Nelson Mandela's grandson
Mandla wanted to be a disc jockey but
his illustrious grandfather had other
ideas for him — passing down a lesson
on the responsibility that South Africa's
most famous surname carries.
The anti-apartheid hero chose his 38-
year-old grandson as the first Mandela
in decades to be chief of his rural
birthplace Mvezo in the Eastern Cape six
years ago.
"My grandfather has always been my
role model. He's an inspiration to the
work I do today," Mandela, whose father
was Makgatho from the hero's first
marriage, told AFP.
As his 94-year-old grandfather battles a
lung infection in hospital, he admitted it
had "not at all" been easy trying to
match up to the man who became South
Africa's first black president.
"He's a global icon but I feel that as
members of the family, the small things
that we do as individuals, as a collective
can one day amount to the dynamic
person my grandfather became," he
said.
"South Africa, and even the Mandelas
themselves, I believe will never produce
another Nelson Mandela but we can
always strive to embrace him, his
principles and values."
Lying on the winding Mbashe river
where fiery aloes bloom and livestock
wander, Mvezo is scenic but deeply
impoverished.
There is no clean drinking water or
sanitation in the village's humble homes,
many built of mud, or even a health
clinic.
Born here in 1918, Mandela's father was
stripped of the Mvezo chieftancy by a
colonial magistrate and he spent his
early years in nearby Qunu village.
"We are very much as a family intrigued
as to the place he comes from, how he
emerged and the dynamic person that
he became," said Mandela.
"And I think for future generations of
the Mandelas, we should always look to
our place of our origin and draw
strength from that."
While Mandela was serving a 27-year jail
term, his grandson was born in Soweto,
a flashpoint of the anti-apartheid
struggle far from the rural hinterland
where his grandfather was born.
As a music loving high-schooler, he
dreamed of becoming a DJ.
Mandela's response? "Nonsense, no
Mandela will ever become such. You
need to go out and find a career," he
enacted, mimicking his grandfather's
waving finger.
"My grandfather has really been the
driver behind the person that I needed
to be and the anchor around that was
education," he said.
"He's always believed that education is a
weapon which one could utilise to
change the world so he ensured that we
got a good education so that we could
be of service to the people."
On his grandfather's wishes, he stopped
working to study further in his 20s in
the Eastern Cape.
At the time, he had two businesses and
diplomas in business management and
marketing under his belt. But his
grandfather had other plans for him.
He also spent time in Qunu — where his
grandfather built a house on his prison
release — which opened his eyes to the
poverty stalking rural South Africans.
"Upon my graduation my grandfather
said 'so are you still that eager
businessman you wanted to be?'. With
his sense of humour, he had seen that I
had changed and I had become more
community driven," said Mandela.
"And that's the lesson learned from my
grandfather: that Mandelas are
supposed to ensure that they are of
service to our people and I've taken that
role, starting here in Mvezo."
But the village "has just been an
opening of the doors", he says, having
followed his grandfather into politics.
He joined parliament in 2009 for the
ruling African National Congress, which
his grandfather led into power, a move
he initially resisted.
"Again I sought my grandfather's advice
and he said to me how you're not only
working for your community which is
our inheritance, that of Mvezo, but you
are able to work with the broader
society."
Mandla Mandela's time as chief has not
been without controversy.
His three marriages have fuelled
headlines of bigamy, outstanding
maintenance payments, and child
paternity questions, amid a land dispute
and the exhumation of Qunu family
graves for reburial in Mvezo.
Under him, signs of change include a
new brick-paved road which has
transformed the journey to the village.
A museum — currently comprising a
tiny outdoor display — is being
extended in an impressive complex with
the offices of the traditional council and
a conference centre.
A science and technology school, the
village's first high school, is also under
construction and tourist accommodation
is also on the cards
Mandela believes that his grandfather's
style of collective leadership was shaped
by his rural beginnings, in Mvezo and
elsewhere, where he learned some of
his earliest lessons.
"It's the birthplace of my grandfather
and this is where people will always
want to come and visit, because it has a
rich significance. There is no other
birthplace except Mvezo," he said.
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