Insight: Looking back

Those closest to Madiba share their fondest memories

After Nelson Mandela died on December 5 2013, his wife Graça Machel met former members of his staff to thank them for their service. Listening to their memories inspired the book ‘I Remember Nelson Mandela’. Here are some extracts

15 July 2018 - 00:00 By Edited excerpts from I Remember Nelson Mandela

After Nelson Mandela died on December 5 2013, his wife Graça Machel met former members of his staff to thank them for their service. Listening to their memories inspired the book ‘I Remember Nelson Mandela’.
Here are some extracts:
XOLISWA NDOYIYA
Ndoyiya worked for Mandela as his personal chef at his home in Johannesburg from 1992 until he died in 2013
I remember if I didn't give him this traditional food for a few days he would say to me, "What's wrong? Why are you not feeding me well?"I remember how much Madiba liked pepper with his food.When he asked for "a bit of pepper", what he really meant was "a lot of pepper". He liked a very generous shake of the pepper pot to make his throat glow.
JASON TSHABALALA
Tshabalala, an Umkhonto weSizwe operative, began protecting Mandela on his visit to Lusaka in 1990
I remember Madiba being very disciplined. One of his grandsons came home and when Madiba asked him how school was he said he had lost part of his uniform. Madiba said, "No, this is not acceptable." So what he did was he took him and he made him stand in the garden holding a blanket as a punishment, for almost an hour. I saw him just standing there with his arms out holding this blanket. I asked, "What happened?" And he said, "Uncle Jason, Grandad is punishing me because I lost my uniform."
JEREMY VEAREY
Vearey worked as a bodyguard for Mandela between December 1990 and January 1994
I remember, in December 1993, working as Madiba's bodyguard on a well-deserved holiday in the Bahamas.During one of his morning walks I noticed that he was cross with me. After an uncomfortable silence he asked me why I hadn't told him that my grandmother had died and that she had been buried two days before.ANDILE NGXABANI
Ngxabani began protecting Mandela in April 1990
I remember him getting out of his car and going to children who were playing soccer in a field. They were aged around eight, nine, ten. I remember that he would ask them how they are and laugh with them and remember the rhymes we learnt when we were young. He'd sing with them, "Baa Baa Black Sheep, have you any wool?"
SHIRAZ MOOSA
Moosa began working as a bodyguard for Mandela after his release in 1990
I remember that we would also have to be ready for him from four o'clock in the mornings in case he wanted to start his morning walks earlier than 5am. Sometimes we would get there at four and we would wait for him but he had already slipped out of the house and was walking on his own in the estate. So it was almost like a cat-and-mouse game with him.
ASHWYN GOVIND
Govind first protected Mandela in 1991 when he was part of the ANC's security structure
I remember the day I placed a poster of Madiba at the foot of my bed and told myself, one day I will walk with you.
SAM SHITLABANE
Shitlabane was an Umkhonto weSizwe operative who in 1992 joined the ANC team to protect Mandela
We were in Morocco for a holiday and he was with Aunt Graça. He called me and said, "Man, I want you to go and buy me Moët & Chandon champagne." I didn't even know this Moët & Chandon and he had to spell it. He then gave me ten thousand US dollars. I think I must have used a hundred and something. I came back and I said, "Tata, this thing is not expensive. Here's nine thousand and something US dollars." He said, "Wow. I didn't know. Gee whiz."
HEIN BEZUIDENHOUT
Bezuidenhout was involved in the protection of the presidents of South Africa since 1984, including Nelson Mandela
I remember when Jill Daniels, the youngest member of our unit, was turning twenty-one and Madiba wanted to buy her something for her birthday. "Do we still have some of those books of mine in stock?" he asked, referring to Long Walk to Freedom. I said we did not, so he asked how much they cost as he wanted us to take him to the bookshop to buy a copy. Knowing what chaos such a trip to the Gardens Centre, Cape Town, would cause, I stalled and went on a frantic search for a crisp copy of Long Walk to Freedom. Sergeant Symington, a policeman at Tuynhuys, just happened to have a new copy that he wanted Madiba to sign. It still had the price sticker on - R250. I rushed back to the president to announce my find. Madiba was very perturbed when I informed him of the price. "What? I told them that this book should never cost more than R150!"BOB NICHOLLS
Nicholls worked as a security adviser and instructor for Mandela between 1992 and 1994
I remember that night before he went to bed on his first night as president, Madiba insisted on thanking all the members of his security team. It blew my mind that after such a long day he still found time to shake each person by the hand and to thank them personally. He noticed that one member of his security team, the man who drove his car, was not there. He said, "I would like to thank him too." So we found him. I think he was asleep in the car as he had been up since 4am. We woke him and brought him to the president.
LINGA MOONSAMY
Moonsamy was an Umkhonto weSizwe operative who began working for Mandela as a bodyguard in 1994
I remember I was assigned first to Kathy Kathrada and then moved to Madiba, they used to call each other "madala" - old man. So one day when Kathy was at the house he saw me and said, "You know, madala, this chap used to be my chap? And you took him away from me?" And Madiba says, "Well, he's now my chap, madala, get your own chap."
SAM NWAMUSI
Nwamusi was an Umkhonto weSizwe operative who returned to South Africa in 1993 and led an underground team to provide and assess protection at Mandela's rallies
