Mandela attends funeral for great-granddaughter, whose death cast shadow over World Cup
Mandela largely retired from public life in 2004, but recent appearances have included a February visit to parliament in Cape Town, where he sat in the public gallery for a State of the Nation address scheduled to coincide with the 20th anniversary of his release after 27 years in prison.
Early Thursday, a private burial was held for his great-granddaughter. The public had been welcomed to the chapel service, and several hundred people attended, including an overflow crowd who filled a tent outside.
Mandela’s wife, Graca Machel, accompanied him. Also present was his ex-wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, who is Zenani’s great-grandmother; lawyer George Bizos, who had defended Mandela during the apartheid years, and Mandela’s grandson, Mandla Mandela.
An anguished message was read during the service from Zenani’s mother, Zoleka Mandela-Seakamela, daughter of Mandela’s daughter Zindzi Mandela. Mandela-Seakamela said she wished she had indulged her daughter more, allowing her to sleep in late and wear make-up.
“I should have given you more hugs, more kisses,” Mandela-Seakamela said. “If I did all this, would you come back to me, if only for a few seconds?”
If there were tears, there was also laughter as a playful, precocious child who liked Hannah Montana and the World Cup anthem “Waka Waka” was remembered.
Supermodel Naomi Campbell delivered a message by video, saying she considered Zenani her goddaughter.
“I was truly blessed to have been able to say that we walked and laughed and got to play dress-up,” Campbell said. “She will remain in my heart forever.”
Zenani’s classmates in school blazers each held a single white rose, and stood with other mourners to sing “Amazing Grace” as the funeral began before a montage of family portraits, including one of Zenani hugging Mandela, was projected on screens as a recording of “Lean on Me” played.
In 1969, three years after arriving on Robben Island to serve a life sentence for sabotage, Mandela received a telegram from his younger son, Makgatho, informing him that his eldest son, Madiba Thembekile, had died in a car crash.
Prison authorities refused to allow Mandela to attend the funeral.
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