Remembering Madiba

South Africa has produced two leaders who achieved global recognition and renown in their respective eras: Jan Christian Smuts (Prime Minister, 1919–24 and 1939–48) and Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (President, 1994–99). The former was much celebrated for playing a significant role in re-constructing international architecture after both world wars; the latter remains globally admired for his leading part in drawing South Africa back from racial war and becoming a democracy. As a result, both have attracted multiple biographies. Today, however, whereas Mandela remains a much-admired global icon, Smuts’ reputation is much diminished, with contemporary historians citing his racism and role in constructing the foundations of apartheid South Africa. In this controversial book, Roger Southall provides a re-evaluation of Smuts’s hugely contradictory career by proposing fascinating parallels with the life and political trajectory of Mandela. Both came to maturity as political leaders as freedom fighters, Smuts against the British and Mandela against the apartheid regime. Both played a pre-eminent role in founding a ‘new South Africa’, the first made for whites at Union in 1910 and the second for all South Africans in 1994. Both aspired to be nation-builders, but while Smuts’s hoped-for South African nation was white, Mandela aspired to bring all South Africa’s people together. Both came into stride on the international stage, albeit in very different ways and for various reasons. Smuts’s career failed, and he was ejected from office. Mandela retired gracefully from office and continued to be lauded for his well-earned retirement, yet South Africa’s contemporary travails reveal his hopes and policies as unfulfilled. This book makes the case that we cannot fully understand Mandela without first understanding Smuts and how South Africa continues to struggle with the legacy he left behind.

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One of the most celebrated political leaders of our time, Nelson Mandela has been written about by many biographers and historians. But in one crucial area, his life remains largely untold: his marriage to Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. During his years in prison, Nelson grew ever more in love with an idealised version of his wife, courting her in his letters as if they were young lovers frozen in time. But Winnie, every bit his political equal, found herself increasingly estranged from her jailed husband’s politics. Behind his back, she was trying to orchestrate an armed seizure of power, a path he feared would lead to an endless war. Jonny Steinberg tells the tale of this unique marriage – its longings, its obsessions, its deceits – making South African history a page-turning political biography. Winnie and Nelson is a modern epic in which trauma doesn’t affect just the couple at its centre, but an entire nation. It is also a Shakespearean drama in which bonds of love and commitment mingle with timeless questions of revolution, such as whether to seek retribution or a negotiated peace. Steinberg reveals, with power and tender emotional insight, how far these forever-entwined leaders would go for each other and where they drew the line. For in the end, both knew theirs was not simply a marriage, but a struggle to define anti-apartheid policy itself.

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A tribute to her father, Makaziwe Mandela shares the most definitive portrait of Nelson Mandela to date, revealing the man behind the anti-apartheid movement that changed the world. One of Time magazine s Most Important People of the Twentieth Century, Nelson Mandela continues to be a symbol of equality and justice: a Nobel Prize winner, South Africa s first Black president, and an unrelenting leader in the movement to dismantle racial inequality. Written by his daughter, her story uncovers the family man behind the international peacemaker persona. This volume presents an extraordinary assembly of historic biography and imagery alongside never-before-published family stories and personal photographs, Nelson Mandela s letters to friends and family, journal entries written during his incarceration, and a unique collection of rarely seen charcoal drawings and paintings he began at 83 years old. Chapters chronicle Mandela s childhood growing up in Mvezo, his time in Johannesburg as leader of the African National Congress, the importance of his familial relationships, decades of imprisonment, and his role as president and philanthropist. An enthralling read illustrated by powerful historic imagery, this tome delves into the life of the man that continues to galvanize so many.

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I Remember Nelson Mandela is a collection of remembrances from those who worked with, for and beside Mandela. More than one hundred individuals, from household staff to bodyguards and presidential advisors, have offered their memories, which provide warm, poignant and often humorous insights into what it was like behind the scenes with one of the most revered and beloved political figures the world has seen. ‘Nothing is more important than to be loved by your colleagues.’ – Nelson Mandela, 5 August 2008, addressing the staff of the Nelson Mandela Foundation at a private celebration for his 90th birthday. The collection is the dream-child of Mrs Graça Machel who, some months after Nelson Mandela’s passing on 5 December 2013, met with former members of his staff to thank them for their service. Listening to their stories inspired the creation of this, the perfect gift book, providing readers with a glimpse into the man behind the title.

