Mandela should never be divorced from the struggle and ANC, says Ndileka

Nelson Mandela’s granddaughter, Ndileka Mandela, says she was deeply hurt by the African National Congress’ (ANC) defeat at this year’s national and provincial elections.

In an interview with The Citizen on Thursday, Ndileka, who is Thembekile Mandela’s daughter, said her family went through tough times during the struggle days.

She said the loss of the ANC at the polls revived terrible memories of her grandfather’s suffering for the freedom of the country.

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“Well, it does hurt because of the sacrifices they have made, my grandfather sacrificed his children for the democracy that people have squandered today,” she said.

Ndileka said frequent police arrests and harassments saw Madiba missing out on important family events such as funerals of loved ones.

“He sacrificed his mother, who died while he was in prison, and he could not even attend the funeral. He sacrificed his son, my father whom he did not bury,” she said.

Mandela’s legacy

As the world celebrates Nelson Mandela International Day on Thursday, Ndileka said her grandfather should never be divorced from the struggle and from the ANC.

“What I feel we have done is to divorce my grandfather from the struggle and the ANC. He said time and again this is something that he did not single-handedly achieve,” she said.

ANC-DA partnership

Ndileka further said she was worried about the ANC’s partnership with the Democratic Alliance (DA) in the Government of National Unity (GNU).

“What is curious for me is that the DA is led by a person who two weeks before an election was burning our flag a symbol of our democracy,” she said.

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Ndileka said she was keen to see if the GNU with the DA would end up like the GNU with the National Party (NP).

“We do know that the last government of national unity De Klerk removed himself. What we would like to see is if the DA would follow in De Klerk’s footsteps and do what he did,” she said.