Graça Machel lashes out over ‘Mandela’s Last Years’

A NEW book about the final years of for mer President Nelson Mandela’s life, penned by the head of his medical team, was “written with respect” and the support of family members.

But yesterday Graça Machel, Mandela’s wife, condemned Mandela’s Last Years by Vejay Ramlakan “in the strongest terms”.

“It’s an affront to and an assault on the trust and dignity of my late husband. It breaches the doctor-patient relationship of confidentiality and I’m taking legal advice on whether to institute legal proceedings against the author and its publisher.”

Ramlakan responded briefly yesterday. “Penguin Random House has released a statement, which I agree with.”

In the publisher’s statement, issued in response to Machel’s legal threat, Penguin Random House South Africa said it had accepted Mandela’s Last Years for publication after Ramlakan advised the firm that he had received permission from Mandela’s family to publish the book. “Their representative was provided with a proof of the book.

“Mandela’s Last Years sets the record straight about the final years of his life. Written by the head of his medical team, the military doctor who witnessed firsthand what the former president was experiencing, it documents the medical challenges, interactions between family members and staff, the scrutiny from the press, and the actions and responses of Mandela himself.”

Machel said she would be consulting with executors Justice Dikgang Moseneke, George Bizos SC and Judge Sangoni “on how best to protect Madiba’s good name and reputation”.

The book, said the publisher, “completes the story of Nelson Mandela. It reveals a man who showed immense courage… until the very end of his own life”.