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Mandela family blasts conduct at memorial

by Staff Reporter
15 Dec 2013 at 08:42hrs | Views
Qunu - Mandela family representative chief Ngangomhlaba Matanzima on Sunday criticised the conduct of some people at this week's memorial service for Nelson Mandela.

"What we saw on Tuesday at FNB Stadium [in Soweto] should never be seen again in this country," he told mourners in Xhosa, at the former president's state funeral in Qunu in the Eastern Cape.

"It makes a mockery of all the work Dhalibhunga [the praise name for Mandela] did and what he went to prison for."

Sections of the crowd at the FNB Stadium booed President Jacob Zuma at the memorial service when his face appeared on the big screens.

Matanzima said he wished South Africa and the ANC would follow Mandela's example of how he lived his life and united the country.

He hoped Mandela's spirit would bring change for the people of South Africa, so that they could do away with corruption, tricks, and all bad things, and concentrate on doing good.

Matanzima also thanked all those who cared for him while he was ill.

He asked them to stand up and they were given a round of applause.

He also acknowledged the staff who worked for the Mandela family and took care of the family home.

Matanzima thanked Mandela's late ex-wife Evelyn Mase, his ex-wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and his widow Graça Machel for having spent their lives with him.

Source - Sapa