Today in History: Nelson Mandela’s eldest child dies in car crash
Mandela only found out about his son's death the next day, and had limited access to information on the incident.
Thembi Mandela was killed in a car accident on 13 July 1969, while his father, Nelson Mandela, was imprisoned on Robben Island.
Mandela was naturally filled with anguish at not being allowed to attend his funeral or to have access to details about the crash. A search for information on the incident in 2012 unearthed an article about the accident which appeared in the Cape Argus. Mandela was only informed of his son’s death by telegram the day after the newspaper appeared.
The article by the Cape Argus read:
“Four people died and four were injured in a three-car collision on the fog-bound Touws River road at 9 am yesterday. One of the victims was an Italian tourist, a middle-aged man, whose identity is being withheld until the Italian Embassy in Cape Town can trace his relatives. The other three dead were a white woman Mrs Christina Klaasen (59) of Bloemfontein, an African woman, Miss Irene Similani (35) of Cape Town and Mr Styles Mandele (35) also of Cape Town. Mrs Klaasen’s husband, Mr Johannes Klaasen (51), was taken to the Eben Donges Hospital in Worcester and later transferred to the Karl Bremer Hospital, Bellville. His condition was described as ‘reasonably satisfactory’.
A Coloured woman, Miss Molly de Jager, who was travelling in the third car with Mr Mandele and Mr [sic] Similani was also injured and was admitted to the Eben Donges Hospital.”
Despite the article giving Mandela’s age as 35 at the time, Thembi Mandela was only 25 when he died in the accident.
Ndileka Mandela explained to the staff at the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory in 2012 that Irene Simelane was Thembi Mandela’s sister-in-law. Molly de Jager was Thembi Mandela’s wife and the mother of his children, Ndileka and Nandi.
Mandela wrote several letters to friends and family detailing his grief and despair over his son’s death and his powerlessness as a prisoner to do anything. He was not allowed to receive newspapers at that time which would have given him more information than he actually had access to.
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