mourning period efor mandela family

graca Machel and Winnie Madikizela Mandela during former president Nelson Mandela’s funeral.(REUTERS)

Nelson Mandela's clan has formally freed the late icon's two widows, Nosizwe Graca Machel and Winnie Madikizela Mandela, from the mourning period.

The two widows have been wearing black mourning garments for six months since the burial of the former president in December. Two cows and four sheep have been ritually slaughtered at a ceremony in Qunu in the Eastern Cape to mark the end of the mourning period.

Speaking on behalf of the Mandela family, Daludumo Mtirara says the two wives are now free to serve the people of South Africa and the continent without any hindrance.

Mtirara says: "These elders must go back and start to serve the communities because this is what Madiba was always telling us. So they must also start where Madiba left and continue to make sure that they make value to the people of South Africa and make sure that we make the people of South Africa proud that this icon has left us with vigilant and strong wives."

AbaThembu King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo says the mourning period and the end of it has a significance role in reaffirming the relationship between the wives and the family of the Dlomo clan.

He says: "We also do confirm and accept our grannies Graca and Winnie that they are still wives of the Dlomo clan not necessarily their late husband .We care there to give them as much support as we can as long as they still remain with us till death do them apart."

The first democratic president of South Africa died in his home in Houghton, Johannesburg last year in December. Mandela, who was 95-years-old, passed away in his sleep after a long illness.