On Thursday February 20, 2014, Ndileka Mandela took great pleasure in launching her newly formed foundation in memory of her father, Thembekile Mandela. Thembekile Mandela is Nelson Mandela’s eldest child from his first wife, Evelyn Mase. He died at the age of 24 in a car accident on July 13, 1969, just a little over 4 years after Ndileka Mandela was born. At the time of his death, Nelson Mandela was in prison and was denied permission to attend his funeral.
Ndileka Mandela quotes her grandfather “We can change the world and make it a better place. It is in your hands to make a difference”. She wants to contribute the rest of her life to make this difference and continue the legacy of her grandfather.
When Nelson Mandela retired in 1999, he founded the Nelson Mandela Foundation (NMF) which consisted of 3 pillars, namely:
Ø Education
Ø Health
Ø HIV/AIDS
He raised substantial funds to build clinics and schools in the rural areas.
When he retired from active duty from the foundation, these programmes continued for a time. In 2010, the NMF rebranded and discontinued these programmes and it became the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory. This entity now houses all archival material pertaining to Nelson Mandela and the various luminaries in our liberation struggle.
Ndileka Mandela felt it was extremely necessary to continue the values he believed in and has now founded the Tembekile Mandela Foundation. This foundation will have 2 pillars, namely:
Ø Education
Ø Health
In 2012, Ndileka Mandela adopted the Clarkebury School, in the province of Nelson Mandela’s birth. This is the school that he attended in his early school going years and which helped to shape his young mind.
This school has a long history in the Mandela family as it is built on the land that Nelson Mandela’s great grandfather, Chief Ngubengcuka, donated to the missionaries in the early 1800s. Even in those early years, Chief Ngubengcuka was a visionary who knew it was essential to bring education to his people. Although he was uneducated, he knew that for his people to progress, education was key.
It is against this background that Ndileka Mandela has founded the Thembekile Mandela Foundation. Her passion and life’s mission is to promote the 2 pillars of this foundation – Education and Health.
The significance of this official media launch announcing the vision and mission of the Thembekile Mandela Foundation will be held on the 20th February, because it is close to her birthday on February 22 and her father’s birthday on February 23. He would have been 67 years old.
Education is the great engine of personal development.
It is through education that the daughter of a peasant can become a doctor,
that a son of a mineworker can become the head of a mine ,
that a child of a farmworker can become the president of a great nation.
It is what we make out of what we have, not what we are given, that separates one person from another.
- Nelson Mandela -
