“And then, from that moment, he just took my hand and thanked me. He never say thank you, just thanks, that’s all he said. He never talks about it. I never even warn him he mustn’t tell other prisoners. He kept it quiet. Until one day in parliament, when we work in parliament, then he brings it up and said to the people, “you know this guy? This is my very important warden in Robben Island. He was the one who snorkeled the baby in for me. And then he opened it up because he is the president.”

“But from that moment when I show him the baby, there is a feeling in my – I can’t believe that an old person is hungry for children. Normally when adults are talking they try and chase the children away, go and play outside, we are talking. But here he is so hungry for children; it was something strange for me. And from that moment on I feel a little bit more towards them, I try to assist them. “

“If a letter has been thrown away and burnt, I tell him Mr Mandela, there was a letter from Helen Suzman or whoever, So we become close friends.”
Christo Brand, Former Prison Warden, said, “That was two years ago. For a whole afternoon we were with the old man. And then after that we were visiting him twice with my whole family. We were expecting to go this year but I’m not sure when we’ll go again.”

Christo Brand, Former Prison Warden, said, “Then my son started working here on Robben Island. And when he was finished with the contract, then he died in a car accident. And Mandela was there; he contacted me, and was able to listen, because he knows how it feels to lose a son.”
To this day, Christo Brand believes that Nelson Mandela’s strong idealism and personal morality is largely responsible for the peaceful transition in South Africa. He is not the only one.

Stephina Van Rooyen, tourist, said, “Madiba had something. I can compare him like Jesus Christ. He was being sent by God to come and rescue the world actually Africa as a whole. Because he didn’t only fight for South Africa. He fought for the whole of Africa.”

On February 11, 1990, South Africa’s white minority government released Mandela. Mandela and Winnie Mandela walking out of the gates has become one of the world’s enduring images. But the story of the modern South Africa was only just beginning.