/ 24 February 1999

Madiba visits “Rain Queen”

President Nelson Mandela met South Africa’s “Rain Queen”, Modjadji V, on Tuesday to discuss development and traditional leaders’ powers. During his visit in the Letaba valley about 400km north of Pretoria, Mandela, who was accompanied by a delegation of businessmen, promised to support development in the region, one of the poorest in the country. Modjadji’s Bolebedu tribe believe she inherited magic powers, including those of “transforming the clouds”. Like other traditional leaders in South Africa, the queen has complained that her authority has been eroded by the African National Congress government.