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News
- -12-06-13 Nelson Mandela's Jailer Speaks (World.Time.com)
"Brand was 18-year-old fresh from the farmlands of the Afrikaner hinterland when, in 1978, he was sent to Robben Island as a prison warden. He had been warned he would be guarding the most dangerous of terrorists. To his surprise, Prisoner 46664, then aged 60, asked him about his family, his upbringing, his fears for the future. 'There was no color barrier between us,' said Brand, now 53 and a guide showing tourists around the cells where he was once a jailer. 'Like me, Mandela came from a farm. He was a human being. We understood that we shared the same sky and the same air.' ”
" 'When he was released, the prison was empty for me,' he said. 'He was very down to earth. And he was a person who loved children. When I had a problem, he would give me advice.' Even today, Brand said he still finds wondrous how Mandela was able to transform their relationship. 'He was my prisoner,' he said. 'But he was my father.' "
"Desmond Tutu once told me he believed prison was the making of Nelson Mandela. 'I often surprise people when I say this,' he said. 'Suffering can lead to bitterness. But suffering is also the infallible test of the openness of a leader, of their selflessness.' When Mandela had gone to jail, he had been 'one of the most angry,' said Tutu. 'The suffering of those 27 years helped to purify him and grow the magnanimity that would become his hallmark.' " 12-13