A new collection of Nelson Mandela's private papers reveals his years of heartache at missing his family during his 27 years in jail.The former South African president's latest memoirs are to be published this week.Mr Mandela's memoirs are made up of notes and letters he copied into notebooks during his time in prison.Many of them were confiscated by authorities at the time, but a former security officer handed them back to Mr Mandela six years ago.
They reveal the private man behind the global icon, who struggled with the personal sacrifices he had made for his political activism.In a letter written to his two daughters in 1969, soon after their mother Winnie Mandela was detained by police, he writes: "For long you may live like orphans without your own home and parents, without natural love, affection and protection mummy used to give you".
In another letter, he wrote: "I feel I have been soaked in gall, every part of me, my flesh, bloodstream, bone and soul, so bitter am I to be completely powerless to help you".Mr Mandela also wrote of his concern about being portrayed as a saint.
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