The End of Apartheid: Diary of a Revolution

Description

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 as 'like visiting Hitler in his bunker'. Renwick personally persuaded Margaret Thatcher to descend on Windhoek in support of the Namibia agreement. His close relationship with F.W. de Klerk helped him to garner international support for his reforms. On the eve of his epoch-making speech to Parliament of 2 February 1990, de Klerk told him: 'You can tell your Prime Minister she will not be disappointed'. This extraordinary account, based on the author's diaries of the time, contains information from the hitherto unpublished Foreign Office and 10 Downing Street records at the time.

ROBIN RENWICK, Baron Renwick of Clifton, is a crossbench peer in the House of Lords. During a long and illustrious career in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office he has been a Private Secretary to the Minister of State, a political adviser, Assistant Under-Secretary of State and ambassador to South Africa and then the United States. He is the author of A Journey with Margaret Thatcher.

"One of the most important books written on the modern history of South Africa." Wilbur Smith "4 stars: a crisp, riveting book." The Telegraph "It's an interesting behind-the-scenes account of the events that unfolded on a world stage." The Independent "A kind of peace has descended on the country, a process documented in absorbing detail by Robin Renwick." Choice Magazine "Renwick was privileged with a front seat in this drama and did all that his profession allowed to urge it forward. As for Thatcher, he has at very least put the record straight." The Guardian "Lord Renwick's diaries ... offer a string of insights into the tortuous process towards that miraculous outcome." The Economist