My Moment with the Legend Nelson Mandela
Fifteen individuals recount their encounters with the international icon through the lens of photojournalist Benny Gool
Retire coverThe Nelson Mandela Foundation
An experience of a lifetime
As an international icon Nelson Mandela has been sought out by the world’s rich and famous and he has been surrounded by celebrity. But the mantle of celebrity has never sat well on him, and he has worked hard at making himself accessible to ‘ordinary people’. He was never more comfortable than when he could escape the trappings of formality and relate to people on a person-to-person basis. For many, meeting him in this context has provided the experience of a lifetime. From Presidents, human-activists to students, Nelson Mandela's life was documented by photojournalist Benny Gool. Listen to the fascinating stories from some of the people who were lucky enough to meet him.
Lindiwe Fassie on meeting Nelson Mandela in 1993
"It was a Sunday morning. Me and my family were all sitting in the lounge reminiscing about my mom’s funeral. We had buried her on Saturday. The next thing, my big sister Vuyiswa came running into the house telling us that there were police private cars coming to the house. We were also surprised because children were shouting, ‘Tata Tata’ outside. In an instant this bodyguard came in the house and stood there and he followed. We jumped up and down ‘cause we were not expecting such a great man would come into our house. You see, Brenda had predicted that we’ll have a black president and true to predictions Tata was our president."
"He came into the house and greeted us all by our names which was very surprising indeed. He sat us all down and told us that the tree has fallen (mom) and that we have to be very careful and not let this house go down. He gave us advice on life and whilst he was talking, I was crying. I felt honoured to have Tata Madiba sitting on my mom’s chair. To be honest I will never forget that day ever. After giving us all advice, he left us and people outside started ululating, ‘Tata Tata’. I feel very honoured to be writing about my favourite person in the world. Ukhula Tata Ukhokhobe Madiba ngqolomsila Yem yem Zondwa Zintshabe. Halaa Tata Halala."
Evita Bezuidenhout on meeting Nelson Mandela in 1994
"Nelson Mandela was to address the masses at a final ANC rally in Retreat, Cape Town before the 1994 Election. Then a phone call to me, asking if I would bring Evita Bezuidenhout to entertain the people. My first chance to meet Madiba! Allan Boesak introduced Evita with his usual high-pitched flair. Thunderous applause, not louder than the banging of my heart. Was this also my audition for the New South Africa? Evita surged onto the stage. The fact that she was wearing her traditional Voortrekker dress in the old orange, white and blue made it even more surreal. ‘They said Mr Mandela would be here and I brought him some koeksisters!’ Roars of approval. The kids just stared."
"When Evita was finished, I was anxious to go into the caravan and put Tannie back in the box. ‘No,’ said Alan. ‘You must stay here. Nelson Mandela wants to meet you.’ You? Me? Evita? Who? So I sat. In the front row. Acting a Nancy Reagan waiting for her Ronnie. I heard a piercing hiss. ‘Pssst! Madam!’ In the front row a cluster of township youths, balaclavas and rosettes waved, smiling. Then they threw sweets at Evita. Two little boys came up from the back of the stage. Trevor Manuel’s kids. 'Are you a man or a woman?’ one asked seriously. Evita smiled sweetly, ‘Ask your father.’ Then a noise like an approaching tsunami. Louder and louder from far down the field, closer and closer. He had arrived with that smile, dazzling, patient, hugging, holding, laughing, forgiving. Remembering. Then he looked up and saw me. No, he saw her. Nelson Mandela opened his arms and came towards Mrs Bezuidenhout with a delighted laugh. ‘Evita! Evita! You look so beautiful!"
Farida Omar recalls moment she met Nelson Mandela in 1994
"In 1994 I participated in a women’s march to Parliament in order to hand over a memorandum to President Mandela. He came out and greeted everybody. I was pushing someone in a wheelchair, and when the President got to me he kissed my hand. I felt like I was going to die! I was so excited. The circumstances were very different to the first time I met Mr Mandela. I brought his grandson, Mandla Mandela, for a visit to prison. I remember him as a tall 12-year-old boy who closely resembled his grandfather. The evening before the visit I prepared some samoosas and sandwiches for Mandla to take to his grandfather, in the hope that the guards would permit Madiba to eat them.The next morning, when the two of us got to the prison, the guard, unaware that Mandla was the only one with permission to see Mr. Mandela, let us both in."
“In the old days I had a fruit and vegetable stall at the Salt River market, and every time Dullah (my husband, and Mr Mandela’s lawyer) went to visit Mr Mandela I would give him a bag of fruit to hand out to whoever he came into contact with. But he always returned with the fruit, the guards having searched his bag. In 1979 Dullah had a heart attack. In his absence, another lawyer went to Robben Island. The day before the visit, he visited my stall to enquire about Dullah. I gave him a bag of fruit. The following day he returned with a personal thank you from Mr Mandela; he had managed to get the fruit into the prison without being searched. Mr Mandela said it was the first time in 19 years that he’d seen a banana!" (Mrs Omar is the widow of Dullah Omar, who was appointed by Mr Mandela as Minister of Justice in South Africa’s first democratically elected government.)
