Nelson Mandela was a living beacon for all things true and just. So the news of one his family tree extensions being involved in an underage rape scandal is understandable accompanied with great sadness and disgust.
Mbuso Mandela, the late freedom fighter’s 24-year-old grandson, has been charged with the rape of a 15-year-old girl in a Johannesburg, South African bar.
Reports NYDailyNews:
Mbuso Mandela, 24, appeared in a Johannesburg court Monday. He will stay in police custody until at least Friday, when he is given a formal bail hearing, South Africa’s Star newspaper reported.
Police said Mandela sexually assaulted a 15-year-old girl Friday while dining at a popular Johannesburg restaurant.
The teenage girl was having dinner with some friends when she excused herself to go to the bathroom, her family’s spokesman told the Daily Sun. Mandela allegedly attacked her inside.
“He grabbed her and raped her inside one of the toilets,” the spokesman said.
After the attack, the Mandela family tried to interfere with cops’ investigation, the victim’s family claimed.
Mandela family matriarch Winnie Madikizela-Mandela sent her bodyguard — disguised as a cop — to the victim’s home, the spokesman said. The undercover bodyguard allegedly told the girl’s family that police would not arrest the suspected rapist.
“When the father asked to see his badge, he didn’t have one. It turned out he had been sent by Winnie,” the family spokesman said.
The fact that it is Nelson Mandela’s grandson intertwined in this struggle makes the struggle that more unsettling.
“Just because they have a famous surname, they think they can get away with crime. Children can’t just be raped and then everything is alright,” the spokesman concluded.
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Photo: AP Archive
