JOHANNESBURG – The funeral arrangements for Nelson Mandela’s granddaughter, Zenani, are still being finalised, the Nelson Mandela Foundation said on Saturday.
‘Funeral arrangements will be announced by the Nelson Mandela Foundation as soon as they are finalised,’ said the foundation spokesperson Sello Hatang.
Zenani Zanethemba Nomasonto Mandela was killed in a car accident two days after her thirteenth birthday on her way home from the Soccer World Cup concert in Orlando Stadium early on Friday. Mandela’s former wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela had also attended the concert separately and had to be rushed to hospital to be treated for shock on hearing the news.
The Nelson Mandela Foundation said a man arrested in connection with the accident was a relative of the teenager, but neither the foundation nor the police would say who it was, or give details on who the female passenger was.
Zenani was born at the Park Lane Clinic in Johannesburg on 9 June 1997.
The daughter of Zoleka Mandela-Seakamela and Casey Moyo, she was the granddaughter of Zindzi Mandela and the great-granddaughter of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela and Nelson Mandela.
Zenani was in Grade 6 at St Stithian’s College in Johannesburg. She was part of the choir, the Marimba Club and the Drumming Band and also played the piano and the saxophone.
‘Zenani recently expressed the ambition to become a plastic surgeon.
‘She loved to set up beauty pageants with her friends and enjoyed making pancakes and scrambled eggs,’ said Hatang.
‘Most of all she loved to read and write which she did daily.’
On Friday, a drunken driving case against a man arrested after the accident was struck off the roll.
Gauteng police Brigadier Govindsamy Mariemuthoo said at the time: ‘The case has been struck off the role for further investigation.’
The driver was also set to have faced a charge of culpable homicide at the expected appearance at the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court.
On hearing of the accident Mandela decided it would be inappropriate to attend the FIFA World Cup opening ceremony or game on Friday afternoon. – Nampa-Sapa
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