Mandela’s clan paid 60 cattle for Graca Machel’s hand

JOHANNESBURG, July 25: Nelson Mandela’s clan paid 60 prime cattle for Grace Machel’s hand in marriage and she was “worth every bristle of hair and hoof,” the clan’s king told a newspaper here today.

King Buyelekhaya Zwelibanzi told Star that he and other senior members of Mandela’s royal clan, tembu, had started negotiating the wedding, which took place last Saturday. According to tradition, a group of Mandela’s uncles had visited Machel’s family in Mozambique several times to negotiate the marriage and lobolac – traditional payment to the bride’s family.

Asked if he thought 60 cattle was a good price, the king said: “the number of cows involved in lobola is nobody’s business. “Even if Rolihlahla (Mandela’s other name) had paid a million cows for Graca, she is worth every bristle of hair and hoof.” The king, however, squashed the talk that Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, whom Mandela divorced , was unhappy with the marriage.