Mandela’s final years, up close and personal

That is his close association with a young white Afrikaner woman, Zelda Le Grange, which lasted throughout his presidency and beyond. A few weeks ago, Le Grange published a book, detailing her memoirs on her life around Mandela.

Entitled Good Morning, Mr Mandela, the book gives a personal and insightful account of the world icon’s life as the first president of a democratic South Africa and during his life after he stepped down as president. Perhaps the most telling part of the book is Mandela’s last few years, particularly during the time when he was sick and could no longer make decisions for himself.

Reading Good Morning, Mr Mandela, it is hard and almost sad to comprehend how a person of Mandela’s stature could have been treated as badly as le Grange describes.

It tells of how when Mandela was sick, he was banished to a lonely life in his home village in Qunu, away from his friends. The book details how Mandela developed bed sores due to improper care and how doctors who had had neither examined him nor received notes from the doctors who had, were the ones taking care of this iconic figure.

It details the widely-reported incident when Mandela was stuck at the back of a military ambulance that broke down in the early hours of the morning in icy and bitterly cold conditions. The book is also forthcoming with details of how some family members used Mandela to their own selfish and financial ends.

The author tells of how his wife, Graca Machel, the one person who she says lightened up Mandela’s world, was often mocked, side-lined and emotionally traumatised by family members, particularly Mandela’s daughter Makaziwe. It exposes power struggles and ill-informed decisions by family members and the government to the detriment of a frail and sick Madiba.

Le Grange’s memoirs are a revealing tale of how sad Mandela’s last few years were. It is a sneak preview into the life of the one of the world’s most influential man. It is preview that proves that Mandela lived in private the same way he did public life – grounded, dignified, fair and consistent.

But Good Morning, Mr Mandela is much more than a story about Madiba – it is a book about a young woman brought by fate in Madiba’s path, maturing well beyond her age and becoming the right hand woman and gatekeeper to this iconic figure.

Mandela’s choice in handpicking this young Afrikaaner woman to work as his personal secretary beyond his retirement was an interesting one. In her book, she says by the time she was 13, she had become a racist.

Racism was the ill that Mandela fought against all his life and as a result spent 27 years of in an apartheid prison. Although the book touches on many famous and non-famous people alike – Michael Jackson, Oprah Winfrey, Barack Obama, the Queen of England, Robert Mugabe, kitchen staff, security details, and many others – essentially it is a bout about Zelda and her relationship with Mandela for almost two decades.

Reading the book, one would be forgiven for thinking that she was the most important person during this time, but then it is her story and she told it the way she experienced it.

Good Morning, Mr Mandela is a story of fate, sacrifices, hope and love. It is the story of South Africa and its iconic son, as told through the eyes of his longest serving and trusted employee, Zelda La Grange.