Military drums as Winnie laid to rest
Grave flanked by resting place of two great-grandchildren
● To the steady beat of military drums and brass, the casket bearing Nomzamo Winnie Madikizela-Mandela entered the Fourways Memorial Park shortly after 3pm yesterday.
For a few minutes after the musical tribute ended, the sun broke through after a heavy downpour.
A strange quiet descended — all that could be heard was the clanking of chains as the casket was released from the military trailer transporting it from the hearse.
After a few more words were spoken and the military procession ended, the final moment arrived as the South African flag was folded and handed over to the family.
In her final resting place in the Fourways Memorial Park, Madikizela-Mandela will be flanked by her two great-grandchildren, both plucked from life at an early age.
To the one side will be the infant boy Zenawe, who lived for only a few days after a premature birth. On the other side, the teenager Zenani, who was 13 when she was killed in a car crash on the eve of the 2010 Soccer World Cup. Both were the children of Zoleka Mandela-Seakamela, eldest daughter of Zindzi Mandela.
When Zenani died, the Nelson Mandela Foundation said in a statement that Madikizela-Mandela was so devastated that she was briefly taken to hospital and treated for shock.
The Mandela family block in the memorial park has space for eight graves, but it will be up to the family whether they want to use all the space for burial purposes, said Calgro M3 Memorial Park Group CEO Wikus Lategan yesterday.
“We’ve got family blocks with two graves to eight. Some people don’t utilise their full allotment because they like the open space.
“Mama Winnie will be buried in the centre of the Mandela family block. It is up to the family to decide how they will utilise the rest of the space.”
Madikizela-Mandela, 81, died on Monday April 2.
Just three days earlier, she had attended a church service on Good Friday.
From early yesterday a heavy security presence was visible at the memorial park as members of the South African Police Service, the military, private security and the presidential protection unit did checks and preparations.
White tent
A short distance from the graves, workers were setting up a white tent where family members and other mourners would take their seats.
Other well-known people who have bought burial sites here are:
Eric Molefe, CEO of the Emerson Group ● Ltd;
Maurice Radebe, executive vice-president ● of energy business at Sasol and chairman of Sasol Oil;
Lebohang “Lebo M” Morake, music ● composer and producer, most notably creator of the score for The Lion King;
Sim Tshabalala, Standard Bank CEO; ● Daphne Mashile-Nkosi, executive chair ● of Kalagadi Manganese, CEO of Kalahari Resources and founder and director of Temoso Technologies; and
Lucas Radebe, soccer legend. ●
A single block here sells for R29 000, and family blocks for up to R300 000.
The burial was attended by close family, friend and dignitaries.
Earlier, thousands of mourners had packed Orlando Stadium to pay tribute to the Mother of the Nation.