Conjoined twin Mpho Mathibela was glad to meet former president Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg on Tuesday.
Mpho is the surviving twin of the famous Mathibela conjoined twins, Mpho and Mphonyana. They hit headlines when they were born joined at the head at the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital on December 7 1986.
Mphonyana died of pneumonia in 1990, a year after they were separated.
”I’ve seen him in newspaper pictures before. I’m happy to have met Tata Madiba,” said Mpho on Tuesday with a shy smile.
Mandela shook the young woman’s hand and said he was happy to have met her in front of journalists at the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Houghton.
Maggie Nkwe from the Mathibela Trust — which was formed by the Sowetan newspaper when the girls were born — said it had always been Mpho’s wish to meet Mandela and the trust arranged the meeting for her now as a 21st birthday gift.
She will be turning 21 in December.
The twins’ mother, Sophie Mathibela, said Mpho talks about her twin sister when she sees her in the family album. ”She wishes they had grown up together. That’s what she tells me every time she sees pictures in the family album.”
Nkwe said she and the mayor of Klerksdorp, China Doduvu, are planning a two-day party on Mpho’s birthday.
”We will do an African ritual on Friday where she will go to her sister’s grave. She will then party with orphaned children on Saturday and we will have an evening event as well,” she said. — Sapa