Mandela is 'alive and well'

Afrikaners better start packing and head out to the Heilbron Spar. Because old president Nelson Mandela is dead and the night of the long knives is coming.

That is if you believe an internet posting from Racheltjie de Beer, a member of the Suidlanders, an Afrikaner extremist group.

Many Afrikaner organisations, including the Suidlanders and the Boeremag, believe that Mandela’s death will trigger a black-led anti-white campaign called “Operation white cleanup” or “Uhuru”. An information DVD on the feared uprising is also currently being circulated.

This week De Beer claimed the government is covering up Mandela’s death on Sunday. She said the army is already on a 24-hour alert.

On Tuesday, Mandela spokesperson Zelda le Grange dismissed the rumours, confirming that Mandela and his wife, Graça Machel, are on holiday in Mozambique.

The Nelson Mandela Trust said Mandela would attend the birthday celebration of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela on Sunday.

Sally de Beer, spokesperson for police National Commissioner Jackie Selebi, said the police were aware of the Suidlanders’ campaign and said the messages were “scurri-lous and without any foundation.

“Those behind this insensitive and repulsive campaign are clearly not acting in the best interests of the country and their actions are apparently intended to incite racial intolerance and hysteria.”

Cabinet this week said there was no truth in rumours of Mandela’s ill health and that “malicious predictions of conflict” should be ignored.