Rehana Rossouw
RECENTLY divorced President Nelson Mandela is not in the market for a first (or should it be third?) lady. He can cope perfectly well on his own, say his staff.
But bachelor presidents are the exception rather than the rule, with most heads of state relying on their wives to lend a helping hand, particularly at ceremonial occassions.
Mandela does require an escort occasionally, especially during state visits to South Africa and his visits abroad. Three women fill that role: his two daughters with Winnie, Zenani and Zinzi and his grandaughter Rochelle Mtirara. While Mtirara is not a blood relative, she is the grandaughter of King Sabata Dalindyebo and regarded as Mandela’s relative by custom.
Conspicuously absent from his choices is his daughter from his first marriage, Dr Maki Mandela, University of Witwatersrand affirmative action officer. Relations between Mandela and Maki have been strained since 1994 when she publicly called on people not to vote for the ANC and declared her support for the Democratic Party. She did not respond to requests for comment.
“The choice of which of the three escorts the president uses depends a lot on their own schedules. Zinzi and Zenani have families of their own and are not always available,” said Mandela’s spokesman Parks Mankahlana.
Zenani accompanied Mandela on his official visit to New Zealand last year. He has not yet informed his staff who will join him on his visit to England and France in July.
Mankahlana said Mandela did not believe South Africa needed an official first lady and could cope on his own with state visits to South Africa. On his state visits abroad, however, he required someone to accompany his host’s wife.
The last two South African heads of state were far more concerned with protocol arrangements than Mandela, and he had dispensed with many of their traditions since assuming office, Mankahlana said.
While Elize Botha was better known for her sunny smile and garish dresses, Marieke de Klerk played a more active role in supporting her husband. De Klerk was not shy of political involvement either, heading up the National Party’s women’s organisation and standing in for her husband at party gatherings during the 1994 election campaign.
South Africa’s chief of state visits Kingsley Makhubela said he believed the position of first lady was a waste of taxpayers’ money. “Unlike the United States which has an office of the first lady and tasks laid down by law, South Africa has no such arrangement,” said Makhubela. “Hilary Clinton is so politically involved that Clinton once quipped ‘you voted for one, but got two instead’.”
He said first ladies were not elected officials, and that fact could cause problems if they involved themselves in the running of the country. “So it is better that we do not follow the example of the United States, it is a waste of taxpayers’ money to establish an official position of first lady.”