Ndileka Mandela
Ndileka Mandela is a social activist, former ICU nurse, and the head of a rural upliftment organisation the Thembekile Mandela Foundation in South Africa.
She is the first born of Madiba "Thembi" Thembekile Mandela who died through car accident while his father was in prison; sister of Nandi Mandela and the eldest grandchild of Nelson Mandela.
In 2017 Mandela became the first member of her family to reject the party of her grandfather, the African National Congress.
In October 2017, as part of the #MeToo campaign to denounce sexual violence, Mandela disclosed for the first time that she had been raped by her then partner in her own bed, five years before. She later said she had been following in her grandfather's footsteps, who had disclosed the HIV status of a family member, in order to combat stigma and call for concerted action against sexual violence.
In response another grandchild of Nelson Mandela, Mandla Mandela, issued a statement praising his cousin and calling on others to follow her example.
In mid-2018, amid a debate on whether Nelson Mandela had been a "sell out", Ndileka Mandela came out in defence of her grandfather's legacy.
