(Africa Report)
Mandelamania: 11 days in June 1990 When we learned that Nelson Mandela was coming to America, we thought we should be the ones to produce a video documentary on the trip for history. We’re part of it, the TV company behind the weekly PBS show, “South Africa Now.” Who would be better qualified to do it? The ANC agreed to let us on board. The American organizers said whatever the ANC wants is fine. We said we’d only proceed if we had a guarantee of unique access. They all agreed. We should have known better. It never happened the way we hoped it would. Mr. Mandela, as he’s known formally, or “Madiba” as black South Africans call him reverentially (by his clan affiliation), was kind of busy making history. His coast-to-coast schedule left little time for ancillary activities of the video kind: eight cities in 11 days sounded initially like some undertaking that a group of malicious Afrikaner hitsquaders had dreamed up as a way of getting a 71-year-old man to self-destruct. His trip was conceived as part of the international strategy that has worked well for the ANC over the years – mobilizing support to isolate South Africa and pressure its regime to abandon apartheid. Now that Mandela had been released from prison, the organization wanted to activate its many supporters world-wide and so began sending him overseas, first through Africa, then Europe, and ultimately, America. The goal was to keep the sanctions it fought so hard for in place worldwide as a lever with which to pressure the government at 123