Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela, or someone close to his ear, must have had a soft spot for Reuters [The day Nelson Mandela gave Reuters a scoop]. Only a few months after he became president, I arrived in South Africa to take over from Rodney Pinder in Johannesburg, and within days received a telephone call from Cape Town correspondent Brendan Boyle.

Brendan told me that he had received a call from Mandela’s press secretary, who said that he had heard that Reuters had a new bureau chief and would the new bureau chief like an interview with Madiba. With a huge chunk of the world’s press still clamouring to get in to see Mandela, I could scarcely believe that I was being invited to meet him without even having to ask. 

I had had extensive contacts with leading ANC figures in exile during earlier southern African assignments, including getting to know future president Thabo Mbeki when he was the ANC information officer in Lusaka. But Mandela, himself, of course, had been locked away all that time.

The interview took a few weeks to set up, and eventually took place in his Cape Town office at the beginning of February at the early hour of 7 am - Mandela still kept to his prison routine of rising at 4 o’clock and walking for an hour or two as day dawned.

I had read that, after his release, Mandela had undergone eye surgery due to damage caused by working in the quarry on Robben Island. By chance, I had also had to have eye surgery in South Africa a few years earlier and it had been by the same surgeon – a brilliant but eccentric ophthalmologist, inventor, astronomer and larger-than-life character called Percy Amoils. (Amoils had also secretly operated on Maggie Thatcher during the days of apartheid to repair a damaged retina using a cryo-surgery technique he had invented himself).

As we waited in Mandela’s office to begin the interview, technicians adjusting muted yellow lights because of his sensitive sight, I used a classic ice-breaker interview technique to say to Mandela that we had something in common - namely that I too had been under Percy Amoils’ knife.

“Percy, you know Percy?” Mandela exclaimed. Smiling broadly, he then said: “You know that Percy, you know how you have to sit in that chair with your arms fastened to the sides, and your head fastened with that metal band, and you can’t move, and then, you know what that Percy said to me - ‘Mr President, now I’ve finally got you where I want you’.”

Still laughing heartily, he was interrupted by an aide to be told that everything was ready and the interview could begin.

For an hour he answered wide-ranging questions with great warmth and humour, dismissing fears about his health, declaring he would serve only one term in office as people would “not want an octogenarian” as President (he was 76 at the time), and - his already clearly-troubled marriage, referring to Winnie with great dignity and politeness as Mrs Mandela.

Before leaving, I presented Mandela on behalf of Reuters with a set of photographs taken on his first return visit to Robben Island, notably one showing him looking out between the bars of his old cell.

“These are wonderful,” he said. “I’m going to hang these in my office. Now, who took these photographs?”

Photographer Mike Hutchens tentatively stuck up his hand: “I did, Mr President.”

“Right” said Mandela, taking my pen from my hand. “You can do something for me - please sign these photographs for me.” ■