Mandela relative´s death mars World Cup opening

The death of a great granddaughter of South African icon Nelson Mandela after a World Cup concert cast a tragic shadow over the start of the world’s biggest sporting event on Friday.

Mandela’s 13-year-old great granddaughter, Zenani Mandela, was killed when her car overturned on a Johannesburg highway after South Africa’s World Cup concert, his office said.

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, Nelson Mandela’s ex-wife, contrary to earlier reports, was not in the car crash that killed her great granddaughter, Nelson Mandela’s office said Friday, but she was taken to hospital because of her shock at the news.

Mandela was considering calling off his presence at the World Cup opening match as his family was plunged into mourning. The former president’s entourage pleaded for privacy.

The tragic accident came less than 12 hours before gates were to open for the opening match between South Africa and Mexico. Mandela had planned to attend at least part of the game.

“We are all still dealing with the shock of the passing of the child,” said Sello Hating, spokesman for the Mandela Foundation. “We need to afford Madiba and his family the time to mourn,” he said.

The car driver, also a Mandela family member who has not been identified, has been arrested as police investigate charges of culpable homicide, police said.

The accident highlighted South Africa’s rudimentary public transport, which along with its high crime rates has driven some concerns that the country was no fit place to stage an event of such magnitude.

The hosts hope that a successful tournament with world renowned names such as Argentina’s Lionel Messi, Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo and England’s Wayne Rooney will overturn perceptions of Africa as the hopeless continent — a place regarded by many as synonomous with war, famine and AIDS.

All the stadiums and World Cup infrastructure projects have been completed in time although crime is still a worry. Journalists have been robbed at gunpoint and thieves have even stolen cash from the rooms of some of the Greek team.

In an address to the crowds at the star concert in Soweto on Thursday night, where Mandela’s great-granddaughter had been, South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma underlined that he regarded the event as more than just a test of the country’s credentials.

“Africa is hosting this tournament. South Africa is the stage,” said Zuma.

The first of the tournament’s 63 matches takes place at Soccer City, a showpiece arena rebuilt to resemble an African calabash cooking pot and which lies a stone’s throw from the iconic Soweto township.

The one-time sprawling network of tin shacks — which is now home to millionaires and Africa’s largest shopping mall — was the frontline of the battle against the white supremacist apartheid regime which finally collapsed in 1994 with the election of Mandela as president.

The 91-year-old, a resident of Soweto before being jailed for 27 years, was seen as the deciding factor in the governing body FIFA’s decision to choose South Africa to stage the first ever World Cup in the poorest continent.

Nearly 95,000 supporters will be packed into the stadium to watch the opening ceremony and then the South Africa-Mexico match which promises to be an ear-splitting affair with the tuneless vuvuzela plastic horn a must-have accessory for all South African fans.

After the game in Johannesburg, Cape Town will host the 1998 winners France and Uruguay, who won the first-ever tournament in 1930.

A massive security operation has been drawn up for the tournament with 44,000 extra police recruited to keep order. Roads around the stadiums have been declared off limits and bomb squads will sweeping the seats before the gates open.

Some 20 African heads of state are expected at the opening, along with UN chief Ban Ki-moon and US Vice President Joe Biden.