(Reviewer: Ralph Zulman, Vol. 69, No. 2, Rosh Hashanah 2014)
Tony Leon requires little introduction. A lawyer and attorney, he lectured in Constitutional Law at the University of the Witwatersrand, and served on the Johannesburg City Council before entering parliament. There he served for twenty years (1989-2009), for thirteen of them as leader of the Democratic Party and Democratic Alliance, the country’s opposition party. His party leadership commenced in May 1994, within days of Nelson Mandela’s inauguration as president. Leon also played a key role in the negotiations that led to the birth of a democratic South Africa.
After standing down from the party leadership in 2007, Leon was awarded a Fellowship to the Institute of Politics, John F Kennedy School of Government, Harvard, and in 2008 was a Visiting Fellow, Cato Institute, Washington DC. In 2009, President Jacob Zuma appointed him as South African Ambassador to Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, where he served as head of Mission in Buenos Aires until October 2012. Following his return to South Africa, he became executive chairman of Resolve Communications (Pty) Ltd., a weekly columnist for Business Day newspaper and a consultant to business in South Africa and overseas. He also lectures both locally and abroad.
Throughout his career, Leon has actively associated himself with the Jewish community, frequently addressing gatherings of the SA Jewish Board of Deputies. He previous books are Hope & Fear – Reflections of a Democrat, On the Contrary – Leading the Opposition in a Democratic South Africa and The Accidental Ambassador-From Parliament to Patagonia(the last two of which were reviewed by this writer in previous issues of Jewish Affairs).
His latest book is very timely.
Opposite Mandela commences with an appropriate quotation from Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte: “It was not the Roman army which conquered Gaul, but Caesar: it was not the Carthaginian army which caused the Republican army to tremble at the gates of Rome, but Hannibal; it was not the Macedonian army which reached the Indus, but Alexander.”
The Introduction features an interesting and insightful picture of Mandela. Leon describes a visit he had from Mandela in December 1998, when he was at Johannesburg’s Milpark Hospital for a coronary bypass operation. Prior to the visit there had been an exchange between Leon’s party and the African National Congress (ANC), in which the former was described as being a ‘Mickey Mouse party’. Leon rejoined by saying that if he led a Mickey Mouse party “Mandela must lead a Goofy government”. When Mandela arrived at the hospital to visit Leon he knocked on the door to Leon’s and called out from the other side of the door, “Hello, Mickey Mouse, this is Goofy. Can I come in?”
Leon describes this as something that “characterized the essence of Mandela and the relationship that he had with the political figures of his time, and a throng of humanity beyond the confines of government and party politics.” Mandela led by example. He claimed no monopoly of wisdom on key issues and sought a range of views and voices “beyond the party faithful and his inner circle”. Leon remarks that it was precisely this that was the reason that he enjoyed access to him, as Mandela “seemed to relish an outsider perspective.”
In 2013, the Democratic Alliance (DA) began a ‘propaganda exercise’ and was determined ‘somewhat clumsily’, to use Leon’s words, to lay claim to the Mandela legacy. Accordingly, photographs of Mandela with Progressive Party (a predecessor movement) stalwart Helen Suzman were displayed with a text that “neatly suggested that the opposition’s roots lay in the same struggle as Mandela’s.”
The heading to Chapter 1 is ‘Release’, referring to Mandela’s unconditional release from imprisonment following on a dramatic announcement in parliament by President FW de Klerk. Leon had some days earlier (1 February 1990) taken his seat on the backbench. He had been seven years old when Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1964.
Shortly after Mandela had moved into Leon’s Houghton constituency, Leon received a dinner invitation from him. This is the subject of Chapter 2. When Mandela moved into the area, Leon had written him a note and sent a chocolate cake welcoming him to Houghton. Mandela phoned to say how touched he was to receive the cake and to have such an energetic representative in parliament, adding that he was sorry that he could not attend the constituency report-back meeting to which he had been invited. He was, however, keen to meet – hence the subsequent dinner invitation. Ken Andrew, Zach de Beer and Leon duly attended the meeting. Leon had never met Mandela previously. When he entered the room, his famous warmth and conviviality took all of them, “all suited out for the occasion, feel immediately at ease.”
