Mandela, Machel share the gift of love
By : Jovial Rantao
The glass doors swing open. Through them emerge two figures, important yet humble human beings, hand-in-hand.
The one is probably the world's most recognisable icon and political leader - Nelson Mandela. Holding his hand lovingly in support is his wife of eight years - Graça Machel.
Machel is regal and stunning in her maroon suit and traditional braids. Her face has a special glow that reflects happiness and satisfaction.
Her husband is equally resplendent in his traditional Madiba shirt. The couple have just enjoyed morning tea together in their huge, beautifully decorated dining room and have come through to accept a birthday cake for Mandela from readers.
"Hello," Machel says with a smile as she carefully helps Mandela walk towards our party. Madiba also extends his greetings.
We shake hands and reality hits home - the hero of our generation is getting on.
His eyes remain good, his memory faultless, but his knees have begun to tell the story of a man who was born 88 years ago in rural Qunu, in the Eastern Cape, a man who went on to become an international face for the struggle for freedom.
After his release from prison in 1990, he became an even greater icon for reconciliation, reconstruction and development of nations coming out of trying times.
As Mandela and Machel move closer together to pose for a photo, we pop the question: "So what did you get him for his birthday?"
She smiles, looks at him and looks back at us: "It's a secret."
At that moment, Mandela jokingly interjects: "She doesn't even give me a kiss."
"Hau! But you get kisses every day," comes the reply, also with a smile.
As they speak, their eyes meet, and the electricity - billions of megawatts of it - is there.
They are like starry-eyed teenagers. Spurred on by the talk of romance, Machel asks photographer Debbie Yazbek to shoot a frame of them kissing.
She is, however, quite clear on the condition under which the photo is taken: "This is for our private (collection) and not for you guys (for publication)."
A second later, we witness an extraordinary moment. It's one that will be indelible.
Mandela and Machel look at each other. They smile. Their eyes seem to close... and they kiss. So quick is the kiss that it isn't captured on camera.
"Please do it again," pleads our award-winning photographer. They oblige.
What a beautiful moment it is. So perfect and so romantic. So much love. And it dawns on us that, in addition to Mandela's birthday, the couple are celebrating their eighth wedding anniversary.
Good wishes follow and the couple smile in appreciation.
On July 18, 1998, Mandela and Machel tied the knot after a love affair that is likely to go down as the best-kept secret in South Africa and Mozambique.
The marriage came not too long after Mandela's lifelong friend and neighbour Archbishop Desmond Tutu said the time had come for the former president to get some companionship.
"He needs someone to get him his slippers in the morning," Tutu had said.
Through her marriage to Mandela, Machel rewrote the history books. She became the first woman to be married, at different times, to two heads of state.
But Machel is a leader in her own right. She is known to be fiercely independent and compassionate. She runs her own children's foundation in Maputo and is an ambassador for the United Nations Children's Fund.
She also serves on several boards of trustees.
So influential and powerful is she, that political analysts have not ruled out the possibility of her becoming Mozambique's president one day.
After posing for several pictures, Mandela and Machel apologise that they have to leave to honour yet another appointment, part of a series of events organised to mark his 88th birthday.
Machel also apologises for not being able to offer us tea. In true African tradition, she asks us to stay behind after they leave and have something to drink.
She then asks for Mandela's coat. She wants him to put it on.
Mandela enquires about the weather and is quickly convinced by his wife that he needs to cover his frail body because he is going to spend some time at a private clinic in the company of Albertinah Sisulu, a fellow ANC veteran and widow of his late friend and comrade Walter.
At the clinic he will be meeting up with former United States president Bill Clinton.
Clinton is the only president who during his term in office was as tall as or even slightly taller than Mandela.
The coat is brought in by support staff.
Machel takes it and begins lovingly to help Mandela to put it on. First comes the right hand. Then the left. Then she begins to do up his buttons.
"You won't need the gloves," she tells him.
As he takes her hand and they walk away they are clearly a couple deeply in love.
What a perfect picture that makes.
# Jovial Rantao is the deputy editor of The Star and editor of The Sunday Independent
Posted by: www.SouthAfrica-CarHire.com
News Source: www.iol.co.za
