by Trevor A Manuel, MP, at Mandela House, Johannesburg
9 October 2006
Director of Ceremonies
Mr President
Madiba and Aunt Graca
Trustees of the Mandela Foundation
Your excellencies
Distinguished guests
I was so completely overwhelmed by Comrade Kathy's call last week that I did
not pause to consider what the assigned task was. How do you make a speech
about a book, when you are not its author, critic, salesman, or possess some
profound academic knowledge about the subject? Well, unfortunately, here I am,
only because I was too shocked to ask Comrade Kathy the questions last
week.
I am sure that the biggest challenge to the Mandela family, to the
publishers and the authors was to ward off the inevitable feeling, "Not another
biography." This is the difficult paradigm within which, I am sure, they had to
set about their tasks.
So, they took the exciting past 88 years of South Africa's history, and into
this history they wove the footprints of Madiba, a traverse from Mveso, to
Qunu, to Johannesburg, 12 African States, including an important stint in
Ethiopia, back, Durban, Pretoria, Robben Island, Victor Verster, Johannesburg,
Pretoria, Cape Town, succeeding in this journey to provide a remarkable account
of this country, and continent, and of the special love of the subject for all
of it.
Of course, more importantly, there is the manner in which Madiba was shaped
by his circumstances and how he, in return, contributed to shaping history.
But, if this was all they accomplished, we would have had just another dense
authorised biography.
Then the innovation, the accounts and perspectives of 58 people from around
the world who interacted with Madiba as friends, comrades, fellow-prisoners,
prison warders, celebrities, colleagues, employees, and even the odd successor
have captured the mosaic of his life.
Let me attempt to share with you from the portrait a flavour of the measure
of Madiba.
There is this early account by Pallo Jordan of one whom describes as "always
sets a great store by what he had learned and absorbed in the rural setting,"
through to Billy Nair's description of Madiba being both a democrat and a
gentleman of the first order.
There is the humility and caring described by so many, but few as poignantly
as by Eddie Daniels.
There are several accounts of Madiba, the "respectful militant" � apparent
from his communications with his captors to the messages conveyed to a range of
people from commoners to heads of government, whose policies he obviously
disagreed with.
The most amazing story of friendship is perhaps told by President Clinton
who writes, "Mandela will never know how much he helped me get through that
period."
The book is replete with examples of the moral leadership demonstrated by
Madiba, a leadership by example. President Mbeki writes, "I hope that people
like Madiba and others of that senior leadership see in the younger people like
us that they have succeeded in a way in replicating themselves."
But, before you arrive at the conclusion that the book is the beatification
of Nelson Mandela in print, let me advise that there are both counter accounts
of these glowing accounts and curious idiosyncrasies. I encountered the word
"Anglophile" more times in this book than in almost any other.
Do the editors and publishers succeed? I want the reader to be the judge of
that.
Though this portrait left me wondering about the bits not yet recorded, what
would Moses Kotane's recall be of the differences on the formation of uMkhonto
we Sizwe? What would former President F W De Klerk's recollection be of that
wonderful trio of photographs on page 253? How would Nkosi Mangosuthu Buthelezi
want the entry of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) into the negotiations to be
recorded in history? Or, what may have happened in our history if Madiba and
Cecil Williams had followed the correct security procedures on that fateful
trip to Durban? We can but wonder about these and many other stories told and
untold in this wonderful compilation.
The authors have woven this strong thread of soft power throughout the book
- Madiba's style is that of persuasion and example � consistently applied to a
variety of circumstances. The power is not soft because of the absence of any
other means - Madiba obviously learnt from his many lunches at Kapitan's that
the soft power works only if people on the other side understand that you can
use the masala if the need arises.
But perhaps, the strongest sense that this portrait conveys is that Ubuntu
is real.
We are because they are and that the values of Ubuntu and the commitments to
service are as noble now as they were in Qunu in 1920s, only perhaps more is
needed now to define us as Africans who care, in a caring democracy.
I want to express my sincerest appreciation to all who were involved in this
production and with it the hope that the messages will be understood, and the
life of Madiba, so graphically accounted, emulated.
Thank You
Issued by: National Treasury
9 October 2006
Source: National Treasury (http://www.treasury.gov.za)
