By Mary Benson

1986
Printed in the UK.
Banned in South Africa at the time.

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (born Rolihlahla Mandela; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African anti-apartheid activist and politician who was the first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first Black head of state and the first elected in a fully representative democratic election. His administration focused on dismantling the legacy of apartheid by fostering racial reconciliation and a multiracial democracy. Ideologically an African nationalist and socialist, he served as the president of the African National Congress (ANC) party from 1991 to 1997.

Dorothy Mary Benson (8 December 1919 – 19 June 2000) was a South African civil rights campaigner and author.

Benson became acquainted with the author Alan Paton, and read his novel Cry, the Beloved Country (1948), the main theme of which was racial discrimination in South Africa.[5] This affected her greatly, and she became a campaigner for the rights of black South Africans.[4][6]

She worked with Michael Scott (who, in 1946, was the first white man to be jailed for resisting South Africa's racial laws),[7] becoming his secretary in 1950.[8] With Scott, Benson helped to found the African Bureau.[5]

In 1957, Benson was appointed secretary to the Treason Trial Defence Fund.[8] In 1961, Benson took on another secretarial role, moving to Natal to assist Chief Albert Lutuli when he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.[1]

Through all this work, Benson became familiar with the African National Congress (ANC). She assisted Nelson Mandela's escape from South Africa in 1962,[8] and interviewed several prominent figures in the ANC, including Walter Sisulu and James Calata.[9] Based upon these experiences, she wrote the first general history of the ANC: The African Patriots (London: Faber & Faber, 1964).[9]

She testified to the United Nations Committee on Apartheid in 1963, and was the first South African to do so.[6] She was placed under house arrest and "banned" in 1966.[8] She subsequently left the country and lived in exile, settling in London, England.[4][1]

Benson's biography of Nelson Mandela, Nelson Mandela: the Man and the Movement (1986), was the second biography of Nelson Mandela to be written.[10] It was banned in apartheid South African upon its publication.

113mm x 180mm x 20

R1,000