Madiba meets Princess Caroline

Former president Nelson Mandela met Princess Caroline of Monaco at the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Johannesburg on Tuesday.

A frail-looking Mandela emerged from the building with his wife Graca Machel and Princess Caroline to greet the media contingent waiting on the lawn.

Dressed in a silver polka-dot Madiba shirt, black trousers and leaning on a walking stick, Mandela greeted journalists as well as photographers.

Pointing his stick to a short journalist in the crowd, Mandela said: “Aren’t you supposed to be in school?” To which he received the answer, “No, I’m a journalist, Madiba.”

Looking at the princess, Madiba said that he was happy with her arrival.

“I have known her for a long time and she’s still as pretty as ever,” he said. He said he regarded the princess as a very kind and intelligent human being.

Wearing a short khaki dress, white cardigan and flat shoes, Caroline said it was an honour for her to be in South Africa.

The princess spoke of Mandela as a living example of what human beings should aspire to.

“He is a special man of such high standards,” she said.

The princess met Mandela on the last day of her two-week Africa tour. Prior to her arrival the princess had been in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Niger.

The princess’s tour had been focused on helping children through her a non-profit child organisation.

Speaking of her trip, Caroline said her trip had been “very busy and intense”.—Sapa