Dare Not Linger

'I can rest only for a moment, for with freedom comes responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not ended.' With these words, Nelson Mandela ended his first volume of autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom.
Now, the memoir that Mandela began while he was still South Africa's first democratically elected president has been completed by the eminent South African writer Mandla Langa, using Mandela's unfinished draft, detailed notes made as events were unfolding and a wealth of previously unseen material. Dare Not Linger tells the story of Mandela's presidential years, from the run-up to that extraordinary election in 1994 to the moment he stood down in 1998.
In that time, Mandela and his government wrought the most extraordinary transformation, turning a nation riven by centuries of colonialism and apartheid into a fully functioning democracy in which all South Africa's citizens, black and white, were equal before the law.
With a prologue by Mandela's widow, Graça Machel, the result is a vivid and inspirational account of Mandela's presidency, a country in flux and the creation of a new democracy.
'Reveals why he was irreplaceable . . . he was so unique and he made it look so easy' Gillian Slovo, Observer
'Reveals the struggles, setbacks and frustrations that to this very day thwart the progress of Africa' Gordon Brown, Guardian

Nelson Mandela was born in Transkei, South Africa, on 18 July 1918. He joined the African National Congress in 1944 and was engaged in resistance against the ruling National Party's apartheid policies after 1948. From 1964 to 1982, he was incarcerated at Robben Island Prison and then later moved to Pollsmoor Prison, during which his reputation as a potent symbol of resistance to the anti-apartheid movement grew steadily. Released from prison in 1990, Mandela won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 and was inaugurated as the first democratically elected president of South Africa in 1994. He is the author of the international bestseller Long Walk to Freedom. He died on 5 December 2013, aged ninety-five.
Graça Machel was born in Mozambique in 1945. A teacher, human rights activist, international advocate for women's and children's rights, and politician, she was - from 1975 until his death in 1986 - married to Samora Machel, the first president of Mozambique. In July 1998 she married Nelson Mandela. Among numerous awards she has received the United Nations' Nansen Medal in recognition of her long-standing humanitarian work, particularly on behalf of refugee children.
Mandla Langa was born in 1950 in Durban, South Africa. After being arrested in 1976, he went into exile and has lived in Botswana, Mozambique and Angola, as well as Hungary, Zambia and the United Kingdom, where he was the ANC's Cultural Representative. A writer and journalist, he was the first South African to be awarded the Arts Council of Great Britain bursary for creative writing and has been a columnist for the Sunday Independent and the New Nation. He is also the author of several acclaimed novels, including The Lost Colours of the Chameleon, which won the 2009 Commonwealth Prize for Best Book in the African Region.