JONNY STEINBERG: In Mandela’s masterclass, Kobie Coetsee got an F for ‘fail’
The then minister of justice and his spies were left behind as their prisoner played his power game
When apartheid SA’s last justice minister, Kobie Coetsee, left office, he took with him a stash of several thousand documents. Among them were transcripts of hundreds of conversations Nelson Mandela had in prison, conversations Coetsee ordered prison staff to bug. Who knows why he came to see these documents as his own? Perhaps he did not trust a state in the throes of transition to bequeath to posterity a record of his own historic role.
Two decades after his death, a new book is out, based on the documents he left behind. Titled Prisoner 913, by Riaan de Villiers and Jan-Ad Stemmet, it is judicious, sober and riveting. It also shows Mandela to have been a remarkably shrewd prisoner and Coetsee to have been somewhat at sea...
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Subscribe now to unlock this article.
Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).
There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.
Cancel anytime.
Questions? Email helpdesk@businesslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00. Got a subscription voucher? Redeem it now.