Nelson Mandela had given up the right of Thembu leader nearly 70 years prior to fight white rule in South Africa.
When the younger Mandela became chief in 2007, he was only 32 years old and most of his duties were said to involve tribal ceremonies, settling disputes among clan members, and representing the tribe on political issues.
[5] Prior to both his succession to the chieftaincy and his election to parliament, he attended Waterford Kamhlaba, a United World College in Swaziland (now Eswatini), until 1995.
His second wife is Anaïs Grimaud, a French citizen born in 1990 in Réunion, who changed her name to Nkosikazi Nobubele.
During a conference in Dakar, Senegal, hosted by the Pan African Palestinian Solidarity Network, Mandela placed the blame for the Russian invasion of Ukraine to "neo-Nazis," Israel, and NATO.
[11][12] In October 2024, the United Kingdom denied Mandela a visa over his “support for Hamas” and his attendance at the funeral of its leader, Ismael Haniyeh.