Coetsee, Kobie
and Botha
death of
and judicial system
and Mandelas influence
and Mandelas prisoner status
Mandelas secret meetings with
and rugby
Coetzee, Lenoy
Cold War
Common Purpose, law of
Communist Party
Conservative Party
de Gaulle, Charles
de Klerk, F. W.
as deputy president
and elections
and Mandela
and Mandelas release from prison
and negotiated settlement
Nobel Peace Prize to
as president
and right-wing Afrikaners
and threat of civil war
and violence toward blacks
Democratic Party
Derby-Lewis, Clive
Dingaan, Zulu king
Duarte, Jessie
du Plessis, Felix