Mandela's great-granddaughter dies

AK-47

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Nov 12, 2009
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Nelson Mandela's great-granddaughter has been killed in a car crash after a concert on the eve of the World Cup.

Zenani Mandela, 13, died when travelling home after the concert in Soweto, the Nelson Mandela Foundation said. No-one else was hurt.

The car's driver has been arrested and charged with drink-driving, police say.
The incident came just hours before the former South African president was due to attend the opening of the World Cup in Johannesburg.

But the Foundation said the death of one of his nine great-grandchildren meant it was uncertain whether he would attend.
 
Nelson Mandela to miss World Cup opener

• Great-granddaughter Zenani, 13, dies in a car crash

• Police charge driver with drink-driving
Zenani-Mandela-006.jpg

Nelson Mandela's great-granddaughter Zenani (pictured) was killed in a car crash on the way home from the World Cup opening concert. Photograph: Debbie Yazbek/AP

Former South African president Nelson Mandela will not attend the opening match of the World Cup today after his great-granddaughter was killed in a car crash, the Nelson Mandela Foundation said.


The foundation said in a statement that Mandela, 91, learned of the death of Zenani this morning.
"It would therefore be inappropriate for him to personally attend the 2010 Fifa World Cup opening celebrations," the statement said.

Zenani Mandela, 13, died last night on her way home from a concert in Soweto to celebrate the opening of the tournament today.
No one else was injured in the crash.

Thursday's World Cup concert had drawn tens of thousands of people to Soweto, and traffic was congested into the early hours of Friday morning.

A Johannesburg Metro police spokeswoman, Edna Mamonyane, said the driver of the car, a man, had been arrested and charged with drink-driving. Mamonyane said the driver, who police would not name, could also face culpable homicide charges.
"The Metro police found that he was drunk," Mamonyane said. "He lost control of the vehicle and it collided with a barricade."

The Mandela foundation has also denied reports that the former president's ex-wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was in the car.
Madikizela-Mandela was treated for shock at a hospital after being informed of the accident and the death of her great-granddaughter.
Zenani, who celebrated her 13th birthday on 9 June, was one of the former president's nine great-grandchildren.

"The family has asked for privacy as they mourn this tragedy," the foundation said.
Yesterday three British students were killed and several injured in a bus crash after their vehicle overturned near a small town in the north-east of the country.
The two young women and one young man were said by the British high commission in Pretoria to have been in a party of 18 students and two lecturers from a further education college in Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire.
The students were on a field trip accompanied by a South African guide and a Zimbabwean driver. Their bus crashed about half a mile outside Barberton, Mpumalanga.
South Africa has been enjoying a carnival atmosphere during the build-up to the World Cup, with fans from the 32 competing nations flying in from across the globe.

Last night's pre-tournament concert featured a host of international stars including Shakira and The Black Eyed Peas.
The South African president, Jacob Zuma, also took to the stage and thanked South Africans for the welcome they had given World Cup fans, and called on them "to show the warmness for the whole duration of the tournament".
Before today's first match - between the host country and Mexico - 1,581 performers will take part in an opening ceremony broadcast in more than 200 countries.
 
That a shoking news to that mzee.. but im hopefull he will attend the opening
 
Duh hii noma mungu ampe mzee madiba nguvu na ujasiri, we know him......, rip mandela's great granddaughter
 
The open ceremony begins at 2pm (1200GMT) in Johannesburg's Soccer City but former president Nelson Mandela will not attend after it was revealed his 13-year-old great-granddaughter had been killed in a car crash as she returned from the pre-World Cup concert last night
 
Oh! My God! May God rest her soul in eternal peace~AMEN
 
JOHANNESBURG (AP)-Nelson Mandela canceled plans to attend the opening game of the 2010 World Cup Friday after his 13-year-old great-granddaughter was killed in a car crash.

The Nelson Mandela Foundation said Zenani Mandela, who became a teenager a few days ago, died in a one-car accident after attending Thursday evening's World Cup kickoff concert at the Orlando Stadium in Soweto, near Johannesburg.

