Skip to footer

Nelson Mandela grandson: Why he faces rape charge

Nelson Mandela grandson: Mbuso Mandela faces charges of raping a 15 year old girl. Winnie Madikizela-Mandela reportedly tried to intervene on behalf of her grandson.

|
(AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)
Mbuso Mandela, grandson of former South African President Nelson Mandela, walks outside of his grandfather's residence in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 2013. Mandela has appeared in court charged with the alleged rape of a 15-year-old girl at a bar, in the latest scandal to hit the family of the anti-apartheid leader.
  • By Lynsey Chutel Associated Press

| Johannesburg

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela tried to derail a complaint from a teenager accusing Nelson Mandela's grandson of rape, a spokesman for the alleged victim's family said Wednesday.

Madikizela-Mandela, the late Mandela's divorced wife, sent her bodyguard to the 15-year-old girl's home, the spokesman said.

Days before Mbuso Mandela's arrest, the bodyguard appeared at the teenager's house posing as a police officer, the spokesman told the Associated Press. When the bodyguard began asking questions about the alleged rape, the girl's parents demanded he produce a police badge.

"We did ask him, 'If you are a policeman, show us your badge, show us your card,' and he didn't have that," said the spokesman, who refused to allow his name to be used by any of the media.

The bodyguard then revealed that he was there on behalf of Madikizela-Mandela, who invited them to her Soweto home last Thursday to discuss the matter. Madikizela-Mandela, still a politically powerful woman in South Africa, promised to ask the provincial police commissioner to handle the case and said her family would also hold a press conference, the spokesman said.

The family reported the rape when they did not hear from Madikizela-Mandela again.

Madikizela-Mandela's office has not responded to questions.

The rape allegedly took place at a popular restaurant in Greenside, a Johannesburg suburb, on Aug. 7, said police spokeswoman Brig. Mashadi Selepe. The matter was reported to police a week later and Mbuso Mandela was arrested last Saturday, she said.

Mbuso Mandela, 24, is in custody and is to appear at a bail hearing on Friday, Selepe said. He appeared briefly in court Monday when he was charged with rape.

The South African news outlet, The Independent reports:

The accused has been charged with a schedule six offence, where the onus is on him to give detailed reasons why he should be released on bail.

However, if the accused claims the sex was consensual, he is also likely to be prosecuted on an alternative count of statutory rape.

In terms of the Sexual Offence Act, sex with a child under the age of 16 is a criminal act.

You've read 3 of 3 free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Nelson Mandela grandson: Why he faces rape charge
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/2015/0819/Nelson-Mandela-grandson-Why-he-faces-rape-charge
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe
CSM logo

Why is Christian Science in our name?

Our name is about honesty. The Monitor is owned by The Christian Science Church, and we’ve always been transparent about that.

The Church publishes the Monitor because it sees good journalism as vital to progress in the world. Since 1908, we’ve aimed “to injure no man, but to bless all mankind,” as our founder, Mary Baker Eddy, put it.

Here, you’ll find award-winning journalism not driven by commercial influences – a news organization that takes seriously its mission to uplift the world by seeking solutions and finding reasons for credible hope.

Explore values journalism About us