Edited by Tom Wheeler, Pieter Wolvaardt and Werner Scholtz.

The Centre for the Book, 62 Queen Victoria Street, Gardens, Cape Town on Monday 28 March 2011at 5:00 for 5:30 pm

Parking is freely available behind the building after 5pm

The editors will address branch members and guests regarding the publication, outlined below. Light refreshments will be served after the event.

Copies of each of the three volumes will be available for purchase at a discount.

Please RSVP to saiia.admin@telkomsa.net or call Pippa on 021 761 4842 or 083 305 2339

Entrance for non-members is R30.

STUDENTS ARE INVITED FREE OF CHARGE FOR THIS EVENT ONLY ON PRESENTATION OF A CURRENT STUDENT IDENTITY CARD.

From Verwoerd to Mandela (Volumes 1 - 3) tells the varied stories of many apartheid-era diplomats. The inside story of South Africa’s Foreign Service between the years 1967 and 1994 remains largely unknown, mostly because the official history of the Department of Foreign Affairs covered only political issues and events, and only up to 1966.  Besides being a fascinating read, the trilogy constitutes a vast first-hand resource for researchers who seek to study South Africa’s international relations before and until shortly after the dramatic political changes of 1994.

Few outsiders knew how much contact and positive co-operation was established in Africa long before the demise of apartheid.

In Volume 1 the Department’s engagement with a wide number of these countries is dealt with, from Angola, Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Equatorial Guinea, Somalia, Zambia and the TBVC `countries´,  to the long road to independence for Namibia. The latter is vividly described by various officials involved, and these insiders probably provide the fullest possible account of that process published to date.

Volume 2 includes contributions on events in Australasia, Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China, Japan, Israel, Pakistan and several Latin American countries. These chapters are interspersed with contributions dealing with the experiences of colleagues at the Department’s head office in the Union Buildings during the 1960s. In addition there are contributions by their spouses and children and describing the experiences of colleagues when they were trainee diplomats. The volume ends with the tragic kidnapping and death of Ambassador Eddie Dunn in El Salvador.

Volume 3 deals with Europe, followed by the USA, then multilateral and nuclear issues, the `total onslaught´, the State Security Council, spies, unconventional diplomacy, sanctions, the `Rubicon´, the `Troika´, the Eminent Persons Group, and the Transitional Executive Council, through to hope, transition and frustration.

Tom Wheeler was a member of the Department of Foreign Affairs between 1961 and 2003, serving in numerous posts including Washington, Lilongwe, London and Istanbul. On his retirement he joined SAIIA and is currently a Research Associate at Jan Smuts House.

Pieter Wolvaardt was a member of the Department of Foreign Affairs between1969 and 1998 and served in Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia, London, Lisbon, Buenos Aires and Mexico City. His autobiography was published in 2005.

Werner Scholtz joined the Department of Foreign Affairs in 1968 and served in London, Montevideo, La Paz, Vienna, Bonn, Madrid and briefly in New York. He left the Department in 1996 for a post at the University of Stellenbosch and is currently head of the Stellenbosch Museum.