Durban - President Nelson Mandela was enchanted by surfing, which he saw while walking on Durban’s beachfront.
“It was something very new to him,” recalled Vimla Naidoo, a former protocol officer in his office, who along with the senior researcher at the Nelson Mandela Foundation and veteran journalist Sahm Venter, has written I Remember Nelson Mandela, the latest book on the liberation icon.
The Durban launch of the book, in which household staff to bodyguards and advisers have offered their
memories, was held at the Moses Mabhida Stadium, and addressed by orator, Gcina Mhlope.
It was inspired by his widow Graça Machel, who met former members of his staff to thank them for their service, soon after his death in December 2013. Machel wrote in her foreword: “We, as Africans, believe that wherever you are in the world, when you experience a loss, if you do not have the chance to look closely into a person’s eyes, there can be no closure. I would not have had peace if I had not met with them, mourned the loss of our beloved Madiba together, and thanked them sincerely for their service.”
Naidoo recalled a special moment in her own life with Mandela that is not in the book.
“Madiba was on a visit to England and he was missing South African food, amasi in particular. And since I was travelling to London, I was asked to hand-carry a consignment of amasi for him.
“Sis Xoli, Madiba’s chef, packed it in Tupperware and wrapped it beautifully to resemble a gift and I took it on the plane. I was terribly worried I wouldn’t be allowed through customs with it.
“Before I departed, Zelda (la Grange, his personal assistant) rang to say Madiba was looking forward to his amasi, and if I was stopped at customs I should call them and Madiba would call Tony Blair if necessary to release his amasi.”
Venter said every one of the contributors interviewed were stories in themselves and “could fill their own book with stories about Madiba. But we had chosen a particular style to accommodate the wide range of people we have in the book.
“So rather than a series of interviews, it is a collection of reminiscences by each individual in the style of the late French writer Georges Perec who, in 1978, published his book I Remember.
“We also were inspired by two books in this style by exiled South African writer, Denis Hirson, who published I Remember King Kong (the boxer) and We Walk Straight So You’d Better Get Out The Way,” she said.
Venter added that she had spent a lot more time with Madiba as a journalist, then when working for the Nelson Mandela Foundation, including Christmas Day in 1995 at Mandela’s home village of Qunu, with a small group of colleagues: Justin Mthembu, Adil Bradlow, Adrian Hadland and the late Anton Hammerl.
“Priscilla Naidoo of the Presidency had arranged for us to go with Madiba on his morning walk through the villages surrounding his house from dawn. We walked and chatted for most of the five hours and he was hardly out of breath.
“He greeted every single person who came out of their house to see him and asked each one their name and other details.
“He told us to return after we had breakfast, so he could take us on a guided tour of the Great Palace at Mqhekezweni where he grew up after his father died in 1930.
“What I will remember most, however, is that Priscilla called the night before to say that President Mandela said we should bring boots to wear
on the walk, because it was very muddy.”
- Remember Nelson Mandela, a product of Jacana Publishers, is available at mainstream bookstores and retails for R220.