Daily Sun (December 9 2013) - AS THE NATION mourns the death of a great statesman, gogo Gugulethu Mpahlwa remembers a neat, cheerful man of humour and understanding.

The 84-year-old gogo from Ncambedlana, near Mthatha, remembers the first time she met Nelson Mandela in 1963. "This tall man, light in complexion and wearing a grey suit arrived at St John's College to speak to my husband," she said.

Her husband, Maxwell Mpahlwa, was the headmaster of the St John's in Cofimvaba, Eastern Cape.

Madiba regularly invited the gogo and her husband on his birthday and in 1995 the gogo invited him to her late husband's birthday.

"Madiba loved the children. He would sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to them when he visited my house. He would thank me for raising my children with values."

Last Friday, gogo Gugulethu heard from her son, Luyanda Mpahlwa, that Madiba had died. Luyanda spent many years on Robben Island with Nelson Mandela. Her other son, Mandisi, is now the South African ambassador to Russia.

"Mandela left a good legacy in my family. While my son was in prison with him, he taught my son to study. Now my sons are well educated."

She said Madiba gave them a tree to plant at home. "Now that tree is huge. We use that tree to rest in the shade. We would cook fancy food for him, but he would ask for umvubo."

"Sometimes he would do the Madiba Jive at birthday parties and the people would laugh," she said.

"Madiba worked hard to develop this country. Our responsibility is to show the world that we are taking the spear that he left and going forward with it."

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