Wedding bells put on ice
ZONDWA AND LINDO 'TIRED'
NEWLY-WEDS Zondwa Gaddafi Mandela and his bride Lindo Zici have postponed their white wedding that was planned for next month, with the celebrations now being penciled in for later this year.
The 27-year-old Zondwa is Zindzi Mandela s eldest son.
Zindzi is former president Nelson Mandela and his ex-wife Winnie s second daughter. The bride, an SABC TV producer who hails from Hillcrest, a township 2km outside Mthatha north, exclusively confirmed to Sunday World that she and Zondwa have decided to postpone the white wedding celebration. We decided to shift the date because we are tired after the huge traditional wedding ceremony and the festive season. We haven t set the exact date for the celebrations later this year, so everything is still in the planning stages,” says Zici.
The two tied the knot in a high profile traditional wedding ceremony in Qunu village in the Eastern Cape last September.
The ceremony was at Mandela s homestead, with its Tus- can-style villa overlooking the hills of the remote semi-rural area.
The couple has two kids aged two and 11 months and have been living together for more than four years.
Though reasons for the postponement have been kept a secret, insiders say it is because of Nelson Mandela s illness.
Mandela fell sick in December last year and was admitted to a Pretoria hospital for three weeks.
The Presidency later announced that he had chest problems, but he was later operated on to remove gall stones.
During the traditional wedding the bride s in-laws gave her the married name of Nondzolo (meaning peace or quietness).
Giving a bride a new name is part of the amaXhosa culture and her in-laws will now call her by the new name.
A neighbour and Mandela family relative, Silumko Mandela, says the white wedding is expected to be more glamorous. You know these things the traditional wedding is low-key but the trend is to pull out all the stops for the white wedding. But the wedding guests really enjoyed themselves and it was beautiful, with members of both families, friends and neighbours wishing the couple well in their marriage,” says Mandela.