MANDELA

After more than a decade as a prison guard overseeing Nelson Mandela (1918-2013), Brand, with the assistance of Mail on Sunday Africa correspondent Jones, chronicles the unlikely personal relationship they built.

The author’s story begins with his idyllic-sounding upbringing. His parents, who raised him in a rural area far from the worst apartheid policing, taught him kindness and respect for people of all races, but particularly for his elders. So when Brand met his prisoner, a 60-year-old political activist, he was bound to see the respectful, gentle man as someone who deserved his respect in turn. Out of that respect grew a relationship that began as showing kindness when he could and morphed into a willingness to break some rules in order to demonstrate his true humanity to Mandela and his fellow political prisoners. Brand helped Mandela find time alone to study, spoke with him in Afrikaans when Mandela was learning the language, spent time with the prisoner when he was in isolation and made sure some little luxuries were available. Eventually, the two became friends, with Mandela even helping to put Brand’s son through schooling for a career as a commercial diver. The prose is straightforward, but the lack of flowery language makes it refreshingly easy to focus on the story without distraction. This isn’t a full biography of Mandela, so those looking for more information about his politics, party or background should seek out supplemental materials. The author quickly recounts Mandela’s general biography, including the Rivonia trial for sabotage that landed him in prison, but this is really a tale of two men and their shared humanity in an inhumane place.

A worthy addition to the canon of Mandela literature that details a relationship that many knew about but few truly understood.