Abstract
The UJ SARCHI Chair: African Diplomacy and Foreign Policy in partnership with the UJ Library invites you to meet Tony Leon, the author of the book
Opposite Mandela: Encounters with South Africa’s Icon
About the book: Opposite Mandela relates the untold stories of how South Africa’s first democratic president related to his political opponents. Insightful, and simultaneously serious and amusing, it lifts the veil on many unknown or unexplained benchmarks from that era: the personal animosity between Mandela and FW De Klerk, the decision of the Democratic Party to reject Mandela’s offer of a seat in his cabinet and whether the extraordinary outreach of Mandela to the minorities was the shrewd calculation of a latter-day Machiavelli or the genuine impulses of a secular political saint. This highly readable and first-hand account considers in a balanced manner both the golden moments and the blind spots of one of the most consequential presidencies and leaders of the modern democratic age.
About the author: Tony Leon was a member of the South African Parliament for nearly 20 years, for 13 of those leading the Democratic Alliance. He subsequently served as South Africa’s ambassador to Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay from 2009 to 2012.
FACILITATOR Prof Chris Landsberg, University of Johannesburg