bout de papier, Vol. 12, No. 2 (1995) — Summer 1995 // Été 1995, pp. 39–41
LONG WALK TO FREEDOM — THE
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF NELSON MANDELA
by Nelson Mandela, MacDonald Purnell
(PTY) Ltd., 1994, 617 pages, $32.00.
Review by Ian C. Ferguson
It is highly unusual for a Head of State to publish his memoirs while still in office, but President Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela is not your typical leader. Nor is Long Walk to Freedom like your typical Canadian political autobiography in which an ageing politician tries to influence the historical record and settle a few scores.
In December 1994, I attended the launch of the book at an event which could only have occurred in the new South Africa, and which says something about the anything-goes mood of this country’s elite. The launch of Long Walk to Freedom (Macdonald Purnell) was held at one of the largest private homes in Johannesburg’s posh northern suburbs. (The house has since been put on the market for the equivalent of $14.5 million.) Hundreds of publishing types, former freedom fighters, socialites, businessmen, diplomats, and friends and acquaintances from Mandela’s life swarmed in an atmosphere of heady excitement. Old friends from the struggle recognized one another — or tried to — in a sort of African matinée de Guermantes. In fine form, Mandela recounted anecdotes, off-the-cuff, for more than an hour, gently teasing those in the audience whom he recognized including his first employer at a legal firm, and even one of his former guards from Robben Island
The book has since gone on to become South Africa’s all-time best-seller. It is also a runaway hit in Britain. Profits are directed to a charity.
The book was written in prison after 1975, and smuggled out, chapter by chapter. It weighs in at a hefty 600-plus pages, but is an easy read, thanks in part to good editing and short chapters. Why it is so interesting and readable is not easily explained. The account of his life is straightforward. However, Mandela’s singular destiny gradually takes on epic proportions and captures the reader’s attention. Critics as a great work of forgiveness.
The most interesting chapters cover Mandela’s early life and struggles. The foster son of a Xhosa chief in the Eastern Cape, Mandela had a traditional upbringing until he was sent to a mission school. Like other youths, he tended livestock and participated in tribal rites of circumcision. His political awakenings were gradual, beginning in his late teens, and continuing at Fort Hare University, which was then a nursery for African nationalism. Mandela’s political commitment was confirmed after he fled to Johannesburg to escape an arranged marriage, during subsequent years’ study while living in miserable conditions, and in the period he practised as one of South Africa’s first black lawyers.
We are reminded of many salient facts from this book. It is clear that “non-racialism” was not strong in the ANC’s early days. Mandela himself was long on the side of those who favoured an ANC for non-whites only. We also learn that the ANC has had some mediocre leaders in its long history. (It was tounded in 1912 and presented a brief to the Versailles Peace Conference!) As long as the colonial system prevailed in the rest of Africa, the ANC got little international sympathy. The book reminds us as well that the struggle for equality in South Africa pre-dated by many years the imposition of apartheid in 1948.
Mandela recalls some incidents of blatant racism, but never loses his sense of humour or perspective. He was an early and strong backer of the “armed struggle” finally adopted in 1961, and he has no regrets about the tactics adopted.
The section dealing with the 27 years in prison is also highly interesting. Treatment of political prisoners improved gradually over the years, but in the early days there was considerable brutality, needless harassment, and even theft of food destined for the prisoners. The ANC leadership has forgiven much, and Long Walk to Freedom has been described by some critics as a great work of forgiveness. I have spoken to other former prisoners who are less magnanimous. The close relations among ex-prisoners explains some of the more controversial appointments which Mandela has sanctioned, e.g. among those selected as his advisors and for certain cabinet posts and premierships.
Although some readers will be disappointed, Mandela is very discreet about his personal life. It is clear that he harbours lingering regrets about his inability to be more supportive of his mother in her old age and poverty. There are also his first wife and children with whom he appears to have had little ongoing contact. He is mostly silent about the reasons for the estrangement from his second wife, Winnie. His shortcomings as a father and husband are described by Mandela as the inevitable lot of any political figure devoted to the struggle for the general welfare. As Anton Harber, editor at the Weekly Mail and Guardian, noted in a local review, “….that is why the most revered, most popular, most admired man in the world of the 1990s is also essentially a lonely man, constantly weighing up the cost of his dedication and commitment..?
The book will help readers understand why South Africa has achieved a miraculous political transition. Mandela says that he never lost faith that he would be free, even in the worst of the 10,000-odd days he spent in prison. His faith in the generosity of which human hearts are capable shines through the pages. His faith in humanity was reintorced by the help and respect shown by some of the warders. He also believes that if hatred can be taught (and always is), then men can learn to love. He is unfailingly gracious about those who made even greater sacrifices than his own, such as those who gave their lives, or whites who had to break all links with their own community. He muses that perhaps it requires depths of oppression to create heights of character. The remark could apply to his own case. Throughout the book, his optimism, sincerity, stoicism and self-effacement are manifest. I have met Mandela on three occasions in the course of a posting to South Africa, and each occasion was one to remember as a special event in one’s life. Other Canadians have recounted the same uplifting experience.
What of Canada and our supposed leading international role? I am sorry to report that there is not much to report. Mandela confirms that the 1986 visits to him in prison by the Eminent Persons Group, including Canada’s Archbishop Scott, were important milestones in preparing the way for negotiations. Mandela’s 1990 trip to Canada is cited as coming after the USA. In fact, it came before. The Canadian stop-over in “a remote place north of the Arctic Circle (sic) called Goose Bay” where he met some “Innuit (sic)” rates a couple of paragraphs. The visit to Ottawa gets one sentence.
The last 100 or so pages following Mandela’s release from prison in February 1990 are more impersonal and far less interesting. This period of the South African transition has been covered better by writers such as Allister Sparks.
The book’s runaway success has also sparked humorous comment. The popular local comic strip, “Madam and Eve”, by S. Francis, H. Dugmore and Rico, has portrayed Hollywood producers clamouring for the film rights. Their version of Mandela’s life would be retitled “Escape from Robben Island”. Wesley Snipes is cast to play the young Mandela. The publicity would blare out, “No Jail Could Hold Him; No Women Could Tame Him; No Bullet Could Stop Him.” In another variation, Mandela is not a political prisoner but an armed robber who goes on to befriend an injured killer whale.
Don’t wait for the movie. Read the book instead.
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Originally published in bout de papier, Vol. 12, No. 2 (1995) — Summer 1995 // Été 1995, pp. 39–41. Read the rest of this issue →
