NEWS & MEDIA

Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela Book Launch

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The Embassy of South Africa and South Africa Partners hosted a book launch for Ms. Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela on Monday, 3 Februrary 2003.  Ms. Gobodo-Madikizela just published, A Human Being Died That Night: A South African Story of Forgiveness.  For ordering information, please scroll down.

A Human Being Died That Night:

A South African Story of Forgiveness

By Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela

Eugene de Kock, commanding officer of apartheid state-sanctioned death squads, currently serves two life sentences and 212 years for crimes against humanity. Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela grew up in a black South African township and served on that country's great national experiment in healing, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). She was the only psychologist on the TRC's Human Rights Violations Committee in the Western Cape. As the book opens, in an act of inescapable, multilayered symbolism and of extraordinary psychological courage, Gobodo-Madikizela enters Pretoria's maximum-security prison to meet this man called "Prime Evil."

A Human Being Died That Night is at once an acutely nuanced and original study of a state-sanctioned mass murderer-a modern classic in the making-and a powerful linkage of personal psychology to political context.  Gobodo-Madikizela's experience with and deep empathy for victims of murderous violence, including de Kock's own killings, come clear in arresting scenes, set during the TRC, in which perpetrators and their victims are both given voice. Her profound understanding of the language and memory of violence, and of the searingly complex issues surrounding apology and forgiveness after mass atrocity, will leave a mark both on scholarship and on our emotional lives. Gobodo-Madikizela's journey with de Kock, during which she allows us to witness his extraordinary awakening of remorse, puts us up against the question of our time: What does it mean when we discover that a Prime Evil is as frighteningly human as we are?

Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela, a clinical psychologist, served with Archbishop Desmond Tutu on the Human Rights Violations Committee of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.  She lectures internationally on issues of vengeance and forgiveness.

South Africa Partners (SA Partners) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the establishment of mutually beneficial institutional partnerships between the United States and South Africa, in the areas of health, education, and economic development.  Building upon the efforts of tens of thousands of individuals across the United States who supported the international movement for democracy in South Africa, SA Partners seeks to support those efforts, which promote South Africa's equitable and sustainable development.   Working with state and local government, academic institutions, and community organizations, SA Partners is creating a model for international development that is based on long-term commitment and sustainability.  Partnerships supported by SA Partners, bring together practitioners from the United States and South Africa who are committed to addressing social, political, and economic needs in a manner that strengthens communities, builds institutional capacity, and gives voice to those who have been previously excluded from the public discourse.

To order a copy of the novel please click here (PDF file). Please download the free Adobe Acrobat Reader software to view the form, if you have not already done so.  PLEASE NOTE: The order form must be sent to SA Partners at the address at the bottom of the form.  Please DO NOT send order forms to the Embassy of South Africa.