Walther (Wally) Rhoode on meeting Nelson Mandela in 1995
"What all protectors or bodyguards dread most is if the protection operational plan is not according to the script. And working with Madiba this always seemed to be the case. You could brief him on the operational plan and sometimes it would go according to script. But then there were the outside influences, like large crowds and receiving line politicians, who would brief him without informing the protection detail."
"During the early days when Madiba visited Cape Town, the ANC Western Cape leadership would mobilise ANC supporters to be at the airport, and given the euphoria surrounding his visits it made planning and securing him difficult. The hangar where the aircraft landed was within a secure area of Cape Town International Airport, and part of the planning was to secure an area for television camera operators and photographers. But this time the ANC leadership brought supporters with them, and after briefing them he decided to go and greet the crowds."
Linda McGregor on meeting Nelson Mandela in 1995
"Presidential smooch. That was the title of the photo of me hugging and kissing the then President Mr Nelson Mandela as it appeared on page 3 of the Cape Times on 3rd May 1995. I still get goosebumps as I recall that day. My Moment with a Legend. What a thrill."
"Workers Day 1995. President Mandela was to address the rally at the Athlone stadium. My disappointment at not being able to attend the rally due to work constraints soon turned to absolute excitement as I learned that he would be stopping at the Hanover Park Community Health Care Centre where I together with two other nurses and a doctor who was on duty, before going to the stadium. To this day I cannot recall how I, who was standing in the second row, managed to do what I did. The photo confirms it. I had my arms around his neck and kissed him on the lips, hence the newspaper caption ‘Presidential smooch'. That was my moment with a legend. The emotion I felt and shared with my colleagues at Hanover Park CHC was, and is, indescribable to this day. Thank you Madiba."
Donny Thebus recalls moment he met Nelson Mandela in 1996
If memory serves me correctly this photograph was taken during the run-up to the first South African Local Government Election in 1996 in Cape Town. To provide a narrative of the photograph after 15 years would appear to be difficult for some, especially for a close protector, as logic would dictate that one’s focus was on the perceived threat and risks to the President at the time. But for the few of us who actively participated in the anti-apartheid struggle as students and youth in the 1980’s and later to become part of President Nelson Mandela’s permanent close protection detail, every day working with “The Old Man” turned out to be seminal moment in our own historical narrative."
"For me, and others, these moments represented the hitherto success of our own political activism and consciousness fused with the resilience of a visionary leader such as President Nelson Mandela, who industriously set out to build non-racialism and a common humanity for all South Africans. The late Raymond Beta, a close protector, looks upon President Mandela with the awe in which he was held by all close protectors who had the honour of working for him. It is this gaze that we all had at times as close protectors, that here we had a President that we need to protect as a living legend, but who, at the same time, represented and espoused our hopes and aspirations for the future of all South Africans. I guess this is what is reflective from the community’s response in the photograph, the acknowledgement that here is a man that not only inspired our historical moment, but makes us feel that we are an integral part of making our own history together."
Zolani Mkiva recalls a moment with Nelson Mandela in 1996
"To be given an opportunity in a lifetime to lead a leader by way of employing an idiomatic expression carried over through poetic verses, where you are not only ushering him but you are showering him with words of praise, singing his praises, outlining his genealogical roots, his struggles, his achievements, in a context where an historic national milestone is being authored, is such an exciting moment in one’s life. This photograph was taken during the adoption of the new Constitution of South Africa in 1996, when I was given a golden moment to sing the praises of Mandela inside the chambers of Parliament. It was an unprecedented ceremony, wherein for the first time in the history of this country, an oral traditional praise poet was asked to recite in a place with parliamentary protocols."
Athena Sotomi recalls a moment with Nelson Mandela in 1997
"The publishers, Little Brown, commissioned photojournalist Benny Gool to do a portrait for the illustrated version of A Long Walk to Freedom. I was gobsmacked when Benny asked me to assist at the photo shoot at Genadendaal, the official residence of the President. I was excited, nervous and overwhelmed all at once but knew that I had to calm down – this was after all a professional photo shoot. President Mandela did everything he could to make us feel comfortable – he was utterly gracious, charming and co-operative. We took photos inside and outside. In the first few minutes of meeting him all I could do was gape and try not to stumble over my words."
