Invictus - Carlin [119]
And thank you to Javier Moreno, my present boss at El País, for indulging me with the time necessary to write it.
A warm thanks to my private editor in Barcelona, Elena Ramírez, whose blend of rigor, intelligence, and support have made an immeasurable contribution.
Zelda la Grange (along with Pearlie, a strong contender for the title of greatest living female South African) was very kind. So too were Moegsien Williams and Kathy Macfarlane at the Johannesburg Star, and Amanda Oosthuizen at Die Burger. As was Marietta Van Wyk.
Indra Delanerolle, David Fanning, Sara Blecher, Sharon Cort, Cliff Bestall, Lindy Wilson, and the rest of the gang on the TV documentary we made on Mandela: much thanks to all.
Friends and acquaintances who prodded and suggested and encouraged, and to whom much gratitude is due, include (those I have omitted, please forgive me) Daniel Tanzer, James Lemoyne, Peter Ettedgui, Mark Phillips, Wim Trengrove, Stephen Robinson, Jorge Valdano, Jeremy Thompson, Tony O’Reilly, Teresa Rioné, Morgan Freeman, Sebastian Spear, Jayendra Naidoo, and Tony Peckham.
Special thanks to Lauren Jacobson and Keith Coleman, Michael Shipster, Joaquín Villalobos and Kobus Jordaan, fine friends so very generous with their time and knowledge and sharpness of mind.
Gail Behrman did a terrific job pulling together the photographs for this book. Sue Edelstein’s advice and sensibility and encouragement and kindness were a huge boost, every step of the way.
Anne Edelstein (no relation), my Barcelona and New York-based agent, was decisive. The idea for this book had been stewing in my mind for years. Without the enthusiastic impulse she provided it might never have happened—and it certainly would not have happened now. Her devotion to the enterprise, both as a book and as a cause, has been invaluable and inspirational.
Thanks to Anne, I found my editor, Eamon Dolan. He (and Anne) provide confirmation of a long-standing belief that the best Americans are the finest of people. If this book has any value, a big chunk of the credit must go to Eamon—a brilliant, exhaustive, passionate wordsmith. I still cannot believe my luck.
Finally, thank you to South Africa for having shared its secrets and its genius with me. Thank you to Nelson Mandela and the thousand less famous Mandelas, of all shades, whom I had the immense good fortune to meet in my time there, whose generous spirit infuses the best this book has to offer. I think of Justice Bekebeke, I think of Walter Sisulu and Ahmed Kathrada, I think of my old pal Mandla Mthembu (who saved my life at least once), I think of Kader Asmal, Terror Lekota, John Battersby, Dudu Chili, Cyril Ramaphosa, Shaun Johnson, Ronnie Kasrils, Jacques Pauw, Gill Marcus, Debora Patta, Carl Niehaus, Max du Preez, Henrietta Mqokomiso, Halton Cheadle, Aziz Pahad, Ali Bacher, Anton Lubowski, Andy Durbach, Brian Currin, Desmond Tutu, Tim Smith, John Allen, Helen Suzman, and I think of the late, great Bheki Mkhize, the kindest, bravest, noblest man with the biggest heart I ever met, anywhere. He lit up South Africa for me like the sun.
A NOTE ON SOURCES
Practically all the material for this book is based on interviews I did either specifically for the book, between 2000 and 2007, or in the course of my general journalistic work after I went to live in South Africa in 1989. One project I was closely involved in, a TV documentary on Mandela: broadcast on PBS (The Long Walk of Nelson Mandela) and SABC (The First Accused ) and elsewhere in 1999, was especially valuable. Some books proved very helpful too, among them: Nelson Mandela’s autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom; Anthony Sampson’s Mandela: The Authorized Biography; François Pienaar’s Rainbow Warrior ; Days of the Generals by Hilton Hamann; One Team, One Country by Edward Griffiths; Anatomy of a Miracle by Patti Waldmeir; One Step Behind Mandela by Rory Steyn and Debora Patta; Apartheid: The Lighter Side by Ben Maclennan; The Other Side of History by Frederik van Zyl Slabbert; and A Common Purpose: The Story of the Upington 25 by Andrea Durbach.