naijaXclusive: nelson mandela

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<img alt="Not only is Nelson Mandela the former president of South Africa and a Nobel Peace Prize winner, but he is also a father, grandfather and even great-grandfather of a huge family. Mandela has been married three times and has fathered six children. Here he poses with his wife of 15 years, Graca Machel. " border="0" height="360" id="articleGalleryPhoto001" src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/130626195845-01-mandela-family-horizontal-gallery.jpg" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2) 0px 0px 0px; background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border-bottom-left-radius: 0px; border-bottom-right-radius: 0px; border-top-left-radius: 0px; border-top-right-radius: 0px; border: 1px solid transparent; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2) 0px 0px 0px; margin: 0px auto; padding: 8px;" width="640" /></div>
 Nelson Mandela once said his wife, Graca Machel, makes him "bloom like a flower." Despite her reluctance to marry him at first, they've been inseparable since they tied the knot on his 80th birthday. 
 Here are 10 things to know about the woman who was at the international icon's side to the very end. 
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<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;">She's been First Lady of two nations, buried both husbands.</li>
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Before she got married to the South African anti-apartheid icon, Machel was the first lady of Mozambique. Her husband, President Samora Machel, died in a mysterious plane crash in 1986. 
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<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;">She was much younger:<a href="" name="more"></a></li>
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When they got married in 1998, she was 52, Mandela was 80.  But she says their advanced age made their relationship better. "We were grown up; we were settled; we knew the value of a companion, of a partner," she says. 
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<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;">She separated the man from the icon:</li>
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At the beginning of their relationship, Machel says, there was a conflict between the man she married and the world's perception of him. "The aura around him was a bit confusing. But then I learned to live with it, in terms of separating the two," she told CNN's Robyn Curnow in a rare interview in 2008.  
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<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;">South Africa wasn't always in love with her:</li>
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Protective of their beloved Madiba, the nation did not warm up to a foreign first lady at first. She remained in the background at the beginning, and then slowly won them over with her loyalty and laid-back demeanor. 
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<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;">She has something in common with the Kennedys:</li>
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In Mozambique, she was nicknamed Jackie Kennedy. Not just for her class and grace, but because of the tragedy that befell her husband while in office. 
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<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;">It wasn't love at first sight:</li>
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After they met, she was reluctant to marry him or discuss their relationship in public. But Mandela wooed her the old-fashioned way, occasionally giving his bodyguards headaches as president when he'd make unannounced stops to buy her chocolates. 
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<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;">She's kindred spirits with Mandela:</li>
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Machel has something in common with her freedom fighter husband. While living in Mozambique, she was outspoken against the Portuguese colonial government. 
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<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;">She's qualified in her own right:</li>
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She served as minister of education and culture in Mozambique for more than 10 years. She is especially passionate about youth education, and has served as an expert on children's issues for the United Nations. 
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<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;">She's Mandela's third wife:</li>
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Mandela was first married to Evelyn Mase, but their marriage ended in divorce. In his biography "Long Walk to Freedom," Mandela has said Mase made him choose between family and politics.  He later married Winnie Mandela, a firebrand who became his voice when he was in prison. After their contentious divorce in 1996, Mandela married Machel two years later. 
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<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0.25em 0px;">Their wedding was private:</li>
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Despite Mandela's larger-than-life status, they got married on his birthday 15 years ago. Their wedding was a low-key event attended by close family and friends.

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Nelson Mandela once said his wife, Graca Machel, makes him "bloom like a flower." Despite her reluctance to marry him at first,...

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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQz6ROsk6uq974WPGd4ID4Ws_F9jMf1__Eft7Ji8LTsuy8JUTZSQ_PAWGf1L1MkBxQiCx9k99dxf4kogKv1H99dB2qKAnCL95OryFmmwJUrOYp2vOg1TcN07fzrrnXdv2A2dUVPy5e2Sw/s1600/Picture-613.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQz6ROsk6uq974WPGd4ID4Ws_F9jMf1__Eft7Ji8LTsuy8JUTZSQ_PAWGf1L1MkBxQiCx9k99dxf4kogKv1H99dB2qKAnCL95OryFmmwJUrOYp2vOg1TcN07fzrrnXdv2A2dUVPy5e2Sw/s320/Picture-613.png" width="320" /></a></div>
Former
 president Nelson Mandela’s children have launched a court bid to remove
 advocate George Bizos and others as directors of two of his companies, 
according to a report on Wednesday. 
 
 
 
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The Star newspaper said Mandela’s daughters, Makaziwe and Zenani Mandela, had made a court application to have Bizos,
 businessman and politician Tokyo Sexwale, and lawyer Bally Chuene 
removed from Harmonieux Investment Holdings and Magnifique Investment 
Holdings.</div>
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Both companies were established by Mandela’s former lawyer Ismail Ayob, reported the daily.</div>
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The companies were set 
up to channel proceeds of Mandela’s handprints into the accounts of the 
companies for Mandela and his children’s benefit.</div>
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The Star said the proceeds were estimated to be more than R15 million.</div>
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The two daughters claim that Bizos, Sexwale and Chuene were never appointed by Mandela as major shareholders or directors.</div>
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Bizos told the newspaper the allegations were completely false.</div>
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“There is no basis to 
the allegations. We are not hijackers. We don’t hijack things. We are 
confident we were regularly appointed at the wish of Mr Mandela five 
years ago.”</div>
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The court application would be challenged, he said.</div>

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