Hallowed ground for Winnie

A LEMON tree hangs over the gravesite of Struggle icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela.

Employees of the exclusive Fourways Memorial Park are hard at work ensuring that her grave is in perfect condition before her burial next weekend.

Mound by mound, a group of men remove soil to prepare the final resting place for the Mother of the Nation.

Her gravesite is just a couple of metres away from the gravesite of her great- granddaughter, Zenani Zanethemba Nomasonto Mandela, and baby Zenawe Mandela who died two days after her birth in 2011, on the family’s plot at the luxurious Fourways Memorial Park.

Relatives said this week that her family’s wishes were that she be buried at the memorial park in the north of Sandton .

Zenani was buried in 2010. She was just 13 when she was killed in a car accident in the early hours of June 11, 2010, after attending the Fifa World Cup kick-off concert at the Orlando Stadium in Soweto. She was the grandchild of Madikizela-Mandela’s daughter, Zindzi.

When Madikizela- Mandela arrives, they will be together in a tranquil space reserved for her family.

Situated in Joburg’s elite suburb of Craigavon, the memorial park is where the country’s revered and wealthy lay their loved ones to rest. It has 24-hour guards, a 2.4m high perimeter wall, electric fencing, armed response and uses access control.

Prices range from R19 000 for a child’s grave to R300 000 for family estates.

Wikus Lategan, the chief executive of CalgroM3, which owns Fourways Memorial Park, said that out of respect for the family’s privacy he wasn’t able to discuss any details about the funeral.