This paper deals with the topic of reconciliation and nation building in postapartheid South Africa by focusing on James Gregory’s memoir "Goodbye Bafana: Nelson Mandela, My Prisoner, My Friend". Written in collaboration with British journalist Bob Graham and strategically published in 1995, when Mandela’s iconic status as ‘Father of the Nation’ was at its highest, this book tells the exemplary conversion story of one of Madiba’s prison guards during his long years of incarceration. It shows how the racist Afrikaner warder turned into a sympathetic confidant and friend through the epiphanic discovery of the moral stature and commendable humanity of the ‘black terrorist’. While considering the vexed question of "Goodbye Bafana"’s historical reliability and controversial reception, especially in South Africa, my aim is to better investigate the discursive policy, semantic layers, and identity-construction strategies in a work that has been so far largely neglected by critics. Via his self-portrayal as a ‘redeemed Afrikaner’ (and Graham’s mediating voice), Gregory appears to promote solidarity, social repair, and a new sense of community belonging.
