https://www.polity.org.za
Deepening Democracy through Access to Information
Home / Author Interviews RSS ← Back
Casting|Environment|Safety|SECURITY|Services
Casting|Environment|Safety|SECURITY|Services
casting|environment|safety|security|services
Close

Email this article

separate emails by commas, maximum limit of 4 addresses

Sponsored by

Close

Article Enquiry

Operation Mandela – Willem Laubscher

Close

Embed Video

Operation Mandela – Willem Laubscher

Willem Laubscher unpacks his book 'Willem Laubscher' (Editing: Nicholas Boyd)

13th December 2019

ARTICLE ENQUIRY      SAVE THIS ARTICLE      EMAIL THIS ARTICLE

Font size: -+

Please note that this interview was done over the phone with Dr Laubscher. We apologise for the poor audio quality.

The late eighties was a highly politicised environment. Willem Laubscher was healing some of the world’s best-known political prisoners, amongst them Walter Sisulu and Govan Mbeki. When Nelson Mandela was scheduled for a similar operation, all hell broke loose.

Advertisement

The National Party was quietly plotting to smuggle Mandela out of the country, possibly hoping that he would escape, while the ANC was scoring points by casting doubt on the medical services that white doctors like Laubscher was willing to provide to the political prisoners.

A relatively simple medical operation turned into an international diplomatic crisis.

Advertisement

Meanwhile, in most ironic of twists, the security police was taking desperate measures to ensure Mandela’s safety – the country could simply not afford an assassination attempt.

Willem Laubscher was the medical practitioner in the eye of this storm; Nelson Mandela was the calm strategist who had held out against pressure from both the jittery NP government and the increasingly boisterous ANC, with Winnie Mandela already larger than life, stoking the media and exploiting every available loophole to embarrass the government.

This is the story of a few weeks of diplomatic chaos, and a security operation that completely overshadowed the medical procedure Mandela was scheduled for.

The manuscript was read and checked by the Nelson Mandela Foundation and by the executor of the Mandela Estate before production started. The foundation provided additional material in support of the manuscript. Mrs. Machel was also provided with a copy of the manuscript.

 

Operation Mandela is published by LAPA Publishers.

EMAIL THIS ARTICLE      SAVE THIS ARTICLE ARTICLE ENQUIRY

To subscribe email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za or click here
To advertise email advertising@creamermedia.co.za or click here

Comment Guidelines

About

Polity.org.za is a product of Creamer Media.
www.creamermedia.co.za

Other Creamer Media Products include:
Engineering News
Mining Weekly
Research Channel Africa

Read more

Subscriptions

We offer a variety of subscriptions to our Magazine, Website, PDF Reports and our photo library.

Subscriptions are available via the Creamer Media Store.

View store

Advertise

Advertising on Polity.org.za is an effective way to build and consolidate a company's profile among clients and prospective clients. Email advertising@creamermedia.co.za

View options
Free daily email newsletter Register Now