On stage at NYU School of Professional Studies, two women sit side-by-side, their regal postures and thoughtful expressions hinting at a weighty legacy. Dr. Makaziwe "Maki" Mandela and her daughter Tukwini Mandela have traveled far from their home in South Africa, but they carry with them something that cannot be packed in a suitcase - the enduring spirit of Nelson Mandela.
Born in Johannesburg and raised in Soweto, Dr. Maki Mandela is the eldest daughter of Nelson Mandela and his first wife, Evelyn Mase. Her journey from the townships to the halls of academia and the boardrooms of major corporations is a record of the transformative power of education and perseverance.
After completing her initial studies in South Africa, including a BA in Social Work from Fort Hare University and an Honours Degree in Sociology from the University of Natal, Dr. Mandela's academic pursuits took her across the Atlantic. In 1984, she was awarded a Fulbright Foreign Scholarship and a Fulbright Distinguished Fellowship to study at the University of Massachusetts in the United States, where she earned a Masters in Sociology and a Doctorate in Anthropology.
This rigorous academic background, combined with her unique personal history, has shaped Dr. Mandela into a formidable intellect and a powerful advocate for social change. Her career has spanned academia, corporate leadership, and entrepreneurship, always with a focus on empowering women and uplifting disadvantaged communities.
As the daughter and granddaughter of one of history's most revered figures, Maki and Tukwini find themselves in the unique position of being both torchbearers and trailblazers. They are tasked with preserving Mandela's monumental legacy while simultaneously forging their own paths in a rapidly changing world. It's a delicate balance, one that requires both reverence for the past and a bold vision for the future.
"We are not here to make people happy," Maki says with quiet determination, echoing her father's unyielding commitment to justice over popularity. "We are here to tell the truth."
The truth, as Maki and Tukwini see it, is that the work of Nelson Mandela remains unfinished. While apartheid may have formally ended, its long shadow still darkens the lives of many South Africans. Economic inequality persists. Racial tensions simmer. The promise of a truly free and equal society remains frustratingly out of reach.
Yet rather than being daunted by the scale of the challenge, the Mandela women seem invigorated by it. They have taken up the mantle of social change not as a burden, but as a calling.
"My grandfather always said that when you climb one hill, you look up and see there are more hills to climb," Tukwini explains. "You take a pause, you revive yourself, and then you move on. You never stop."
This restless drive to keep pushing forward is evident in the varied pursuits of both women. Dr. Mandela's career is a celebration of her versatility and commitment to social progress. She has held executive positions at major corporations like Nestlé SA and the Development Bank of Southern Africa, where she served as Executive Manager of Corporate Services. Her work has consistently focused on the economic empowerment of women, particularly through her involvement with Nozala, a women's investment group.
Tukwini, combining her background in social work with an entrepreneurial spirit, has focused on building the House of Mandela brand as a vehicle for both commerce and social impact.
Their flagship venture, House of Mandela wines, offers a window into their approach. On one level, it's a savvy business capitalizing on the Mandela name. But scratch beneath the surface, and you find layers of meaning and intentionality.
"We started in the wine industry, which was a very difficult industry to penetrate because it's very European male dominated," Maki recalls. "Most of the people said, you know, ladies come along. We'll help you. Actually, it was a coded way of saying, come along ladies, but you will never survive."
Rather than being discouraged, Maki and Tukwini saw an opportunity - not just to prove the naysayers wrong, but to change the very culture of the industry. They've made it a priority to uplift South African farmers and vintners, to champion sustainable practices, and to infuse their products with the spirit of ubuntu - the African philosophy of interconnectedness and shared humanity.
"If a product doesn't fit our story, we just won't do it," Tukwini says firmly. "We don't care how much money it could potentially make us, because ultimately in the final count of all things, it's how this name will live in posterity and the legacy that it leaves behind."
This fierce protection of the Mandela legacy is a recurring theme in our conversation. Both women speak with barely concealed frustration about the commercialization and, at times, trivialization of Nelson Mandela's image and message.
"People find it very easy to commercialize, right?" Tukwini says, a hint of exasperation creeping into her voice. "And they don't necessarily understand the backstory."
It's clear that for Maki and Tukwini, safeguarding the Mandela name is about far more than trademark protection or brand management. It's about ensuring that the profound moral weight of Nelson Mandela's life and struggle isn't reduced to a catchy slogan or a face on a t-shirt.
"We want to preserve the legacy," Maki says simply.
But what exactly does preserving that legacy mean in the 21st century? How do you translate the principles that guided Nelson Mandela's fight against apartheid into a roadmap for addressing today's complex, interconnected global challenges?
For Maki and Tukwini, the answer lies not in rigidly adhering to the past, but in creatively reinterpreting Mandela's core values for a new era. This approach is exemplified in their work with the House of Mandela Family Foundation, established in 2017. The foundation's ambitious goals include improving the livelihoods of poor communities and advocating for social issues that affect African communities, such as HIV/AIDS, education, health, agriculture, women's empowerment, and promoting alternative energy sectors.
Take, for example, their approach to the thorny issue of identity politics. In an age of increasing polarization and tribalism, the Mandela women advocate for a more expansive view of identity and belonging.
"My parents and grandparents always taught us to be better global citizens," Tukwini explains.
"And that we could learn from every culture, and that forms who we are as persons. We are not to identify ourselves by a race or a color or our gender, but by who we wanted to become in this universe and what we wanted to contribute."
This emphasis on shared humanity over narrow tribal affiliations is pure Mandela. But Maki and Tukwini aren't content to simply parrot their patriarch's words. They're actively grappling with how to apply his universalist ethos to the pressing issues of our time.
On gender equality, for instance, Maki argues for a both/and approach that acknowledges the need for women's empowerment while also engaging men as partners in progress.
"I don't think we also need to change who we are as women and become like men to be able to be successful and make an impact," she says. "There's a lot that we have naturally given to us by God that we have to teach these men to be more - if we want a world where there's peace, we as women have got to lead because it comes natural to us. Teach them compassion, teach them empathy, teach them to nurture and care and be kinder and gentler people."
This nuanced perspective - at once uncompromising in its demand for equality and deeply empathetic in its recognition of our shared humanity - feels like a desperately needed antidote to the often shrill and divisive rhetoric that dominates public discourse.
As the conversation winds down, I'm struck by the seeming paradox at the heart of Maki and Tukwini's mission. They are simultaneously working to elevate the Mandela name while also insisting that the power to create change lies within each of us.
"All of us have the Madiba or the Mandela qualities within us," Maki says, using Nelson Mandela's clan name. "All of us have the Gandhi or Martin Luther King qualities within us."
She points to the spontaneous outpouring of mutual aid and community support during the COVID-19 pandemic as evidence of our innate capacity for leadership and compassion.
"People just spontaneously realized that I had to help a fellow human being," she says. "And we fail to expose those moments of greatness and kindness as human beings one human to the other and we forget about them, but we can exploit them to address any issue that we face in our communities."
As Maki and Tukwini rise to leave, there's a palpable sense of both the weight they carry and the hope they embody. They are living links to one of history's great moral leaders, tasked with preserving his legacy. But they are also vibrant, complex individuals charting their own course and wrestling with the challenges of our time.
In their ability to hold these seeming contradictions - to be both keepers of tradition and agents of change, to think globally while acting locally, to demand justice while preaching compassion - Maki and Tukwini Mandela offer a model of leadership sorely needed in our fractured world.
They are torch bearers in the truest sense - not merely keeping an old flame alive, but using it to light the way forward.
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