DA dismisses Mandela royal house calls for them to stop using Mandela’s name

In a statement issued on Monday, the Mandela royal house has slammed the DA by calling them “highly opportunistic” for using Mandela’s name as part of their campaign.

This comes after Mandela’s face has been used prominently in the party’s TV advert and his name had featured on their new election billboard. 

Nkosi Zwelivelile Mandla Mandela: “The DA is highly opportunistic to campaign in president Mandela’s name while totally disregarding our global icon’s own position about who represents the interests of the people of South Africa and who has been able to represent the majority of South Africans since the dawn of democracy.”

Mandela is also a traditional leader of the Royal House of Mandela (RHOM) and the Mvezo Traditional Council as well as a member of parliament.

Speaking on behalf of RHOM, Mandela demanded that the opposition party must stop “pretending to be the upholders of Mandela’s legacy”.

“They are guilty of abusing the Mandela name and legacy to further their own narrow class interests. Royal House of Mandela is unequivocal in its position that those who stand united with apartheid Israel‚ as Mmusi Maimane and the DA do‚ are no friends of the Mandela legacy‚” he added.

According to Mandela, RHOM views the ANC as a party of “true unity”.

Despite the criticism, the DA remains steadfast in their use of Madiba’s legacy and have issued a statement to that effect.

“As a party, we are inspired by the legacy of Nelson Mandela and are constantly emboldened by what he stood for – a nonracial, democratic South Africa underpinned by values of freedom, fairness, opportunity, and diversity,” reads part of the statement.

According to the opposition, Madiba left behind a conciliatory legacy and devotion to democracy and he started a project of nation-building underpinned by non-racialism which has apparently been abandoned by the current ANC.

“We do not agree with the Mandla Mandela’s claim that the use of Nelson Mandela’s name is opportunistic. We firmly believe that ordinary South Africans need to be reminded of the democratic principle that our forebears embraced, especially at this time when there are populist forces that seek to divide us along racial lines,” said the party in response to the RHIM statement.

As such, the party has dismissed Mandela’s demands before vowing to “continue where he left off”.

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