Identity area
Reference code
ZA COM NMPP 2009/57-12-1
Title
John Vorster Biography [3vE_dMLCKfw]
Date(s)
- 1992-12-23 (Creation)
Level of description
page
Extent and medium
1 audio clip
In-point: 14:53
Out-point: 16:56
In-point: 14:53
Out-point: 16:56
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
One of the books Nelson Mandela read in prison was the biography of one of apartheid’s leaders, Prime Minister John Vorster. This story about the book also reveals another of Mr Mandela’s characteristics – that he always tries to “take something out” of a situation or an experience. Things and people are usually neither all bad nor all good. He detested what Vorster stood for as Prime Minister of South Africa from 1966 to 1978, but in this conversation he shows that he found something upon which to compliment him.
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
STENGEL: I wanted to ask you about Prime Minister Vorster .... It seems like you had quite a high opinion of him, is that right? Tell me why.
MANDELA: Well, he was, first he was a fascist. I’ll talk about that. Very racialistic and he was interned by the Smuts government for his fascist views. Around the same time he was...
STENGEL: He was interned because he sympathized with the Nazis?
MANDELA: The war, the Germans, yes.
STENGEL: And Smuts wanted South Africa brought in on the side of England, right?
MANDELA: Yes, that’s right. That’s why he was interned. But he was a very interesting chap. In the first place, he was very polite in referring to us, you know, to Africans, he was the first to use a courteous terminology towards us and to say ‘Africans’ and to say ‘Mister’. If he spoke about you, he would never say Sisulu; he would say Mr. Sisulu, in Parliament. And then in his biography, not autobiography, biography, which I read, he came out very well.
STENGEL: You read that in prison?
MANDELA: I read that – did I read it in prison or before I went to prison? Yes, in prison, I was in prison.
STENGEL: It wasn’t one of the banned books obviously?
MANDELA: No, no, no [CHUCKLES] it wasn’t.
MANDELA: Well, he was, first he was a fascist. I’ll talk about that. Very racialistic and he was interned by the Smuts government for his fascist views. Around the same time he was...
STENGEL: He was interned because he sympathized with the Nazis?
MANDELA: The war, the Germans, yes.
STENGEL: And Smuts wanted South Africa brought in on the side of England, right?
MANDELA: Yes, that’s right. That’s why he was interned. But he was a very interesting chap. In the first place, he was very polite in referring to us, you know, to Africans, he was the first to use a courteous terminology towards us and to say ‘Africans’ and to say ‘Mister’. If he spoke about you, he would never say Sisulu; he would say Mr. Sisulu, in Parliament. And then in his biography, not autobiography, biography, which I read, he came out very well.
STENGEL: You read that in prison?
MANDELA: I read that – did I read it in prison or before I went to prison? Yes, in prison, I was in prison.
STENGEL: It wasn’t one of the banned books obviously?
MANDELA: No, no, no [CHUCKLES] it wasn’t.
Alternative identifier(s)
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Vorster, John (Subject)