Friday 6 December 2013

My Morning with Madiba

The passing of Nelson Mandela is creating the irresistible urge in countless people around the world to recount their personal experiences with this great man. The McCann's are no exception, and unapologetically so. Mark asked me to post this on the blog for him.

Hamba kahle, Madiba

My Morning with Madiba

 I was lucky enough to spend the morning, as a sixteen year old boy, with President Mandela on the 13th of May 1995.

A close friend of the family (Beryl) was one of his personal assistants and asked if I wanted to assist in helping President Mandela sign copies of his newly released autobiography, “Long Walk to Freedom”. These copies were specifically going to be sold at the Rugby World Cup final to raise money for the Nelson Mandela’s Children’s Fund. As I recall, this was the first fundraiser for the fund.

I woke up early that morning, as we had to be at President Mandela’s house by 6:30 am (he was apparently an early riser!).  I was a little nervous during the drive as I was not sure what to expect when meeting the president of the country. Do I call him Mr. Mandela, President Mandela, Madiba; do I shake his hand? These were just a few of the thoughts that ran through my head.

At around 7 am we were ushered into the dining room where all the books were piled. The next moment President Mandela walked in, tall, commanding and in his pyjamas. I will never forget them: light blue flannel pyjamas. He immediately put me at ease coming over, thanking me for helping and excusing himself for still being in his pyjamas. It was early he explained, he hadn't had breakfast yet, and they were quite comfortable.

There was another boy around my age there to help too and the three of us came up with a strategy to make the process efficient. I would put the book in front of President Mandela, open on the page he had to sign, and the other boy would take it away and stack it once is was signed. We worked like this for about an hour and a half until all the books were complete. In this time President Mandela chatted to us about our lives, family and school. Thinking back it was amazing how calm and relaxed he made us feel around him.

Once we had finished signing all the books he looked at both of us and suggested we join him for breakfast. This will forever be one of the most surreal experiences of my life. There I was eating bacon and eggs with Nelson Mandela in blue flannel pyjamas. He was at the head of the table, I was on his right, and the other boy on his left: just the three of us. I recall quite vividly trying to keep up my best manners, answering his questions, making conversation, all while his 2-year-old grandson was playing with my feet under the table.

Being a Saturday, I guess all the fun presidential decisions needed to be made. The reason the date is so clear is that during breakfast there were a number of people coming and going trying to figure out who of the family was going to join the President at the soccer that day. Bafana-Bafana, the South African national soccer team, were playing Argentina at Ellis Park. I recall thinking “ask me, ask me!!”. I never did get the invite J.

At the end of breakfast President Mandela got up and went to the phone in the corner of the room. There he had a little red phone book. Picking it up he asked us for our telephone numbers. “I always want to keep in contact with my friends”, he said while writing the numbers down.

At this point it was time to head out and with a quick goodbye my morning with Madiba was over. It is a morning I will cherish and forever be privileged to have had.

Madiba, I consider you a friend too. You are humble and have no prejudices.  South Africa and the world are a better place because of you and you will be sorely missed. In your passing I am brought back to these memories and want them to inspire me in how I live my life.

Madiba, hamba kahle, go well, keep on dancing and hopefully, one day, the whole world will be dancing with you.


Mark McCann

5 December 2013