Loyalty to Muammar Gaddafi, a compliment to Queen Elizabeth II and a public humiliation for Robert Mugabe. These were some of the stories in a memoir Good Morning, Mr Mandela by Nelson Mandela’s former personal assistant Zelda la Grange.
Her book, which is published by Penguin, also stirred controversy for accusing Mandela’s family of freezing out his wife, Graca Machel, in an ugly feud over his legacy.
La Grange, 43, spent more time than anyone in Mandela’s company after he became South Africa’s first black president in 1994. She began working for him first as a typist and went on to become his secretary and confidante during his presidency and retirement. Over 16 years she witnessed his encounters with royals, politicians and celebrities.
She recalls a regional summit at which the Zimbabwean President, Mugabe, turned up an hour late. “President Mandela waited for President Mugabe to be seated and then launched into a speech about being disrespectful and wasting other people’s time, and that ‘some heads of state’ considered themselves more important and therefore thought it was acceptable to arrive late. He didn’t mention President Mugabe’s name once, but we all knew.”
With Libyan leader Gaddafi, however, there was mutual trust. “Madiba [Mandela’s clan name] was loyal to those in whom he invested friendship and the Brother Leader was one of them,” La Grange writes.
Another friend was the Queen: he was one of very few people to call her by her name. La Grange recalls: “When he was questioned one day by Mrs Machel and told that it was not proper to call the Queen by her first name, he said: ‘But she calls me Nelson.’ On one occasion when he saw her, he said, ‘Oh Elizabeth, you’ve lost weight!’
The book also tells how Mandela was lonely after his divorce from Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, but found true happiness with his third wife, Machel. Yet when his health began to deteriorate, La Grange claims, the rest of the Mandela family allegedly moved to sideline her.
The 370-page book has already caused a backlash in South Africa with Makaziwe Mandela, his eldest daughter from his first marriage, saying that La Grange would have to substantiate whatever references she made about her family, “otherwise she will be sued”.
— Guardian News and Media 2014
