South Africa’s Mandela Royal House has asked the main opposition Democratic Alliance party to desist from using former president Nelson Mandela’s name while electioneering for the 8 May national polls.
Mandla, the grandson of the late icon and who heads the royal house, on Monday said the DA must stop “pretending to be the upholders of Mandela’s legacy.”
This follows the DA’s mounting of a billboard in the heart of Johannesburg, using Nelson Mandela’s name as part of the opposition party’s campaign tactics.
“They are guilty of abusing the Mandela name and legacy to further their own narrow class interests,” Mandla Mandela said.
He added: “Royal House of Mandela is unequivocal in its position that those who stand united with apartheid Israel, as the DA and their leader Mmusi Maimane do, are no friends of the Mandela legacy.”
The royal house said it threw its weight behind the ruling African National Congress during the election campaign, saying it was a party of “true unity.”
“The DA is highly opportunistic to campaign in President Mandela’s name, while totally disregarding our global icon’s own position about who represents the interests of the people of South Africa and who has been able to represent the majority of South Africans since the dawn of democracy,” Mandela said.
NM/jn/APA