John Carlin took over as South Africa Bureau Chief of the Independent in January 1989. Neither he, nor the journalist he replaced had any idea that within 13 months that Nelson Mandela would be released from prison, or that by the middle of the decade that South Africa would go from "the skunk of the world" to a global leader on peace-building and reconciliation.

In this episode we listen to John recall what he witnessed from the front row of history, as he reported on the violent final years of the Apartheid regime and the unlikely foundation of The Rainbow Nation.

John has written three books about this time - Playing the Enemy, Knowing Mandela, and Mandela and the General.

Check out his website at https://johncarlin.eu.

As always, our theme tune is No More Years, by VerseChorusVerse. Please go to his Bandcamp to listen to more, and buy what you like.

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