The granddaughter of Nelson Mandela tells of the heartache at the death of her 13-year-old daughter in a car crash in June 2010 as well as her decade-long battle with addiction to drugs and alcohol and being diagnosed with breast cancer last year. Photo: Getty Images
Zoleka Mandela, granddaughter of Mandela says she was sexually abused as a child.
In her autobiography, ‘When Hope whispers’ released on Monday, November 11, 2013, she narrates how she was sexually abused as a child, how her children died and accused her family of neglect.
‘From the time I was barely eight years old to the age of 14, I had been sexually abused by some of the adults who should have been looking after me. ‘For years I blamed her (her mother Zindzi Mandela) for the physical and sexual abuse I was subjected to as a child. My feeling was that if she had been there for me, she could have prevented it and I could have been protected. I have come to realise she probably did the best she could’, 33year-old Zoleka wrote in her book.
She details her personal frustration at losing her children and battling with cancer. ‘I felt like I was in a horror film, and I was finding it impossible to even comprehend. I’d had Zenani and Zenawe taken from me, and now there was the sudden reality that I may never again breast-feed or carry another pregnancy’.
Zoleke, a breast cancer survivor and road safety activist hopes that her life will inspire people to follow many of their dreams despite life’s expected flows.
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