On the last day of Mandela’s life, 5 December 2013, following a long and painful illness, it was the presence of his grandson, Mandla, by his side that helped to ease his passing. That day, Mandla, who was in Qunu at the time, had a deep conviction that he had to fly to Johannesburg to visit his grandfather.

When he entered Mandela’s Houghton residence, Mandla went up to the bedroom where Mandela was lying unconscious, as he had been for weeks. Just a few moments later, Machel joined them. She came in quietly and sat in a chair near the two men, listening as Mandla talked to his grandfather.

Mandla spoke to Mandela for about an hour and a half, recalling his memories of their time together, and emphasising how significant Mandela had been ‘in shaping the person that I’ve become. Without him, I would have never been able to achieve half of the things that I [have],’ Mandla says.

Mandla wanted his grandfather to know that he had done everything that was necessary to make him a man capable of taking care of himself. He then began naming members of the family who had already passed, including Mandela’s children, siblings and parents, and concluded with a call to Mandela to join his mother, Nosekeni, in the afterlife.

‘Today I release you to your mother,’ Mandla said to his grandfather, ‘for she brought you into this world. I send you back to her. That umbilical cord that was cut, let it today be joined so that the ancestors of this family can welcome you into the next life and the superior being.’

Attempting to reach out

When Mandla uttered these words, his grandfather started to stir, surprising Machel. She watched as Mandela nodded and tried to say something, his lips moving silently, before attempting to reach out for his grandson’s hand. Mandla held onto Mandela’s hand, feeling ‘really satisfied because I felt that I had done what I had come to do on that particular day’.

He shares the memory of this special occasion with his Aunt Graça, who – along with the doctors present in the room at the time – was visibly moved by the exchange between the two Mandela men. Soon afterwards, her husband’s organs began to fail.

Mandla had already left the house at this point, but he received a call advising him to return as his grandfather had died. Graça Machel spoke to those present at the house after Mandela’s death, attributing her husband’s final, peaceful goodbye to the words of his grandson, who, she said, had ‘released Madiba’ after weeks of his being visited by so many people, including Winnie and other members of his family, and enduring so much. She added that Mandla might possess a ‘gift’ which allowed him to do as much.

Also present at the house during Mandela’s passing was Reverend Vukile Mehana, who was standing in for Bishop Ziphozihle Siwa [the presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church at the time] to perform the last rites.

Mehana had also visited Mandela when he was in hospital in Pretoria, during which time he and other Methodist clerics ‘kept close to him and the family and very quietly would go and minister to him.

For us as people of the church that he belonged to, it was not for the cameras: for us it was a ministry to the family and to him,’ says Mehana.

Prepared for any eventuality

Throughout the time that Mandela was in a coma, those ministers were present, ready to be called on to attend to him. All of them, especially Bishop Siwa and the general secretary of the South African Council of Churches, Bishop Malusi Mpumlwana of the Ethiopian Episcopal Church, were ‘always prepared for any eventuality’, and ‘journeyed with the family as the Methodist Church leadership’, Mehana asserts.

For Mandela’s last rites, Mehana held a service that was attended by the entire Mandela family. He had not prepared a sermon, he says. Instead, the reverend called on God to speak to him through the written word in order to ‘prepare the departure of the soul and very deeply to intercede with God to receive Mandela’s soul’.

At the same time, Mehana was also there to prepare the family pastorally that the hour has come. Mehana describes Mandela’s passing as ‘so peaceful’, and declares, ‘I know that he is resting in God’s arms. I know that.’

Bishop Malusi Mpumlwana was also at the Mandela residence on the night of the former president’s death. He was in a private room, saying a prayer from Mandela’s favourite Bible verse, Numbers 6: 24–26:

The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face shine on you
and be gracious to you;
the Lord turn his face toward you and
give you peace.

Bishop Mpumlwana had been reciting the verse at around 8.50pm on the evening of 5 December 2013, and only found out later that Mandela had died while he was saying this prayer.

Not at Mandela’s bedside was his friend and personal chaplain, Bishop Don Dabula, who had been summoned by the Mandela family but was unable to get a flight to Johannesburg from the Transkei that evening.

After performing the last rites, Mehana called his colleague, Reverend Vido Nyobole, to inform him of Nelson Mandela’s death, so that he could go ahead with the coordination of the funeral.

President Jacob Zuma made the announcement later that night that Mandela had died, telling the world that South Africa had ‘lost its greatest son’. DM168

Dennis Cruywagen is also the author of Brothers in War and Peace. He was the recipient of two Harvard fellowships – a Nieman and a Mason.

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R25.