What Nelson Mandela said to the Prison Officer

The following was recounted by African National Congress (ANC) stalwart Mac Maharaj who spent 12 years in prison plotting with Nelson Mandela; as excerpted from an article published by the Financial Times on July 25, p. 17 of the Life & Arts section.

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Mac recalls Mandela raising prisoners' complaints with General Steyn, the visiting head of correctional services, "an extremely polite man ... in a black suit with a hat, spotless white shirt ... General Steyn turns around and says, 'Mr. Mandela, you are not in a five-star hotel, you are in prison.' And I'm listening and saying, 'Oh boy, that man is in trouble.' Mandela says, 'General, you and I are at war. In a war nobody can predict who is going to win, but one thing we know, that at the end of the day we will have to meet, even if it is for you to accept my surrender. How that happens will be determined by how we treat each other.' Steyn changed overnight."

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Mac Maharaj is now 80 and one of the last survivors of the "golden" generation of Robben Islanders (the prison). Before his 12 years on Robben Island he suffered appalling torture at the hands of the police, including being suspended by one ankle out of a seventh-floor window.

He holds a unique record as confidant of three of the last four ANC party leaders (including Nelson Mandela). He first embraced liberation politics in the 1950s.

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