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Summary
Summary
Raised in a multi-ethnic farming community, Afrikaner Christo Brand was confused and saddened when he first confronted the realities of South African apartheid. Conscripted into the military at 18, Brand chose to serve as a prison guard rather than embrace the brutality and danger inherent in the work of soldiers and policemen. Assigned to the maximum security facility on remote Robben Island, Brand was given charge of the country's most infamous inmate: Nelson Mandela.
For 12 years Brand watched Mandela scrub floors, empty his toilet bucket, grieve over the deaths of family and friends yet remain as strong as any freedom fighter in history. Won over by Madiba's charm and authentic concern for the well-being of others, Brand became Mandela's confidant and at times accomplice. Celebrating triumphs and suffering through many setbacks, the two men formed an unlikely bond, one that would endure until Mandela's death.
Told with candor and reverence, Mandela: My Prisoner, My Friend is both a meditation on friendship and a moving testament to the dedication, determination and--most of all--humanity exuded by one of the world's great leaders.
Author Notes
CHRISTO BRAND is the son of a farm foreman from rural South Africa. He served as Nelson Mandela's prison guard for 12 years, primarily on Robben Island. Today, he still works on Robben Island, now a UNESCO World Heritage site. As manager of the site's retail outlets, Christo has been known to reminisce to visitors about his time guarding Mandela and even to give the occasional tour. He lives in Cape Town with his wife, Estelle, and son, Heindrick. His eldest son, Riaan, passed away in 2005.
BARBARA JONES is the Africa Correspondent for the Mail on Sunday newspaper. She has covered Nelson Mandela since she first met him in 2000. Originally from England, she learned journalism the old fashioned way working her way from weekly to evening newspapers before joining the Mail on Sunday. She has two sons and lives in Cape Town, South Africa.
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Starred Review. In June 1964, Nelson Mandela arrived at South Africa's Robben Island Prison, convicted of sabotage and given a life sentence. Fourteen years later, Brand, a relatively apolitical 18-year-old Afrikaner, arrived as a new guard. When, in 1982, Mandela was moved to Pollsmoor Prison, chance placed Brand there as well. This memoir is an account of the bond that formed slowly between the two over the course of three decades. Brand begins by reporting the advice he received from his father, who "would not tolerate disrespecting older people of any colour." By the end, Mandela is the one giving Brand stern but compassionate fatherly advice. Brand's position on the opposite side of the bars from his famous charge gives him a fascinating perspective on an oft-told story. He paints a vivid picture of prison life in South Africa at the time, with its racial discrimination-no bread was given to black prisoners-and the guards' own isolation from news of the outside world. The central focus of this extraordinary book, however, is a remarkable friendship that bridged age, race, and politics, as Mandela went from prisoner to secret negotiator, and eventually became a revered president. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
After more than a decade as a prison guard overseeing Nelson Mandela (1918-2013), Brand, with the assistance of Mail on Sunday Africa correspondent Jones, chronicles the unlikely personal relationship they built.The author's story begins with his idyllic-sounding upbringing. His parents, who raised him in a rural area far from the worst apartheid policing, taught him kindness and respect for people of all races, but particularly for his elders. So when Brand met his prisoner, a 60-year-old political activist, he was bound to see the respectful, gentle man as someone who deserved his respect in turn. Out of that respect grew a relationship that began as showing kindness when he could and morphed into a willingness to break some rules in order to demonstrate his true humanity to Mandela and his fellow political prisoners. Brand helped Mandela find time alone to study, spoke with him in Afrikaans when Mandela was learning the language, spent time with the prisoner when he was in isolation and made sure some little luxuries were available. Eventually, the two became friends, with Mandela even helping to put Brand's son through schooling for a career as a commercial diver. The prose is straightforward, but the lack of flowery language makes it refreshingly easy to focus on the story without distraction. This isn't a full biography of Mandela, so those looking for more information about his politics, party or background should seek out supplemental materials. The author quickly recounts Mandela's general biography, including the Rivonia trial for sabotage that landed him in prison, but this is really a tale of two men and their shared humanity in an inhumane place. A worthy addition to the canon of Mandela literature that details a relationship that many knew about but few truly understood. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Son of a poor white Afrikaans farrmworker, steeped in the culture of the apartheid government, Brand, at 19, met political prisoner Mandela, age 60, when Brand became Mandela's prison guard, first on Robben Island and then at the Cape mainland's Pollsmoor Prison. This stirring memoir documents the sympathetic warder's lasting intimate friendship, not only with Mandela but also with several other prisoners, including Walter Sisulu and especially the Indian leader Ahmed Kathrada (probably my closest friend and remains so until this day), who has written a foreword. As warder, Brand shopped for the politicals and drove them to hospital; they watched movies together; he slipped messages between them, always aware that conversations were taped. The gallows humor is part of the story, even as Brand shows Mandela as a heroic model of tolerance (the best, strongest, and most honest human being I have ever known). The warder reminds readers that, desperate for freedom, Mandela refused offers of release until his conditions of truth and reconciliation were met. He quotes Mandela's Long Walk to Freedom (1994) that the most important person in any prisoner's life is not the minister of justice or the prison superintendent but the warder in the prisoner's section, and many readers of that iconic autobiography will want this for the in-depth perspective and intimate honesty of another insider's view, then and now.--Rochman, Hazel Copyright 2014 Booklist
Library Journal Review
This memoir by an Afrikaner prison warder is similar to James Gregory's Goodbye Bafana, which was the basis for the well-known movie of the same name. Brand came to the prison on Robben Island a decade later than Gregory did and by all accounts had more frequent personal interactions with the historic freedom fighter. Their friendship, as reported in this debut, had a mentoring aspect, with Nelson Mandela giving Brand advice on raising his sons and encouraging him to continue his education, while the younger man wrestled with Mandela's label as a dangerous criminal. This is the story of Mandela's dignified leadership behind bars that first led to the release of a number of men who were coconspirators, then eventually to the end of apartheid and the establishment of a new government. The lack of an index limits usefulness as a scholarly resource. Verdict This warm, personal story of an unlikely friendship provides further acknowledgement of Mandela's humanitarian efforts and will appeal to readers of heroic stories and political awakenings.-Barbara Ferrara, Chesterfield Cty. P.L., VA (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
