The end of apartheid

About this book

An insider's blow-by-blow account of the release of Nelson Mandela and the dismantling of apartheid. As British ambassador to South Africa, Robin Renwick was in the midst of these seismic events in world history. Appointed to South Africa as Margaret Thatcher's envoy, Renwick became a personal friend of Nelson Mandela, F.W. de Klerk and Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi, acting as a trusted intermediary between the three parties. He describes meetings with P.W. Botha, warning him against military attacks on the neighbouring countries and arguing for the lives of the Sharpeville Six. Renwick personally persuaded Margaret Thatcher to descend on Windhoek in support of the Namibia agreement. He paints a vivid portrait of Mandela - far wilier and a bit less saintly than others have portrayed him. This extraordinary account, based on the author's diaries of the time, contains information from the hitherto unpublished Foreign Office and 10 Downing Street records at the time.