Chalk up two monumental launches for Pippa Green’s biography of Trevor Manuel, Choice, not Fate.
The first, held Johannesburg on Monday evening, was surely the launch of the season in Gauteng, with more than five hundred guests in attendance to raise their glasses to Green’s work. The second was held in Manuel’s “hood”, to use Green’s term, yesterday evening – and the hood did not let its own son down, turning out in full force in Cape Town to celebrate this epic work of Manuel’s life and times.
Professor Jakes Gerwel got the ball rolling by telling of the great glee that Nelson Mandela still expresses when he recounts proving his critics wrong with the appointment of Manuel as minister of trade and industry, during his first term as president of South Africa. Showing great initiative in the position, Manuel was swiftly transferred to the finance portfolio, which he has held ever since. “Trevor Manuel tickles the sinful strain of an otherwise nobly generous man,” said Gerwel with a twinkle in his eye.
Of Green’s book, Gerwel was fulsome in his praise: Choice, not Fate is “a beautiful portrait of a contemporary politician”, especially welcome in these “troubled political times”.
Green, who has known Gerwel for twenty-five years – they met on Modderdam Road, in the thick of an anti-apartheid protest – spoke of how the Western Cape forged particularly hardened-but-agile, principled politicians. “If you can survive Western Cape politics, you can survive anything,” she said.
In Johannesburg, she was asked to describe Manuel in a single word. Whereas Kader Asmal had chosen “incorruptible”, Green chose “courageous”.
Manuel’s courage could be seen in any number of episodes in his life, she sad: His joining the ANC; resisting arrest during apartheid – often through physical, hand-to-hand combat; staying the course and persevering with his tightly-focussed financial policies – often to the chagrin of his comrades, known for their verbal combat; and, most importantly, allowing Green access as she wrote her book, all the while refraining from interfering with her text.
She thanked the Manuel and Bardien families for opening doors for her, as well, and elicited much laughter when she recounted Manuel’s mother’s first response to her request for an interview: “But is he important enough for a book?” Philma Manuel asked.
Green then read from Choice, not Fate – a section that, she said, contained “the least swear words!”
Videos: Jakes Gerwel and Pippa Green at the launch of Choice, not Fate
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Pippa Green on her subject
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Pippa Green reads from Choice, not Fate
When Manuel himself took the podium, he was reluctant to speak, recalling a piece of friendly criticism at the Joburg launch: “Speaking about your own biography is a bit like tape recording a message that you insist your family play at your funeral – not classy,” he said. But he took a few moments to thank those who had been involved in the project, and those who had turned out to help launch it.
Video: Trevor Manuel at the launch of Choice, not Fate
Penguin’s Allison Lowry had the last word: Choice, not Fate is probably the most important political biography this year, she said. “It is not your average beach read – but don’t be shy about reading it with your feet up, either!” Manuel is “one of the good ones,” she reminded us. The queue to get his and Green’s signatures after the speeches testified to this.
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