October 25, 2009 – The Nelson Mandela Foundation’s CEO Achmat Dangor reiterates the Foundation’s stance that Nelson Mandela did not write the preface to the Congo President Denis Sassou Nguesso’s book.
- We must reiterate that Mr Mandela has never written a foreword or a preface to this book.
- Mr Mandela receives numerous requests to provide forewords and/or prefaces to books. Because this implies that Mr Mandela will have read all these books and that he endorses their content, he has for some time now been declining such requests. The Nelson Mandela Foundation has repeatedly made this clear.
- Regarding the history of this particular issue:
- A draft manuscript, purportedly for the book by President Sassou Nguesso, was brought to the good offices of Tokyo Sexwale, who is a trustee and chairman of the Foundation’s Investment and Fundraising Committees, along with a request for a foreword.
- When the representatives of the president brought the manuscript, it was discussed by myself [Dangor] and Sexwale. The request was declined. Sexwale correctly informed the people who brought the manuscript to him that Mr Mandela does not, as a matter of policy, provide forewords or prefaces to books.
- This position was accepted at the time by these representatives. Michel LaFon [one of the book’s publishers, along with Africa World Press] wrote to the Foundation to apologise.
- When the request was turned down, the president’s representatives asked if they could quote Mr Mandela. They were advised that there was nothing wrong with quoting something relevant that was already in the public domain. Sexwale again emphasised that this was not the same as a foreword.
- What actually transpired was that a speech attributed to Mr Mandela 13 years ago at a dinner in Cape Town, was portrayed as a foreword for an edition of the book released in the US in 2009. This is obviously contrary to the advice that had been given to the president’s representatives.
- The Nelson Mandela Foundation is not calling into question President Sassou Nguesso’s integrity or esteem.
- It appears to us that his emissaries did not convey to him the decision by the Foundation to decline the request, as conveyed to them by Sexwale. It also seems that they did not accurately inform the publishers of the book about how quotes attributed to Mr Mandela may or may not be used.