Born within three years of each other, they spent much of their lives in a struggle against South Africa’s apartheid regime. Nelson Mandela, who died last Thursday, and the late Archbishop of Durban, Denis Hurley OMI, met or had contact on a number of occasions.The first came in the early 1980s when Hurley was preparing for trial – he was charged for making “false statements” about atrocities committed in Namibia by “Koevoet”, a fearsome paramilitary police unit.Writing from Pollsmoor Prison to then Archbishop of Cape Town, Stephen Naidoo CSsR, Mandela said: “Archbishop Hurley is often in my thoughts, especially now. I would like him to know that.”After Mandela’s release from prison he was given an honorary doctorate in law by the Univ