The foundation later confirmed Mandela would not attend the World Cup opening ceremony and first game in Johannesburg, dashing hopes the frail 91-year-old former president would make a rare appearance. Mandela and his family were "torn up" by the accident, the foundation said at its Johannesburg office.

For more......Mandela relative killed after World Cup concert - International Football - Yahoo! Sports
 
JOHANNESBURG (AP)—It should have been a moment of triumph—Nelson Mandela, basking in the cheers as Africa’s first World Cup opened.
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Nelson Mandela with his great-granddaughter Zenani, who was killed in a car accident following Thursday's kickoff concert. (AP Photo/Peter Morey)

Instead, South Africa’s beloved anti-apartheid icon stayed at home with his family Friday in northern Johannesburg during the opening ceremony and game, mourning his 13-year-old great-granddaughter Zenani, who died in a car crash on the way home from a tournament-eve concert in Soweto.
The Nelson Mandela Foundation said the tragedy “made it inappropriate” for the former president, who is 91, to attend the opening ceremony in Johannesburg.
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“We are sure that South Africans and people all over the world will stand in solidarity with Mr. Mandela and his family in the aftermath of this tragedy,” the foundation said, adding that Mandela “will be there with you in spirit today.”
Johannesburg Metro police spokeswoman Edna Mamonyane said the driver of the car had been arrested and charged with drunk driving. Mamonyane said the driver, whom police didn’t identify, could also face homicide charges.
“The Metro police found that he was drunk,” Mamonyane said. “He lost control of the vehicle and it collided with a barricade.”
Police spokesman Govindsamy Mariemuthoo, who earlier said the driver would appear in court for a preliminary hearing Friday, said that had been postponed for further investigations, and that the driver was not being held. Mariemuthoo said that was not unusual.
“It’s a decision of the prosecutor,” he said.
The Mandela foundation denied reports that the former president’s ex-wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela was in the car, but said she was treated in a hospital for shock after being told of the fatal accident. She was discharged after a few hours.
She was on the VIP list for the opening ceremony, and a press box official confirmed she was at Soccer City, but the foundation said later that Madikizela-Mandela did not attend.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter and U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, who was in South Africa to lead his country’s delegation to the opening ceremony, were among those who offered condolences.
South African President Jacob Zuma, calling Mandela by his clan name Madiba — a term of affection—referred to the death in the Mandela family in an address to the crowd before the Mexico-South Africa game started.
He said Mandela had wanted to be there, “but unfortunately there was a tragedy in the Mandela family.”
“But he said the game must start. You must enjoy the game,” Zuma added.
Mandela has achieved glory as a politician and human rights campaigner, but suffered many personal tragedies.
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, died in a car crash.
Prison authorities refused to allow Mandela to attend the funeral.
“I do not have words to express the sorrow, or the loss I felt,” Mandela wrote in his autobiography. “It left a hole in my heart that can never be filled.”
Thirty-six years later, Makgatho died. Mandela announced his last surviving son died of AIDS-related complications, saying the only way to fight the disease’s stigma was to speak openly.
Mandela’s family life suffered during years devoted to politics, as an underground anti-apartheid fighter and in prison. Two marriages fell apart, the second to Winnie. He began his 27-year imprisonment only four years after marrying her.
Mandela was freed in 1990. Four years later, his lifelong battle over apartheid won, he became South Africa’s first black president. He served just one term, then devoted himself to international causes, including fighting AIDS.
He has announced his retirement and desire to devote time to his family several times. Increasingly, those close to him and other South Africans have said the reward for all he has done for his country should now be freedom from the public’s demands.
On his 80th birthday July 18, 1998, he married Graca Machel, a veteran of the anti-colonial struggle in her native Mozambique, former education minister, noted international child rights advocate and widow of Mozambique’s first president, Samora Machel.
Graca Machel once told a television interviewer she helped Mandela reconnect with his family. Family photos released by his foundation Friday showed a relaxed and smiling Mandela with Zenani and other great-grandchildren.
Zenani was one of the anti-apartheid icon’s nine great-grandchildren.

Mandela relative killed after World Cup concert - International Football - Yahoo! Sports
 
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