Ndaba Mandela, Nelson Mandela’s grandson: ‘As a child I wanted to live in a prison, like my grandfather’

Ndaba Mandela was a child when he first met his grandfather, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and leading anti-apartheid activist in South Africa Nelson Mandela, and he grew up at his side. Born in Soweto (Johannesburg) 43 years ago, he is now a political scientist who promotes his grandfather’s legacy as president of the Mandela Institute for Humanity, and was in Spain on Monday to support the Alliance for the Future of Education, an initiative to renew the focus on learning in particularly challenging times.

Question. What does it mean to be Mandela’s grandson?

Answer. We have a responsibility to continue the legacy of my grandfather. He achieved political emancipation, but economic emancipation has to go hand in hand and we face many challenges in South Africa although we have come a long way. For example: ensuring young people can access to quality education, which is currently under attack in South Africa because resources have been reduced. What kind of generation are you raising without the means to become critical thinkers? I often tell young people to dream big — so big their own dreams scare them.

Q. What is your memory of your grandfather?

A. I have many. The first time I saw him he was in prison, in a house turned into a jail. I was eight when my parents took me to see him and I have an idealized memory because I came from Soweto and found concrete walls, a house with a swimming pool… I didn’t have that! There I met a chef for the first time in my life. And my grandfather kept asking us: How are you? What’s your name? What’s your favorite subject? From the start you could see this man was interested in your education.

Q. What did you answer?

A. At that moment I said mathematics, but I didn’t go down that path later (he laughs). That day I had the first idea of what I wanted to do when I grew up. I wanted to go to jail because I thought prisons had swimming pools. I didn’t understand that it was the last of the prisons where they placed him in his final four years of incarceration [he spent 27 in total] to break him mentally and separate him from his political movement. But he never considered it.

Q. Later you lived with him.

A. He was released in 1990 and he sent my parents to university. To my father he said: “You focus on school and I’ll look after your child.” At first it was a bit tough because he was very strict, but he taught me to take on his values. He was very neat and taught me to make the bed, to fold my pants and shirt, and he told me I had to keep my room clean so I could focus on what needs to be done. “With a clean room you’ll be able to do your homework,” he told me. He taught me about love, to believe and to always be there for my brothers and sisters. When I was 13 I remember one day he told me: “Ndaba, you are my grandson and therefore people see you as a leader, therefore you must have the best grades in class.” He taught me I was privileged. “You don’t have to worry about your next meal and, as a person of privilege, you have a responsibility to your brothers and sisters; it takes a village to raise a child. Congratulate them when they do well and scold them when they don’t. That is the essence of Ubuntu: I am because you are because we are.”

Q. Is his legacy alive?

A. Yes, Black people today have dignity because of Nelson Mandela. He made peace, but above all he prevented a civil war; that is his true legacy: keeping the peace and stopping the shedding of blood in our country. But of course it’s not finished; the next generation must take up the baton and the question is: What are we doing today to continue his path? Because legacy is not a matter of memory but a call to action: what can each of us do to secure more rights?

Q. Your parents died of AIDS and your grandfather decided it should be made public. That the word be acknowledged to fight the stigma.

A. Yes, we had a discussion. When my father died we asked ourselves: What are we going to tell the world? We could say pneumonia or tuberculosis because HIV destroys your immune system and you die of something else, but my grandfather said: “No. We will not do that. We will simply say that AIDS has taken my son’s life.” And that was important — it was the first time a prominent family revealed the truth. We don’t have to hide; we must talk about this disease like any other and not feel ashamed, as if we had done something dirty.

Q. Mandela received the Nobel Peace Prize — what do you think of Trump wanting the prize?

A. How could you want the Nobel if you’re bombing Iran! He is involved in a terrible war in the Middle East.

Q. You have inherited the role of chieftain of your clan. What does that mean to you?

A. Our clan descends from the royal family. Nelson Mandela comes from the fourth house of the royal family, which is polygamous. Our role is to mediate among the other family houses as well as advise the king. We must listen to other counselors and make decisions. When my grandfather stopped being president, the king at the time told him: “I want to return the chieftaincy to you.” And he said: “No, after being president of the whole country, how am I going to lead a place that doesn’t even appear on the map? (he laughs). I’m not that attached to power, thanks.” My father didn’t want it either; he was focused on being a lawyer. And that power fell to my brother — we supported him. Later at some point he had disagreements with the community and the king and, recently, people have turned to me.

Q. And what will it mean for you?

A. I must look after my village. I was born in the Soweto ghetto, but Kunu, our village, is in such a remote rural area that the government does not reach it and I have to take care of everything the people there need. I am a representative of my community.

Q. Do you like it?

A. Yes, and I will take my rightful place.

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