For those of you who missed this amusing Guardian Books story yesterday on the uses to which Nelson Mandela can spuriously be put, a reprise. Oh, the shame of it!
In the crowded field of political biography, it can be hard for a novice author to stand out. But not Denis Sassou-Nguesso, the president of Congo-Brazzaville, who has certainly managed to make a splash.
In his new tome he boasts, in large type on the cover, that it contains a foreword written by Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s first black president.
The foreword praises Sassou-Nguesso as “one of our great African leaders” which, as endorsements go, beats the Booker and Nobel prizes rolled into one.
But the biography, Straight Speaking for Africa, appears to fall short of its title. Mandela has issued a statement saying he did not write the foreword. Nor has he read the book. He plans to take legal action.
Image courtesy Africa World Press Books
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October 23rd, 2009 @14:38 #
Just saw the front page of today's The Star newspaper - which carries a story saying Sassou-Nguesso is fighting back, claiming the "foreword" is taken from a speech that Mandela gave back when Sassou-Nguesso was out of power (and Mandela was in). The story isn't online at The Star's homepage, but here's the BBC on the Congo fightback:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8320561.stm
October 23rd, 2009 @16:41 #
According to the Cape Times, the publishers (who understand the implications of theft of copyrighted material, which is what use of words sans permission amount to) are grovelling. Must say, their handwringing is in rather sharp contrast to the sound and fury coming from the Congo...
October 27th, 2009 @13:19 #
Tokyo Sexwale has been named as the "middle man" who brokered the questionable foreword:
http://bit.ly/zEixG