An Intimate Launch for Young Mandela by David James Smith at Kalk Bay Books

by Claire on Sep 10th, 2010

“We all know everything there is to know about Nelson Mandela, and of course we know nothing about Nelson Mandela,” said guest speaker Donald Paul at the Kalk Bay Books launch of David James Smith’s Young Mandela by David James Smith.

He introduced Smith, who is a journalist with the Sunday Times Magazine in the UK, as an author who has written a number of interesting books, covering ground that has seemingly been gone over and over – yet always unearthing something fresh and original with each new book.

Smith said that the common element in all his books was the journalistic effort that had gone into them. He left school at 16 and didn’t go to university. At 54, he’s spent a long time being a journalist, and prides himself on taking a lot of care about it. “I try to be honourable about it, which isn’t very fashionable, and a lot of people don’t think that ‘journalism’ and ‘honourable’ can go in the same sentence. But I try very hard to carry people with me, imagining that I will meet them again later in life, so I don’t want to misrepresent them, or misquote them, or treat them badly. That way they can sleep at night and I can too, and everybody’s happy.”

Smith, who has four children with his partner of Carribbean-Guyanese descent, has long steeped himself in the history of Africa and the Carribbean. This interest motivated him to write about a “celebrity of colour”.

Paul queried Smith about the controversy that book has stirred up. One critic described it as “an extension of Western Imperialism and colonial capitalistic mentality exploiting this great black man to make money selling ill thought, one-sided propaganda”. Smith laughed that off and suggested it be included as a blurb on the next edition.

He said he made many great alliances and allegiances in the process of researching and writing the book. In particular, a very good friend at the Nelson Mandela Foundation, who said, “You do realise that some South Africans are going to hate you?” Smith said he could see how he embodied “terrible western imperialist” values in some people’s eyes, but pointed out that some criticism you “just have to take on the chin”.

The author said he was broad-shouldered, but he’d wanted to create a reaction. “What’s the purpose of writing a book if you don’t get a reaction?”

Donald raised the fact that some critics felt the book was “obsessed with the sexual shenanigans of the left wing at the time”. Smith responded saying he’d explored the social history of sex in the struggle because the existing literature about Mandela and the struggle was “quite dry” and “took some commitment” to read through.

Commenting on Antony Butler’s biography, Cyril Ramaphosa, he said, “What about the people? They’re kind of flat on the page. I wanted to create real people, and real people have sex!” He said, “It became apparent that during this period of Mandela’s life he was extraordinarily charismatic and appealing and if I’m going to talk about that aspect of his life, I want to set it in context. There were all these Sunday afternoon braais with the white Communists and their black maids. Inevitably there were people having relationships on the side. They felt they were potent, at the forefront of the movement. I didn’t have an issue looking at their sexuality.”

He said that telling this story had profoundly affected Ndileka, Mandela’s grand-daughter from his first marriage to Evelyn. She said it was good to have her grandmother’s experience “put back in the story”.

The book addresses how two families were sacrificed for the cause but Smith submitted the manuscript to Winnie before publication, dealing with the topic in a way that accommodated both sides. He said that for Ndileka, participating in the book had been part of her healing process.