Plot For Peace is a documentary thriller that tells an untold story behind the secret events leading up to the end of apartheid and ultimately the release of Nelson Mandela.
To some, such as South Africa’s former President Thabo Mbeki, Jean-Yves Ollivier (alias “Monsieur Jacques”) was a mysterious businessman and sanctions buster or a French spy. For others, such as Winnie Mandela and Mozambique’s former President Joaquim Chissano, he was a trusted friend and a man of bold vision.
For the first time, heads of state, generals, diplomats, master spies and anti-apartheid fighters reveal how “Monsieur Jacques” positioned himself to be the improbable key to Mandela’s prison cell. Stepping out of the shadows “Monsieur Jacques” navigates us through a rugged landscape of moral dilemmas, as he bears vivid testimony to the behind-the-scenes bargaining, intrigue and crises that he engineered and which were instrumental in bringing about regional peace and the end of racial discrimination in South Africa.
“I shake the hand I cannot sever”, says Jean-Yves Ollivier. He was the first man in history to be given South Africa’s highest honour “Grand Officer In The Cape Of Good Hope” by both the leader of the apartheid regime President P.W. Botha, as well as Nelson Mandela.
