JOHANNESBURG - She carries a famous name recognisable all over the world. Dr Phumla Makaziwe Mandela kindly agreed to sit down for a chat about her latest book project.
She said, "I actually decided to do the book after having a conversation with a publishing company in New York."
"I think once I started the work, I regretted that I proposed this."
"It's my first time to write a book [and] to do a coffee table book and I think it takes a lot of work."
"It would have been easier to write it as a simple narrative but once I had done the first draft; I felt motivated and once the finished project was done, I was excited."
Mandela said centering the story of Nelson Mandela was important in the cultural space.
Mandela commented on the inequality of the education system in South Africa, saying, "those who are privileged and are in private schools or [former] Model C’s get a better education and the rest of our children are getting poor education that is not going to lead them to any credible job."
She shared some difficult feelings about her father.
"It’s an open secret that I was sad and bitter with my dad. But I realised in my 30’s that anger and bitterness is not going to lead me anywhere I have to be at peace first with myself and at peace with Tata, she said.
"Tata did not want to share the pain of the atrocities he had always been an optimist. You had to judge his mood, if you spoke about the pain he would retreat."
"He was forced to hide his pain and could not show weakness to the captors. They lived under horrible conditions in prison and that is why many have chronic diseases. The case with Makgatho he never talked about it openly," she said.