Cape Town - Nelson Mandela’s wife Graça Machel waited until the ailing statesman “looked better” before inviting three fellow surviving Rivonia trialists to his bedside, says close friend and anti-apartheid activist Denis Goldberg.
“Graça told me she wanted to call us earlier, but didn’t want to frighten us, and waited until he (Mandela) looked better,” Goldberg told the Cape Argus on Friday.
“To see him lie low was sad. He is very ill, but attentive.
“I arrived at the hospital later than the other two (Ahmed Kathrada and Andrew Mlangeni) and went into the room alone with Graça. I greeted Nel, as I call him, spoke to him about a project I am involved with, with 130 youngsters in Hout Bay. He opened his eyes, turned his head and looked at me, moved his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but couldn’t speak because he had a tube down his throat. I’m glad I was able to see him.”
Goldberg said the last time he saw Mandela before Monday’s visit at the Pretoria Heart Hospital was for lunch “some time last year”.
“That was the last time he spoke to me. I’ve never wanted to intrude since he was sick and frail,” he said.
“Even when I got the call to visit him in hospital last week, I didn’t want to go because I didn’t want to intrude, but when I was told Graça wanted us there, I went.”
Kathrada refused to be drawn on Mandela’s condition on Friday.
He told the Cape Argus that he couldn’t say more than what the Presidency had said.
The last time he saw Mandela was in Qunu last year when he delivered an album of drawings made by orphans in Kazakhstan.
“Mandela looked well during that meeting,” Kathrada said. “We chatted and he paged through the album, he loved it.”
Kathrada and Goldberg are among four surviving Rivonia trialists, including Mandela. The other is Mlangeni, an ANC MP and the only Rivonia trialist still actively involved in politics.
Describing his relationship with Mandela, Kathrada said: “Madiba is like my older brother.
“I don’t agree with the description given by the media that we are close friends. Mandela is 11 years my senior. He is my elder brother and Walter Sisulu was my father.”
Kathrada is the only person who had stood in the dock with both Mandela and Sisulu during the three main court cases of the 1950s and 1960s.
“First it was the defiance campaign in 1952 - 20 of us were accused and given a nine month suspended sentence,” he said.
“Then came the treason trial in 1956, and then the Rivonia trial, where we were again together, and imprisoned for life in 1964.”
Goldberg, known as the “baby” in the Rivonia group at 80, said he valued and cherished the very few steps he had taken with Mandela on his long walk to freedom.
“He had natural warmth,” he said. “With a world of cares on his shoulders, he still had time for personal things. I doubt I’ll ever see Mandela doing the Madiba shuffle again.
“When he goes I will be sad. I’m grateful to have known him. I don’t think we will change when he goes. Ever since he withdrew from politics, we’ve become more aware of his legacy and unifying impact.”
Cape Argus