U.S. Pair Get Into Trial, Give Mrs. Mandela Lucky $50 Bill

The Winnie Mandela trial has been the hottest ticket in South Africa for two weeks now, but a pair of white-haired American tourists managed to wheedle their way into the courtroom Thursday--and into seats right behind the defendant herself.

“I don’t know why I’m here,” said Bill Bubier, a 56-year-old tourist from Satellite Beach, Fla., who had a map of Johannesburg in his breast pocket. “But I feel it is for a reason.”

Bubier, a semi-retired businessman, and his wife, Betty, a retired dental technician, introduced themselves to Winnie Mandela, who was wearing a maroon-and-gold African dress and matching headcloth.

And, during a morning recess, Bubier presented her with a 1934-series $50 bill that had been given to him when he was born.

“This is to bring you good luck,” Bubier told her, saying that he had carried the note in his billfold throughout his adult life.

Mandela, who also was born in 1934, thanked the Bubiers with tears in her eyes, Betty Bubier said, “and there were tears in our eyes, too.”

“She’s a very elegant lady,” Mrs. Bubier said. “And very friendly.”

The couple said they did not know much about the issues in the trial and had formed no opinion about Mrs. Mandela’s guilt or innocence. But Bubier said: “No two ways about it, she’s definitely a fighter.”

The Bubiers, on a four-week vacation in South Africa, said they had seen Nelson Mandela, the African National Congress leader, in the Durban airport shortly after their arrival two weeks ago. They had worked their way past Mandela’s bodyguards to shake his hand, and he agreed to pose with them for a photograph.

When they saw the crowd outside the courthouse near their Johannesburg hotel on Thursday, they asked a guard if they could enter the courtroom. The 100-seat public gallery was full, but the guard directed them to a government official who controls media access, and she guided them to two seats directly behind the defendants’ dock.