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In 67 Blankets for Nelson Mandela Day the Knitting and Crochet Revolution, a decade of phenomenal growth of an international non-profit organisation is recorded. With a Foreword by Sello Hatang, former CEO of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, and a letter from Graça Machel in the Preface, the book shows how the simple gift of a handmade blanket has had a profound effect on the lives of many. Accompanied by the story of Nelson Mandela’s life, the experiences and views of those who made the blankets are recorded, as well as those who received them and the many organisations and people who contributed to the project over the ten years from December 2013 to 2022. During this period, 67 Blankets for Nelson Mandela Day set four Guinness World Records by 2019, enabled hundreds of prisoners in correctional centres to contribute positively to society, and assisted with emergency relief to those in need after the devasting Cyclone Idai. What emerges clearly from the stories in this book is how thousands of people have been empowered through their involvement in this movement, and how their lives were changed by the simple act of giving or receiving a blanket. A non-profit organisation, 67 Blankets for Nelson Mandela Day was founded by Carolyn Steyn in 2014. Challenged by Zelda La Grange to make 67 blankets as a contribution to Mandela Day in December 2013, Carolyn turned to friends and family to help her realise this target. The organisation has mobilised thousands of active members in South Africa and around the world to make blankets and scarves for distribution to those in need.

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Jacana is delighted to announce the forthcoming publication of a new pocket biography of Nelson Mandela by the renowned South African historian, Colin Bundy. Writing with his characteristic elegance, insight and striking turn of phrase, Colin Bundy sets out to extricate the person of Mandela from a pervasive sense of Mandela; distinguishing between the actual, historical Mandela and a generalised and essentially mythical Mandela. There are two main elements in this task. The first involves locating Mandela’s life, his character and actions, in South African history, which Bundy does in five masterly chapters. The second element, the subject of the first and the final chapters, asks a different set of questions, about memory and remembering; about legacy in the long term. This book will undoubtedly establish itself as the finest introduction to Mandela’s life available. It is not only a skilful overview and summary of the 20th-century icon but a fresh and engaging look, each page revealing new insights and original observations expressed in felicitous prose.

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An inspiring international bestseller, Good Morning, Mr Mandela tells the story of Zelda la Grange's incredible friendship with Nelson Mandela Zelda la Grange grew up in South Africa as a white Afrikaner who supported the rules of segregation. Yet just a few years after the end of Apartheid she would become a most trusted assistant to Nelson Mandela, growing to respect and cherish the man she had been taught was the enemy. Good Morning, Mr Mandela tells the extraordinary story of how a young woman had her life, beliefs, prejudices and everything she once believed in utterly transformed by the greatest man of her time. It is the incredible journey of an awkward, terrified young typist in her twenties later chosen to become the President's most loyal and devoted servants, spending most of her adult working life travelling with, supporting and caring for the man she would come to call 'Khulu', or 'grandfather'. Here Zelda la Grange pays tribute to Nelson Mandela as she knew him - a teacher who gave her the most valuable lessons of her life. A man who refused to be defined by his past, who forgave and respected all, but who was also frank, teasing and direct. As he renewed his country, he also freed Zelda from a closed world of fear and mistrust, giving her life true meaning. Now she shares his lasting and inspiring gifts with the world. This is a book about love and second chances. It will touch your life and make you believe that every one of us, no matter who we are or what we have done, has the power to change. 'Uplifting. . . generally charming, occasionally faintly indiscreet, but always reverent. Surely no one but Mandela - with the possible exception of the Duke of Edinburgh - could have got away with greeting the Queen with a cheery: 'Oh Elizabeth, you've lost weight!'' - Sunday Times Compelling and ultimately heartbreaking ... her unguarded honesty allows her to tell a remarkable story - Telegraph

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Widely considered to be the most important biography of Nelson Mandela, Antony Sampson’s remarkable book has been updated with an afterword by acclaimed South African journalist, John Battersby. Long after his presidency of South Africa, Nelson Mandela remained an inspirational figure to millions – both in his homeland and far beyond. He has been, without doubt, one of the most important figures in global history. His death, on 5 December 2013 at the age of 95, resonated around the world. Mandela’s opposition to apartheid and his 27 year incarceration at the hands of South Africa’s all-white regime are familiar to most. In this utterly compelling book, eminent biographer Anthony Sampson draws on a fifty year-long relationship to reveal the man who rocked a continent – and changed its future. With unprecedented access to the former South African president – the letters he wrote in prison, his unpublished jail autobiography, extensive conversations, and interviews with hundreds of colleagues, friends, and family – Sampson depicts the realities of Mandela’s private and public life, and the tragic tension between them. Updated after Sampson’s death with a new afterword by distinguished South African journalist John Battersby, this is the ultimate biography of one of the twentieth century’s greatest statesmen.

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