NELSON Mandela’s grandson has issued advice to Meghan Markle, telling her what she needs to do if she wants to compare herself to the likes of an apartheid hero.
Zwelivelile ‘Mandla’ Mandela says the Duchess of Sussex needs to “get out there” and help others after she was criticised for comparing herself to the freedom fighter.
Mandla Mandela, grandson of Nelson Mandela, advised Meghan to ‘get out there’ if she wants to make a difference
The Duchess of Sussex was criticised for saying she was told the South African people celebrated her wedding as they did Mandela’s work
Nelson Mandela won the Noble Peace Prize and is one of the most revered figures of the 20th century
In a recent interview discussing her life with Harry and their kids beyond the Royal Family, she claimed to have been told the South African people celebrated her nuptials as they did Mandela’s freedom.
She revealed: “He said, ‘I just need you to know: When you married into this family, we rejoiced in the streets the same we did when Mandela was freed from prison.’ ”
But now Mandla said the two lack similarities as the work of one man to change a systematic inequality could not be compared to Meghan’s activism efforts to date.
He told The Times: “We would say to people that our struggle cannot be likened to people dancing in the streets and chanting for Madiba’s name.
“It has to speak to the scars and painful past we come from.”
Mandla believes that Meghan’s retelling of the comment has lessens the impact of his grandfather’s great work.
Mandela was the hero of the apartheid struggle who almost single-handedly laid the foundations of a free South Africa.
He spent 26 years in jail and then became the nation’s first black president, won the Noble Peace Prize and is one of the most revered figures of the 20th century.
Mandla said that if Meghan wished to make a change as his grandfather did, she needs to do it from the ground.
He said: “Get out there, pull up your sleeves and better the lives of ordinary people in England and in the United Kingdom.
“For the personality she is, she can do a lot of good in the global community by adopting the causes that Madiba championed.”
Yesterday Mandla slammed her “surprising” comment in which she compared herself to the freedom fighter.
After hearing her gloat about her wedding being praised in a similar light to the Mandela’s achievements, he pointed it one is vastly different from the other.
Speaking to MailOnline, Zwelivelile said: “Madiba’s celebration was based on overcoming 350 years of colonialism with 60 years of a brutal apartheid regime in South Africa.
“So it cannot be equated to as the same.”
The African National Congress MP added: “We are still bearing scars of the past. But they were (Mr Mandela’s celebrations) a product of the majority of our people being brought out onto the streets to exercise the right of voting for the first time.”
Last night Sun columnist Piers Morgan also questioned Meghan’s comments.
He said: “Even by Markle standards, this is a revoltingly self- aggrandising, disingenuous and hypocritical load of royal-bashing tosh.
“The Mandela anecdote alone had me gagging.
“How dare she use her title to keep trashing the institution that gave it to her? Shameless and shameful.”
Meghan told The Cut’s Allison Davis she resented allowing pictures of Archie, three, and Lilibet, one, to be circulated to the media.
The article then goes on to imply her reasoning is down to racist language – appearing to suggest the press had used the n-word to refer to her children.