At a meeting in Durban earlier that day, Leon had made certain remarks, which were quoted in a single paragraph of the afternoon edition of The Star. Mandela, after warm greetings, proceeded to say that while he understood Leon’s perspective, he wanted to explain the ANC’s viewpoint: ‘Thus began a relationship that continued and strengthened over the next seventeen years”. Mandela then inquired about Leon’s father (a retired judge in Natal) whom he knew from a standoff at the University of Natal. The inquiry related to events that had occurred four decades earlier.
Some twenty months passed before Leon again met with Mandela. Between the two meetings “South Africa went about dramatically reinventing itself.” That ‘reinvention’ is dealt with in Chapter 3. It concerns the complex, important and crucial question as to who would appoint the Constitutional Court judges who would test and interpret South Africa’s new constitution.
Chapter 4 deals with Codesa and the uneasy relationship between De Klerk and Mandela, “who like feuding conjoined twins, were unhappily joined at the hip and by a process that both needed to succeed”, to use Leon’s graphic phrase.
‘Democratic Alternative’ is the title to Chapter 5, which deals with the Codesa negotiations. Leon refers to an offhand informal remark made to him by Sheila Camerer in which she said that she was there to give away the family silver. The remark was picked up by a sharp-eared Sunday Times reporter. The words were splashed on the front page of the paper’s next Sunday edition.
In Chapter 6, Leon describes how just two days before Mandela’s first address to parliament on 22 May 1994 “a shell-shocked and diminished party council” elected him as the acting leader, later that year confirming him in the position. The following chapter relates an incident one morning in May 1995, when he was summoned by President Mandela to Tuynhuys. Leon faced ‘a full frontal attack’ from Mandela, which revealed an aspect of the Mandela that Leon had not experienced first-hand until then. It concerned a stand that he had adopted in a controversial affair involving the ANC.
‘Forced Marriage’ is the title of Chapter 8. The ’marriage’ was to Gencor, sealed with a cheque for R250 000 for the opposition to the ANC. Leon relates that a friend in the ANC had informed him that in Mandela’s eyes, De Klerk had become proxy for much of the anger he felt, and managed “so masterfully to mask from view towards the group and community FW came from.”
The author reveals in Chapter 9 that that there was a third party to the marriage – Prince Mangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi. He was a friend of Leon’s father when Leon grew up in Durban. Buthelezi’s new perch as Minister of Home Affairs secured him an office, ironically, for a short time in the HF Verwoerd Building. The relationship between Madiba and Buthelezi was always ambivalent. In Chapter 10, Leon tells of an urgent telephone call he received in Switzerland from Mandela while he was celebrating his father’s seventieth birthday. It concerned the DP’s proposal to nominate Professor John Dugard to the soon-to-be-established Human Rights Commission instead of Helen Suzman. He also discusses a spat between Dennis Davis (whom he describes as a ‘protean intellect’) and Professor Barney Pityana (who once accused Davis of being a racist).
‘The Temptation’, the title of Chapter 1, refers to an offer by President Mandela to Leon of a cabinet position. Leon after some deliberation declined the offer. Helen Suzman was among those who advised him against acceptance. His party also rejected an alliance with De Klerk, the then leader of the opposition.
