May 18, 2024
Pulling Nelson Mandela book off shelves welcomed
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, politician, and philanthropist, who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999
Nelson Mandela Foundation spokesperson Sello Hatang has welcomed publisher Penguin Random‘s decision to pull off the shelves a book about the late former President.
The Foundation says the book shouldn’t have been published in the first place. CEO, Sello Hatang, says there are glaring inaccuracies.
The book, “Mandela’s Last Days” by his doctor Vejay Ramlakan, was withdrawn after Mandela’s widow Graca Machel threatened to take legal action against Ramlakan and Penguin Random.
Machel and Mandela’s family say they did not give him permission to write the book, but Ramlakan is adamant that he was given permission.
The executors of the Nelson Mandela estate will lodge a formal complaint against the former South African National Defence Force (SANDF) Surgeon General for publishing the tell-all book that details the late statesmen’s last days.
The executors, including Machel and former Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke, believe Ramlakan violated doctor-patient confidentiality.
Moseneke says, “At that level alone it’s not only unlawful but also in terrible taste. The second, is that he acted as an army employee and will report him to SANDF. He was not a private doctor but a public doctor so there are limits to what he can write. He is also a doctor so will report him to Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) to be held accountable.”
