Winnie's final resting place
Employees of the exclusive Fourways Memorial Park are seen preparing Winnie Madikizela-Mandela's grave site. Pic: Itumeleng English/ANA Employees of the exclusive Fourways Memorial Park are seen preparing Winnie Madikizela-Mandela's grave site. Pic: Itumeleng English/ANA
A lemon tree hangs over Struggle icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s final resting place.
Employees of the exclusive Fourways Memorial Park are hard at work ensuring that the stalwart’s grave is in perfect condition before she’s laid to rest there next weekend.
Mound by mound, a group of men remove soil to prepare her final resting place.
Her grave site is just a few steps away from her great-granddaughter’s, Zenani Zanethemba Nomasonto Mandela and baby Zenawe Mandela, who died two days after her birth in 2011, on the family’s plot at the memorial park.
Close relatives told the media this week that her family’s wishes were that she be buried there.
Zenani was buried in 2010. She was just 13 when she was killed in a car crash in the early hours of June 11 2010 after attending the Fifa World Cup kick-off concert at the Orlando Stadium in Soweto.
She was the grandchild of Madikizela-Mandela’s daughter, Zindzi.
When Mama Winnie arrives, they will be together in a tranquil space reserved for her family. The burial park is located in the grounds of a former flower farm.
Situated in Craigavon, Sandton, the memorial park is where the country’s revered and wealthy lay their loved ones to rest.
It has 24-hour guards, a 2.4m-high perimeter wall, electric fencing, armed response and uses access control. Prices range from R19000 for a child’s grave to R300000 for family estates.
Employees of the exclusive Fourways Memorial Park are seen preparing Winnie Madikizela-Mandela's grave site. Pic: Itumeleng English/ANA
Mama Winnie will be surrounded by some of South Africa’s most influential. It is where former Bafana Bafana captain Lucas Radebe chose to bury his wife Feziwe.
It is where Rwandan-born billionaire Miko Alexis Rwayitare’s family wanted him to rest. The family of George Sombonos, founder of popular chicken franchise Chicken Licken, come here to pay their respects to the influential businessman.
Prominent artists, poets, anthropologists and influential political figures have also been buried here alongside their loved ones.
The Mandela family plot is a stone’s throw away from the Kupane family plot, where David Kupane and his daughter Angela are buried.
The Kupanes own one of the most popular funeral parlours in the country.
Madikizela-Mandela’s funeral will be handled by Kupane funerals. The government announced this week Ma Winnie’s burial would be part of a “Special Official Funeral Category 1”.
Three current and former South African state presidents are expected to attend and the proceedings will be broadcast internationally.
Wikus Lategan, the chief executive of Calgro M3, which owns the Fourways Memorial Park, said out of respect for the family’s privacy, he wasn’t able to discuss any details about the stalwart’s funeral.