JOHANNESBURG
A new book by a long-time trusted assistant of late former South African president Nelson Mandela suggests that the family sidelined his wife Graca Machel as the iconic leader was fighting for his life, Times Live reported on Sunday.
"I don't know of any person alive who has been treated with the amount of disrespect that people have shown towards Mrs Machel," Zelda la Grange writes in her memoir, expected to be released this week.
Grange, who started working for Mandela in 1994 as a typist before becoming his private assistant till his death, suggests that Machel had to get accreditation for her own husband's funeral.
She says the Machel family was allocated only four spots at the funeral service.
Machel became Mandela's third wife in 1998 until his death in December 2013.
She was the widow of Samora Machel, the first president of Mozambique, making her the only woman known to have been a first lady of two separate countries.
In her book, "Good morning, Mr. Mandela," Grange says Mandela's eldest daughter Makaziwe had called her stepmother as "Ms Frantic."
"Mum [Machel] was hurt and emotionally brutalized," she writes, adding that Machel was sidelined from some key decisions regarding her husband's legacy and wellbeing.
Mandela, who became South Africa's first democratically elected president in 1994, died last December aged 95 at his home in Houghton, Johannesburg.
He stepped down from the presidency in 1999 after serving one term in office.
Mandela is revered by South Africans as the father of their nation after spending spent 27 years in prison for opposing the apartheid regime.
He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993.
Controlling
Grange says the Mandela family was divided into factions that took advantage of his deteriorating health to "step in and start controlling matters to their advantage."
She claims the family prevented some of his favorite people from visiting him while bringing strangers to the house to see him.
Grange recalls going with advocate George Bizos, one of Mandela's close friends, to greet the family before his funeral service.
She says the front door to Mandela's rural home in Qunu was locked and they were refused entry.
Grange adds that they entered through the kitchen door only to be told by Mandela's daughter Makaziwe: "We don't want you people in the house."
Makaziwe has already asked her late father's assistant to substantiate her claims against the family or face legal action.
By Hassan Isilow
www.aa.com.tr/en