"Later, I worried that he might have thought I was rude. I couldn’t believe how tall he was. When we were in the garden I looked around and saw that his bodyguards had formed a large, tight circle around all of us and even though I was familiar with the history of Mandela the activist, prisoner, father, husband and finally president, it was inside that tight circle that the enormity of the legend he had already become hit home. Afterwards he insisted that we have tea with him and requested that Priscilla Naidoo join us. I took the opportunity to give him a gift of a record that was given to me by Dudu Pukwana, the South African musician who considered Mandela his icon. I didn’t know that Benny had taken this photograph – he gave it to me a few days later. It is a wonderful gift of remembrance that will always be treasured and shared with my children."
Gaynor Wasser, recalls the moment he met Nelson Mandela
"I was part of the Western Cape Anti-Crime Forum delegation that met with Nelson Mandela on 15 October 1997. As leaders of the delegation, we met with him as our President to seek an end to the killings on the Cape Flats between gangsters and Pagad. Our delegation included about 30 different organisations that had expressed concerns about the ongoing violence. It was the closest that I have ever gotten to Mandela after seeing him so many times at ANC rallies. Here I was sitting in a meeting with him!"
Our delegation was already seated when he entered the cabinet room. My knees started shaking and I wondered how I ever will state the demands of the organisation that he fires some national and provincial ministers that were responsible for our safety. He immediately greeted everyone in the room and I could not forget thinking that here I finally have the opportunity to physically meet this giant, this legend. He shook my hand with complete firmness. I did not want to wash my hand thereafter. We proceeded to meet him and the meeting expressed concerns that we would lose confidence in his ability as president to protect us, if he did not act to help our people. On the morning of the 16th I received a telephone call from the Presidency and I was invited to take a helicopter tour with Mandela over the affected areas. I felt so honoured and I knew that he listened to us and took us seriously."
The Soweto String Quartet remembers meeting Nelson Mandela
Thamsanqa Khemese: "An opportunity arose for Soweto String Quartet to perform at the launch of the Blue Train in Pretoria Station in September 1997. President Mandela and his wife, Graca, were the officials in the ceremony. The moment was so electrifying when I had to stretch out my arm to shake the legend’s hand. It brought fulfilment and happiness to my heart. This could only mean we were going forward because this is the man that we’ve put all our hopes to deliver us from the evils of apartheid. I will always cherish this moment."
Sandile Khemese: "This was the day many would only dream of. The day had truly come for us to ultimately realise our long-time dream. The day that would see us touch and shake the hand of our father, our icon and our leader. The moment of truth and total fulfilment had finally dawned upon us to experience being with Madiba and entertaining him with our music, which he so loved. He showed how sharp his memory is because he called each member of the Quartet by name."
Makhosini Mnguni: "A section of Pretoria station was in a terrific buzz on a Friday morning in September 1997. Traditional musicians and dancers were welcoming passengers of the New Blue Train. The Quartet was to serenade President Mandela and the First Lady as they cut the ribbon and launched the train. I was overwhelmed with the joy when one of the bodyguards called us to take a photo with the president and his wife. I will forever cherish the moment and always remember the thick and warm hand-shake of President Mandela."
Sylvia Ncediwe Mdunyelwa recalls meeting Mandela in 1997
"I was hired to perform for the farewell party President Mandela hosted for his staff (including domestic and gardening staff) at the Green Dolphin restaurant at the V&A Waterfront. It was my most memorable gig ever! There was so much excitement around the area of the venue that afternoon before the great man arrived. Security personnel were everywhere. A tired-looking old man in oil-stained, torn overalls was walking past the venue. Security officers shooed him away just as the big metalic blue Mercedes Benz came to halt next to him. When Madiba got out of the car, he went straight to the man in dirty overalls, "How are you?" he asked, shaking the man's hand."
"Inside the venue, waiters were running up and down with excitement. One waiter, who happened to be white, brought his six-month old baby and a camera, positioned himself strategically inside the entrance Madiba was going to use and gave the camera to a barman to take as many pictures as possible when the president spoke to him. He knew Madiba's love for children. True to form, when he walked in, Madiba went straight to the baby, 'Is it a boy or a girl?' he asked. The young father was shaking like a leaf when he took his camera back from the barman. 'Did you see him talk to me? Did you take pictures? What did I say?' The poor young man was in shock...The president shook my hand before settling at his table and I began performing with some jazz standards. When I began the click song 'Uqongqothwane', Madiba got up and joined us on stage and sang and danced with us. My husband Kwezi Kobus was singing with us. The child in the picture belongs to one of Madiba’s staff. I will never forget that gig for as long as I live!"
Philma Manuel recalls meeting Nelson Mandela in 1997
"My husband died when Trevor was 13 and as a single parent, the years of Trevor’s activism prior to 1994 were particularly stressful for me. He was always either on the run from the Security Police or in detention. I would never in my wildest dreams have imagined that the years of anguish would culminate in him being elected as a Cabinet Minister in the Government of National Unity."
