generalspeaking

Unseemly, Unbecoming and Macabre

Peace At Home

"It's an issue of greed, and everyone needs to be quite clear about that. Although he's been able to bring reconciliation to South Africa, he has this warring family.
"He hasn't been able to bring peace at home."
Charlene Smith, Nelson Mandela biographer

While the legacy of Nelson Mandela whose courage in leading his people through the African National Congress to an affirmation of the better nature of the human spirit through forgiveness and getting on with life will remain intact, his dying days have been coloured by family disagreements over another dimension of his legacy.

A grandson who feels entitled to capitalize on his famous grandfather's legacy to bring prosperity and fame to a village where his grandfather was born, and which his grandfather authorized him to lead, has brought international attention to the universality of human petulance, grievances and cupidity. In particular, the prevalence in history of famous people begetting infamous minds absorbed by greed.

Mandla Mandela took it upon himself to have three deceased offspring of the 94-year-old peace and reconciliation icon removed from their burial in the Mandela family hometown of Qunu to Nelson Mandela's birthplace of Mvezo, roughly 25 kilometers away from Qunu, to be interred there.

Because Mvezo is the village of which Mandela's grandson is tribal chief.

Mandla Mandela has grand plans for his tribal village. They include the creation of a Mandela shrine, a hotel and a soccer stadium. The draw of having his grandfather buried there, in the village of his birth, alongside three of his children, would make it an official and attractive venue for people to visit to pay their respects, and coincidentally leave tourism dollars at the hotel and the soccer field, another draw.

One suspects that entrance to the "Mandela shrine" would also have been expedited through the levy of a substantial entrance fee, adding again to the coffers of the village, profit doubtless trickling through to Mandla Mandela as chief museum curator and executive officer of the entire tawdry tourism-geared complex.

Privileging his grandson, presumably, through the reputation that Mr. Mandela gained through his 27 long years of prison labour where the extended stay in damp, bone-chilling conditions, and the pounding of rocks took their toll on his pulmonary health, appears to motivate his grandson to dreams of public relations appeal resulting in a handsome income.

Evidently fifteen members of the Mandela clan thought otherwise. They, it would seem, are more invested in preserving the dignity of their patriarch's name and memory. Graca Machel and others of Mr. Mandela's family made a formal presentation to a court to order Mandla Mandela to expedite the speedy return of the disinterred bodies to Qunu, their original place of burial.

And where, just incidentally, Nelson Mandela has indicated his own plans for interment, preferring to be buried in his hometown rather than his birthplace. The affidavit presented to the court by the family made it clear enough that the family is of the opinion that Mandla Mandela has engineered the burial of his grandfather in Mvezo for pecuniary purposes to benefit himself.

Their interest is to honour Mr. Mandela's wish.

Labels: Celebrity, Controversy, Human Relations, South Africa

posted by Pieface @ Friday, July 05, 2013