Nelson Mandela  Nelson Mandela and wife Winnie greet cheering
crowds outside Victor Verster prison in Paarl. Narrated slide
show >>> (Alexander Joe/AFP/Getty Images)  South Africa and I
have a history, one that goes beyond the headlines.  I arrived
here as The Times' bureau chief in 1988, when college campuses
back home were pulsing with anti-apartheid protests, to cover
what would turn out to be the last years of the black freedom
struggle -- bombings, funeral processions and brutal clashes
with police. My phone was tapped by the government and, during
one township visit, I was dragged from my car by armed young
"comrades" from the African National Congress, saved only by my
laminated press pass.  Our children were born here, our daughter
just a toddler when I watched Nelson Mandela walk free from
prison. Our son arrived later that year, on the eve of another
historic moment -- the first round of negotiations between
whites and blacks for a new constitution.  Mandela's release in
February 1990 was a watershe