"I had never been to Parliament prior to 1997. As the mother of the Minister of Finance I was able to share in his joy when he delivered the Budget Speech every year. He always proudly made the nation aware of my presence in the gallery. This picture was taken on the day Trevor presented his first Budget Speech in 1997. To be photographed with a world icon like Madiba, Trevor’s wife and sons on the steps of Parliament was a very proud, yet emotional moment for me. The fact that Madiba just instinctively put his arms around the boys and allowed Lynne to clasp his arm just showed what a warm and loving man he is. The photograph is proudly displayed in my home and will no doubt become a family heirloom."
Ryland Fisher recalls the moment he met Nelson Mandela
"I was only the second black Editor of the Cape Times, after Moegsien Williams, who had become the Editor of the Cape Argus. In 1999 Moegsien and I decided to invite President Mandela to visit the home of the Cape Times and the Cape Argus, Newspaper House in St Georges Mall, Cape Town. We extended the invitation because there was a perception in government about negativity within the media towards the government. We were quite surprised when he accepted our invitation. This picture was taken as we exited Newspaper House after his visit and he greeted the crowds in St Georges Mall."
"We tried to keep Madiba’s visit as quiet as possible, but obviously, in the newspaper industry, news spreads very quickly. On the day of the visit, most of the women at Newspaper House had had their hair done especially and were wearing special outfits. Madiba spent a few hours with us, moving from department to department, including a visit to our printing presses. When it was time for him to leave, we went to the entrance in St Georges Mall, where a huge crowd had gathered. Word had obviously gotten out that Madiba was in our building. His protectors had created a barrier for people to stand behind and had pulled his car right in front of Newspaper House. They told the President that he needed to get into the car immediately after we got outside. Of course, when Madiba saw all the people, he immediately made a beeline for the barrier, to shake hands and greet everyone with his customary 'Hello, how are you? So good to see you'. I could literally see the bodyguards pulling out their hair."
Rayhaan Surve recalls moment he met Nelson Mandela in 2008
"The water gushes down from the sky, a streak of thunder rolls and lightning lights up the area. People run back and forth searching for shelter. A young boy loses his family and in his search for shelter stumbles upon the glowing face of Nelson Mandela. Kind eyes look at him, lips part and a powerful, but gentle voice emerges, 'Come, sit, my boy,' he invites."
"It was August 2008 and I was at the unveiling of the Nelson Mandela statue in front of the Victor Verster Prison with my family. I got to leave school early so that we could drive to Paarl. I remember that we picked up Uncle Kathy (Ahmed Kathrada) on the way there. The weather was very grey and we had hardly begun the ceremony when it started to pour with rain. I was very lucky to find shelter with Madiba and even luckier that Mr. Gool was there to take the pictures!
"Later that afternoon I played a music exam and got a distinction. I practised hard for the exam, but I’m sure there was also some Madiba Magic working. The next day at school the principal told the whole school in assembly that I had met Madiba. Everyone was very interested to know what it had been like. If I have to use only one word, ‘amazing’! I have the pictures framed on my wall to remind me how lucky I was to meet someone who has made such a difference not only in South Africa, but in the world. And a story to tell my children and grandchildren."
'The Mandela in each of' us by Kami Naidoo-Page
In all of us is a flame; unity in a spark;
In all of us is a shimmering light; hope in the dark;
In all of us is the vibrant bond of humanity;
It navigates our soul as a ferry; asking no levy;
Demanding as its only fee, freedom and integrity;
Because the mark of a leader is greatness in humility.
Call him what you like, Mandela, Madiba or Tata;
Search for him as you like, he is not to be found in one person;
Some values surpass the body, living only through unison;
Do not call for Mandela, rather shout for compassion;
Do not look for Madiba, rather search for love and passion;
Do not listen for Tata, instead focus on the soul of every human;
The rhythm of our hearts beating in every man and woman;
The blood of this nation flowing in each us.
This is the lesson to be learnt, and the teacher is wise;
Even with brain and brawn, a person is just a person.
However, bring a million together, add that spark of unity;
And you will find that united we stand, but divided we fall;
And even though each individual flame is not so tall;
Together the fire burning in our hearts can illuminate the earth.
"We should always remember that a man, any man, remains mortal no matter his achievements. His values however, can be timeless, elevated to that higher meaning through our shared existence, our way of life and the manner in which we treat others. That is what Mandela’s message is, no to look up to him, but to inspire ourselves to join the universal values he stands for. As Mandela himself said..."
"One issue that deeply worried me in prison was the false image that I unwittingly projected to the outside world; of being regarded as a saint. I never was one, even on the basis of an earthly definition of a saint as a sinner who keeps on trying."
Photography & Video — Benny Gool & Oryx Media
Research & Curation — Benny Gool & Oryx Media
You are all set!
Your first Culture Weekly will arrive this week.