NELSON Mandela’s grandson, Zwelivelile ‘Mandla’ Mandela has slammed the former Suits actress Meghan Markle for comparing her wedding to Prince Harry with the South African political icon’s release from prison.
Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, caused a stir earlier this week when she claimed her wedding to Prince Harry had sparked as much joy in South Africa as the famed anti-apartheid campaigner’s release from prison in 1990 after 27 years behind bars. Zwelivelile ‘Mandla’ Mandela has insisted there is no comparison between the two events.
He told MailOnline: ‘It can never be compared to the celebration of someone’s wedding.
‘Madiba’s celebration was based on overcoming 350 years of colonialism with 60 years of a brutal apartheid regime in South Africa. So It cannot be equated to as the same.’
Mandla urged the duchess to be a ‘champion and advocate’ for the causes his late grandfather promoted if she wants to be seen as more like him.
He said: ‘Every day there are people who want to be Nelson Mandela, either comparing themselves with him or wanting to emulate him.
‘But before people can regard themselves as Nelson Mandelas, they should be looking into the work that he did and be able to be champions and advocates of the work that he himself championed.’
The ANC MP insisted celebrations for his grandfather’s release were far more serious and important than her marriage ‘to a white prince.’
Mandla said: ‘We are still bearing scars of the past. But they (Mr Mandela’s celebrations) were a product of the majority of our people being brought out onto the streets to exercise the right of voting for the first time.
‘He spoke for oppressed minorities, children and women and protracting the most vulnerable people in our society.
‘He always spoke about oppressed nations around the globe and yet people are silent on those issues.
‘But this is what we like to see (from) people when they regard themselves as being a “Nelson Mandela”.
‘Then you could be a a champion of the causes that he represented.
‘My advice to everyone is to live the life Nelson Mandela lived and support the causes he supported.
‘That is the ultimate litmus test. What is the value of people dancing in the street and chanting President Nelson Mandela’s name when what they stand for is diametrically opposed to what he stood for?
‘Nelson Mandela’s release from jail was the culmination of nearly 350 years of struggle in which generations of our people paid with their lives. It can never be compared to the celebration of someone’s wedding.’
Markle, who has children Archie, 3, and Lili, 14 months, with Harry, made the comments during her bombshell cover interview with The Cut, which was published earlier this week, in which she spoke about attending the 2019 premiere of The Lion King.
Telling how a South African cast member had stopped to speak to her, she said: ‘He looked at me … he said: “I just need you to know: when you married into this family, we rejoiced in the streets the same we did when Mandela was freed from prison.”’
