Its most prominent member was Nelson Mandela, who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999.
The Mandelas are direct descendants of the AmaHala clan, the ruling dynasty of the Kingdom of AbaThembu,[1] as a result, their leader has traditionally had a hereditary claim to both membership of the Thembu king's privy council and the chieftaincy of the town of Mvezo that is subject to his authority.
[4] Due to this, in lieu of having a place in the line of succession, he and his heirs were recognized as privy councillors thereafter.
[5][6][7] The prince's own son, Gadla Henry Mphakanyiswa Mandela, was later also given the title of the chief of Mvezo by his relative, the king of Thembuland, as a further marker of the family's eminence.
During the title's abeyance, the claim to it passed to Chief Mandela's son Nelson, who would never inherit it.