“Mandela must stay in Johannesburg”.
This was the sentiment from Qunu chieftainess Nokwanele Balizulu on Sunday, despite members of the village pining for and calling for former president Nelson Mandela to return to his ancestral home to recover among close family and friends.
Balizulu said that they had been told Mandela was going to come back two weeks ago - before they heard he was ill and that they had been preparing for his return.
She told The Mercury that she hoped Mandela would stay in Joburg so as to get the best treatment available.
“I’m just thinking of him because the hospitals around here are far and aren’t the best.
“People might want to see him despite his ill health and come with their problems to him. Mandela, being the man he is, will want to listen and see people, so he must just stay in Houghton. He’s really old, we just want him to rest.”
The chieftainess lives across the road from Mandela’s homestead in a pale-green house with a small tuckshop and a post office inside her yard.
She has been the chieftain of Qunu since 1996 after her husband, chief Sonwabo, died a few months after returning from Robben Island.
Balizulu spoke on behalf of the villagers and said: “We are not trying to be disobedient to God, but when we look at him, he’s our Jesus. By him saying something - it happens.”
A few media representatives were still staked outside the Mandela house on Sunday morning as rumours that the former ANC leader was going to arrive by helicopter did the rounds among journalists.
A police guard at the Mandela house, Sam Mbulali, who was stationed outside the tall walls that enclose Mandela’s residence, said they had no information of his arrival.
King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo, leader of the AbaThembu nation, and Mandela’s nephew, condemned the presence of the media in Qunu.
People around the village said they had heard by word of mouth that Mandela had been released from hospital.
“You’d walk past a person and they’d say: ‘Hey, did you hear? uTata is alright,’ “ said one villager.
On Sunday churches around the village, and in Mthatha, conducted special services in honour of Madiba. - The Mercury