Identity area
Reference code
ZA COM NMPP 2009/57-2-3
Title
Not all warders are 'rogues' [y95HF4UAkoQ]
Date(s)
- 1992-12-03 (Creation)
Level of description
page
Extent and medium
1 audio clip
In-point: 44:56
Out-point: 46:24
In-point: 44:56
Out-point: 46:24
Context area
Name of creator
Name of creator
(1955-)
Biographical history
Editor and author. Collaborated with Mandela on his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom (published 1994). Co-producer of the documentary Mandela, 1996. Editor of TIME magazine.
Repository
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Rick Stengel
Content and structure area
Scope and content
It would have been easy for Nelson Mandela to allow the world to believe that he was physically assaulted in prison. On the contrary, he has publicly said that it never happened to him. It happened to others but not to him. It would also have been easy for him to tar all the prison guards with the same brush – that they were brutes who would never give an inch. Here he paints a different picture; he talks about how they were not all ‘rogues’ – he makes a point of showing the human, and more humane, side of some of his jailers.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Access by permission of the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory
Conditions governing reproduction
Copyright held by the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory
Language of material
- English
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Notes area
Note
MANDELA: So those were my first impressions, but you know I don't want us to create the impression that all the warders were just animals, rogues, no. Right from the beginning, there were warders who felt that we should be treated correctly. And it was a great deal of interest, you know, for me to be there. Without boasting, you see, they normally came, especially during weekends and in the evenings, to talk to me. And through the window, and some of them were really good men. And expressed their views uncompromisingly about the treatment we were receiving. And we picked this up now when we came to know the warders and the officers, picked it up, that there was a serious argument amongst warders. Some saying, 'we can't afford to treat people like this. We must treat them decently. We must give them newspapers; we must give them radios'. And the others say, 'no, if you do that, you are building up their morale. Don't do that.' They say, 'even so, they'll still be on the Island'.