Book retailers close chapter of ‘Mandela’s Last Years’

Copies no longer available at stores

The few early birds who managed to get their hands on the controversial Nelson Mandela book before it was taken off the shelves could possibly have laid their hands on a gem.

One man who bought the book for just less than R300 said he had received several offers from people willing to take it off his hands. “I bought it [for] R276. So far‚ I have been offered $700 (about R9 000) for it‚” said Delane Kalembo.

While several South Africans have made offers for the book‚ Kalembo said much of the interest came from people outside the country. “The interest is from internationals since most people have caught wind of the story‚” he said.

Yesterday, Exclusive Books’s general manager Ben Williams declined to comment on the sales of Mandela’s Last Years.

However, a staff member who preferred to remain anonymous said the book had by last week Saturday been sold out at the store and they had been waiting for more copies to be delivered when the recall announcement came.

Sowetan visited Exclusive Books in Hyde Park Corner and Cresta shopping centres yesterday. Both stores did not have the book on their shelves.

An employee at a Johannesburg store said they had to turn away a large number of customers yesterday who were looking for the book.

Exclusive Books said those who purchased the book while it was still available on the company’s website would be refunded.

The book was penned by Dr Vejay Ramlakan and has received a massive backlash from some members of the Mandela family‚ including his widow Graca Machel.

It contains never-beforepublished information on Madiba’s various health conditions‚ including that doctors were worried he “might have died” when he stopped breathing on a chilly night in June‚ seven months before his December 2013 death.