By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The granddaughter of Nelson Mandela, Ndileka Mandela, has broken her silence following the release of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s new Netflix docu-series, Live To Lead.
The series, follows their bombshell documentary, Harry & Meghan, and comes ahead of Harry’s memoir, Spare. It is inspired by Nelson Mandela, the couple says. The synopsis for Live To Lead reads: “Several world leaders committed to making a difference in the world share their life stories.”
Ndileka Mandela, however, tells The Australian: “Harry needs to be authentic and stick to his own story. What relevance does grandad’s life have with his?”
She continues: “I don’t believe he nor Meghan have ever properly met granddad, maybe when Harry was young at Buckingham Palace, but they are using his quotations in the documentary to draw in people and make millions without the Mandela family benefiting.”
The social activist says: “I know the Nelson Mandela Foundation has supported the initiative but people have stolen grandfather’s quotes for years and have used his legacy because they know his name sells – Harry and Meghan are no different from them.”
Though Harry & Meghan quickly became Netflix’ biggest documentary debut, Live To Lead failed to make it into Netflix’s global top 10 chart, Newsweek reports, citing data published by Netflix one day after the series’ release.
This isn’t the first time the couple have quoted Nelson Mandela since their exit from the firm.
In 2021, on Nelson Mandela Day, the Duke of Sussex gave a speech recalling a memorable photograph he and Meghan were gifted by Archbishop Desmond Tutu when they visited South Africa in 2019 – the country to which they considered moving to, as confirmed in Harry & Meghan.
In August, Meghan gave an interview, revealing an exchange with a cast member of The Lion King who, she claimed, compared her to the struggle stalwart after she married into the institution.
The Cut interview drew backlash from South Africans – who’d also created a #voetsekMeghan hashtag in response to the former actor’s Archetypes podcast and the comments she’d made about her time in South Africa – and got a response from Mandla Mandela.
“Nelson Mandela’s release from jail was the culmination of nearly 350 years of struggle in which generations of our people paid with their lives,” he said. “It can never be compared to the celebration of someone’s wedding.”