This resource is hosted by the Nelson Mandela Foundation, but was compiled and authored by Padraig O’Malley. It is the product of almost two decades of research and includes analyses, chronologies, historical documents, and interviews from the apartheid and post-apartheid eras.
2 Not that Mandela himself was in the end under any illusions. In a revealing vignette in the Financial Times, writer Philip Stephens captures the moment: "Back in the summer [of 1998] Nelson Mandela joined the 15 leaders of the European Union in Cardiff. His hosts were extravagant in their admiration. The South African president is accustomed to flattery. Mere politicians heap praise on this statesman in the hope of stealing a little of his magic. Yet their words have the hollowest of echoes. Mr. Mandela knows it.As the compliments gushed forth on this particular occasion, one of those present whispered in Mr. Mandela's ear. Here was the moment to ask them to open their chequebooks, this observer said. The reply came with a wry smile and without rancour. It was all the more eloquent for that: 'They have no ink in their pens.'