The Presidential Years

Nelson Mandela was a “people person”, graceful, charming and showed gratitude even to the most humble of workers around him.

That’s according to Nicholas Fink Haysom, the Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Afghanistan and former Chief Legal Adviser during Mandela’s Presidency of South Africa in 1994.

From youth activist, Mr. Haysom, a White South African, became a human rights lawyer and then a member of the leading black political party, the African National Congress (ANC)’s negotiating team for a new Constitution.

On the line from Kabul, he shared with Ben Malor his abiding memories of the man, Nelson Mandela.

Nicholas Fink Haysom