In September 1995, Mandela wished Colin Eglin and Leon a happy Rosh Hashanah (Chapter 12). He had to be reminded that that although Eglin had represented Sea Point in parliament, which was largely Jewish, he was not Jewish himself. Mandela had a “generous spirit of inclusivity” and an “ability to reach across the divisions of language, race, religion, politics and culture to make the ‘Rainbow Nation” (a phrase coined by Archbishop Tutu). Rather like Ronald Reagan, he had “the brilliant ability to paint the board canvas on which he wanted his administration to be portrayed and remembered by posterity, and he certainly omitted no colors or shades from his palette.” There was also “a degree of shrewd political calculation behind his grand gestures.” Mandela used his power of patronage to reward old enemies. Leon got to know General Constant Viljoen, leader of the right-wing Freedom Front. He had an “iconic status on the white right”, and the two were seated next to each other on the parliamentary benches reserved for the leaders of smaller parties. Viljoen drew a sharp distinction between “his admiration for Mandela and his fundamental disagreement with the ANC”. Mandela always “maintained a lively interest” in Leon’s romantic attachments urging him to change his single status and to ‘get married’”. He was then involved in a serious relationship “with a bright and beautiful Israeli divorcee, Michal Even-Zahav”. In December 2000 he married her. Mandela was among the first to congratulate them when they met the day after the wedding.
Chapters 13 and 14 are brief. They relate to some of the foreign personalities Mandela met with, including Fidel Castro, Iranian President Hashemi Rafanjani and President Clinton. Mandela told Leon that that in his first year out of prison he was able to raise R66 million for his party from African leaders alone and other fund-raising activities. He was able to raise R18.5 million via a trust in five years between 2003 and 2008. Interestingly, even at this time unattractive squabbling by Mandela’s family members over his estate were in evidence. After his retirement, Leon met Mandela at his impressive private residence in Bishops Court, bought from former Old Mutual Boss, Mike Levett. Mandela boasted laughingly that he had bargained him down on the price.
In Chapter 15, the author reveals Mandela as being prone to cronyism. Three examples given are where Mandela backed “the wrongdoers and ignored indeed undermined, his famous commitments to transparency and democratic accountability.” These concerned HIV/Aids and Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, Dr Allan Boesak, who embezzled R3 million intended for the poor and Stella Sigau’s dealings with Sol Kerzner. The approval by Mandela’s cabinet of the controversial Arms Deal is also referred to.
Chapter 16 records instances where Mandela’s “dazzling persona gave way to irritation and even anger”. One such case concerned Bishop Desmond Tutu. His dealings with his former wife Winnie are also referred to. Chapter 17 concerns an attack on Leon’s father, Judge Ramon Leon, a judge in the Natal Provincial Division of the Supreme Court. He had sentenced Andrew Zondo to death, the sentence arising from Zondo’s conviction of murder without extenuating circumstances regarding the planting of a bomb in a shopping centre in Amanzimtoti two days before Christmas 1985. Five people were killed in the attack. The judge regarded the death sentence with ‘a visceral dislike’. After his retirement he became a leading campaigner for its abolition (this eventually happened in 1995).
Jessie Duarte, then a member of the ANC provincial executive in Gauteng, attacked Peter Leon, the author’s brother (then leader of the opposition in the Provincial Council), saying that he was the son of a ‘hanging judge’.1Duarte’s attack was amplified by Mandela’s close friend, Fatima Meer. Leon met Mandela at his home to complain about the attacks. He handed Mandela a copy of Judge Leon’s judgment in the Zondo matter underlining the portion dealing with the lack of extenuating circumstances. Mandela read the judgment very fully and in silence. Leon pointed out that that if attacks on individual politicians via their familial links were to take place there would be no end to the matter. Mandela said that there was no need to labor the point and that government’s view on Judge Leon was “quite different from that of the two individuals”. He then rang Cheryl Carolus, then the deputy secretary general of the ANC, summarised the purpose of Leon’s visit, and instructed her ‘pretty firmly’ that the attacks had to stop as they were ‘wrong’ and ‘unfair’. Less than three months later, at Leon’s fortieth birthday celebrations, Mandela was seated next to Judge Leon. They had a warm discussion but neither raised the question of the Zondo judgment.