I remember one morning he handed me the car keys, knowing that it was not my job to drive him, and insisted that I must take him "home". I made a mistake because now that he was the president he was not allowed to be driven anywhere alone. He was so demanding that I felt obliged to drive him, for the first time. I thought he wanted to go to his house in Houghton but found out when we got there that he wanted to go to Soweto to see the family of a friend of his from the PAC who had passed away. The other group of protectors meanwhile went to the Presidential Guest House in Pretoria to find that Madiba was not there. My commander was very angry with me. He shouted at me and even at Madiba.JESSIE DUARTE
Duarte served as a special assistant to Mandela from 1990 to 1994
I remember that moment alone, the hour before he made the inauguration speech, just alone, by himself in that room ... [that's] when I thought it finally hit home, that they've achieved it, they've come this far, they've got to this point, something that had eluded them for 27 years, that took a hard fight, that many people had died for. I've never seen Madiba sitting that quietly, he always fidgeted a bit, but there was that moment.
JAN VAN DER WALT
Van der Walt was a medic in the South African Military Health Service. He worked for Mandela from 1995 to 1999
I remember, during one of my first flights with Mr Mandela, we transferred from his plane to a military Oryx helicopter. All the delegates and bodyguards boarded the helicopter, then Mr Mandela. I was last to board and there were no more seats. I could not stay behind and decided to sit on the floor. Mr Mandela had a reserved seat, which was big enough for two people. He gestured to me to join him. As a nineteen-year-old, this gesture meant the world to me.
LAWRENCE APRIL
April worked as a close protector for Mandela on the occasions when he visited Cape Town from 1994 until 2009
I remember that when you brought him a newspaper, no one was allowed to have read it before him. If it looked like it had been read, he would send you back to get another one. We would say, "Whatever you do, don't touch the newspaper."
DESMOND VAN ROOYEN
Van Rooyen began protecting Mandela from 1994, after he moved over from president FW de Klerk's security team
I remember the first time I was nominated to be the Number One bodyguard. I travelled with Madiba in the main vehicle, from Houghton to the Union Buildings. During the trip, he tapped me on the shoulder and handed me his mobile phone. I took the phone from him. Madiba then asked me to please phone "Bill" for him. I asked him, "Which Bill sir?" And he replied, "Bill Clinton." I was astounded, but I was able to call the White House and link President Clinton with President Mandela.MAC MAHARAJ
Maharaj spent 12 years in prison with Mandela. When Mandela became South Africa's first democratically elected president in 1994, he named Maharaj as his minister of transport
I remember the occasion when, against my better judgment, Madiba made me dress in a "penguin suit" - the white dress shirt, black bow tie, tailcoat and pinstriped pants. As president of South Africa he was on a state visit to the UK. At the hotel Zelda [la Grange] advised us that an outfitter would call to dress us in hired suits for the banquet where Madiba would host the queen. "Oh, no!" I objected. I was not going to be turned into a penguin. A revolutionary kitted in a penguin suit! In deference to the queen, nogal! "Orders of the president," was Zelda's unyielding retort.I remember that the queen was splendidly regal in her outfit. And there was Madiba, not in a penguin suit, but in black pants and a loose black silk shirt. I guess he chuckled to himself all evening as he looked down from the main table at his discomforted penguins while he relaxed in his cool outfit.
ACHMAT DANGOR
Dangor is the former head of the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund and the Nelson Mandela Foundation
I remember when Madiba met Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace, and apart from asking if he could call her "Elizabeth", when he saw the woman who was going to serve tea, he went to greet her first before he greeted the Queen. But this was just Madiba's nature.SUNÉE RAUTENBACH
Rautenbach worked as a human resources manager at the Nelson Mandela Foundation
I remember how forgiving Madiba was. For the life of me, as the HR officer of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, I could not dismiss any of his household staff in the six years I worked for him. Oh I tried, but a couple of days later they were forgiven and back in his employ. He taught me a lot about forgiveness, not so much about HR but, wow, was he a forgiving man.
SELLO HATANG
Hatang was appointed CEO of the Nelson Mandela Foundation in 2008
I remember that when people came to see Madiba in his office he would get up, stretch out his hand to them and say, "My name is Nelson Mandela and you are?" Most of the time his guests were unable to utter a single word in reply. They were in shock.
VALENE PEACOCK
Peacock is a paramedic attached to the South African National Defence Force Presidential Medical Unit
I remember he used to call us and say, "I'm in the mood to speak Afrikaans now. Come and sit here." And he would speak Afrikaans and then he would laugh at people who didn't understand and say, "Hulle verstaan nie wat ons nou sê, nê? [They don't understand what we are saying]."..

There’s never been a more important time to support independent media.

From World War 1 to present-day cosmopolitan South Africa and beyond, the Sunday Times has been a pillar in covering the stories that matter to you.

For just R80 you can become a premium member (digital access) and support a publication that has played an important political and social role in South Africa for over a century of Sundays. You can cancel anytime.

Already subscribed? Sign in below.



Questions or problems? Email helpdesk@timeslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00.

Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.

Speech Bubbles

Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.