Mandela's personal assistant's book on the shelves

FORMER president Nelson Mandela's personal assistant, Zelda la Grange, launched her highly anticipated book in Johannesburg, London and New York yesterday.

The book,  Good Morning, Mr Mandela, which has sparked controversy in the past few days, is a personal tale of La Grange's life growing up during the apartheid era and her work with the internationally acclaimed former South African president, who died in December, aged 95.

La Grange was Mandela's personal assistant for 19 years.

The memoir, printed in English and Afrikaans, exposes some of the family fights which broke out while Mandela was in hospital and after he died.

La Grange, who has said she wrote the book for herself to never forget her moments with the statesman, reveals a number of shocking behind-the-scenes stories from the icon's final days.

She also focuses on how the family allegedly excluded Mandela's wife, Graca Machel, from important decisions that involved Madiba's life.

"I don't know of any person alive who has been treated with the amount of disrespect that people have shown towards Mrs Machel," she wrote.

"Politics within his family about his funeral took place for years before his death."

In the book, she also recalls actress Charlize Theron's visit to the statesman in 2004 after she won an Oscar for best actress for her role in Monster.

According to La Grange, Madiba requested that koeksisters be ordered for Theron's visit after she had mentioned that she could not wait to taste them when she arrived back in South Africa.

The book also contains sections on meetings with disgraced Proteas cricket captain Hansie Cronje, who Mandela told to move on after his match-fixing scandal, and Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson.

Good Morning, Mr Mandela is published by Penguin and will be available in bookstores for R295. - Herald Reporter