‘Road to Mafikeng’ (Chapter 18) deals with Mandela’s address at the ANC Congress in December 1997, something Leon describes as “the low-watermark of his presidency”. Leon nevertheless states that “it remains incontestable that as president he transcended the narrow partisan and racial divisions of South Africa.”
Chapter 19 deals, inter alia, with Mandela’s eightieth birthday party in July 1998 and his taking leave of parliament. On the latter occasion Leon made a most moving and warm speech. He said that there were three categories of great political leaders. The first were the great and the bad, such as Hitler and Stalin, the second the great and the good such as Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt and the “third category of also good, but of a leader born with a special kind of grace, who seems to transcend the politics of his age. This is a very small category and in fact I can think of only three such men in this century – Mahatma Gandhi, the Dalai Lama and Nelson Mandela.” He added: “My respect and admiration for him is unconditional. He graces this House. He graces this country. He graces humanity.” Referring to President Mbeki, Leon remarks that early on in his era “even his famed mentor would feel the icy blast that emanated from his successor.“
Leon describes the ‘hard-fought election in June 1999, when his party supplanted the New National Party as the official opposition in parliament and the ensuing eighteen month alliance with that party. He describes the alliance as a marriage of “both unequal and incompatible partners”. The NNP leadership deserted the party and made common cause with its historic enemy, the ANC. The ridiculous policy of Mbeki in regard to the issue of the effective treatment for HIV/AIDS is described in some detail. Leon speaks of relationship with Mbeki as “acid, rather than as a spoonful of sugar”. He refers to the Sunday Times description of Mbeki as “Telflon-coated in contrast to the ‘Velcro man’, to whom nothing sticks”. Unlike Mbeki, Mandela admitted that he had made a mistake in neglecting the HIV/AIDS issue.
In September 2002, in a visit to his Houghton home, Leon asked Mandela whether, given the depths to which opposition relations had sunk, he had any practical advice as to how they might be restored. His then ‘bewildering’ response was that Leon “must seek the advice of JZ [Jacob Zuma] – he’s the key man in the party and the government”. At this meeting, which was to be a private one, Mandela nevertheless introduced Leon to ‘a phalanx of reporters and photographers “as ‘a proper democrat and there should be dialogue at all levels of our country”. These remarks were obviously aimed at Mbeki. Leon had not envisaged that at the ANC conference in 2007, Mbeki would be resoundingly defeated by Zuma, whom Mandela years before had said was “the key man in the party”. Within months Zuma was President of South Africa. Leon describes his ascent to office as “a Houdini-like escape from the coils from court procedures and multiple corruption charges”.
Chapter 21 (‘Finale’) describes Leon’s last face-face encounter with Mandela in December 2004. At this stage, his physical frailties were more apparent than ever. There was a discussion of American presidents. Mandela was particularly scornful of US President George W Bush. He “wistfully observed” that former President Reagan, who he had hoped to meet after his release from prison, was one of the few people who refused to meet with him. In early December 2006, after Leon’s announcement that he would soon stand down as leader of his party, he received a call from Mandela, who said, “Tony, you will be missed much more than you might realize, because you have played such a very important role in our country… much more than you will ever read about.”
Opposite Mandela shows a unique insight into previously unexplored aspects of the presidency and leadership of Nelson Mandela, and is a must for all those interested in the period in South Africa’s political history that it covers.
Opposite Mandela – Encounters with South Africa’s Icon by Tony Leon, Jonathan Ball Publishers, Johannesburg & Cape Town, 2014, 243pp.
Mr Justice Ralph Zulman,a long-serving member of the editorial board of Jewish Affairs and a frequent contributor to its Reviews pages, is a former Judge of the Appeal Court of South Africa.
NOTES
- On 12 July 2014 the same Jessie Duarte, now ANC Deputy Secretary-General, issued a statement comparing the Israeli’s to Nazis and of being responsible for ‘barbaric attacks on the defenceless Palestinian people of Gaza’. Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein said that her comments were ’replete with malicious and shameful lies’.
