New perspective on Madiba

A NEW book debunks some of the myths around former president Nelson Mandela‚ according to those involved in the production of the biography.

Dare Not Linger: The Presidential Years‚ as the title suggests‚ focuses on the difficult years after the transition to democracy in 1994.

It follows the recent controversy over a book about the last years of Mandela’s life before he died in 2013. The book was co-written by award-winning author Mandla Langa‚ who completed Mandela’s unfinished manuscript.

Langa took part in a panel discussion on the book at the SA Book Fair in Johannesburg at the weekend where he was joined by Verne Harris of the Nelson Mandela Foundation‚ author and former foundation CEO Achmat Dangor and academic Victoria J Collis-Buthelezi.

Langa said he had delved through 70 000 words of manuscript and studied archive material to fill in some of the gaps. Harris, from the Nelson Mandela Foundation, said Dare Not Linger debunked the myth that Madiba was a mere figurehead in the first democratic administrat

“What Mandla has achieved is a representation of Madiba which is fundamentally fresh. The mythology was that Thabo Mbeki ran government‚ Madiba was more of a symbolic figure‚ but Madiba was actually very hands-on in many areas.

He could drive people nuts because he could micromanage‚” said Harris‚ who moderated the panel discussion.

“For me also noteworthy was the extent to which Madiba was a politician’s politician. He could play the game better than anybody else.

“He was an opportunist. He knew how to massage processes.

“So the mythology of the principled leader and what are Madiba’s values‚ you have to factor in Madiba as a president. “He wasn’t obsessed with reconciliation. He was obsessed with making democracy stick.” Dangor said part of the Mandela legacy was that South Africans should take responsibility for their destiny and not leave it to one man.

Dare Not Linger is due to be published next month.