Mandela was an unabashed fundraiser for the ANC, not only during
apartheid but even more flamboyantly during the 1994 election campaign
and thereafter. The governments that had been loyal to the ANC
during the long struggle against apartheid, whatever their democracy
or human-rights records, proved good sources of follow-on support. In
a meeting with U.S. president Bill Clinton in 1994, at which the author
was present, Mandela urged the United States to contribute to the
ANC’s campaign. When Clinton demurred, saying that the United States
could not give support to one party in an election, Mandela replied,
“You would be surprised what other governments do.”
chemical and biological weapons programs had been based, accepting
his military’s argument that it was a “national asset.