RIGHT: Her spacious
living room is graced
by large black-and-white
shotsofherandNelson
Mandela.BELOW:Zelda
getsa kissfromMadiba.
BELOWRIGHT:With
OprahWinfrey.BOTTOM
RIGHT:Zeldaandformer
US id t BillCli tZeldawiththe
shortbreadshe
bakedaheadof
YOU’svisitto
hernewhome.
Sheenjoys
baking.‘Thefirst
thingI everbaked
wascroissants–
themostdifficult
pastry– untiltwo
inthemorning,’
shesays.world–whichiswhyshefoundi
catharticmakinga six-episodedocu-
mentaryabouthislifeforAfrikaans
TVchannelkykNET(DStvchannel
144), Madiba: ’n Uitsonderlike
Roeping (Madiba: An
ExceptionalCalling).
“Watchingthefirsttwo
episodes ofthe doccie
I weptbitterly–forthe
firsttimeittrulydawned
onmewhatanincredible
lifeI’vehad,”Zeldasays.
Checomestrottingin,
thenjumpsonthecouch.
“Myliferevolvesaroundthesetwo
now,”ZeldasaysaboutCheandEva.
“WheneverI travel,I havetoconsider
them.”
That’swhyshehadthishomewith
itslargebackyardbuilt.Shealsosold
herBMWmotorbike becauseshe
couldn’ttakethedogsonit.
Shestaresouttheslidingdoorsinto
thedistance.
“Ineededa peacefulplacewhereume room there’s a black-and-white
close-up of her fingers intertwined
with Madiba’s. In another,he’swhis-
pering something in her ear.
Zelda grew up Pretoriaduringthe
apartheid years. “I hadn’teven
about Madiba, who was inja
on Robben Island at the time.
She’d wanted to be an actres
and had taken drama lesson
but her dad, Des (now 82),wa
worried she wouldn’t find wor
“Start earning a salary, thenyo
can do drama,” he advised.
So Zelda completed a thre
year diploma in secretarialwo
at the then Pretoria Techniko
“My drama lessons taughtm
to project [my voice]. Butit w
a godsend that I’d studiedto
a secretary,” she says.
In 1994 she started workin
Presidency. In 1999, whenMadiba
retired he asked her to continuework-
ing for him and she readilyaccepted.
With the issue of corruption on
everybody’s lips, Zelda recalls how dif-
ferent things were back
then.
“In the five years of Madi-
ba’s presidency, people
were constantly offering to
take us out to dinner or to
give us gifts. It was an
unwritten rule that we wer-
en’t allowed to accept
because it could influence our deci-
sions,” she says.
For Zelda, Mandela was far more
than just a boss.
“He knew the best and the worst of
me,” she says. “He knew what irritated
and enraged me, and I knew the same
about him. We used to talk it through
if there was something we didn’t agree
on. It was a privilege to know someone
such as him.”
His death left a huge hole in her
I’mcloseenoughtothecitybutwhere
people can’t bother me,” says Zelda,
who travels a lot as a motivational
speaker. She’s flying to New Zealand
later this month.
When she’s at home, her TV is always
on a news channel – a habit she fell
into during the Mandela years. “The
neighbours’ daughter can see my TV
from her bedroom and she told her
parents I never watch movies,” she says
with a chuckle.
She’s happy with her life. “I have no
regrets,” she adds.
Later today she’s visiting her parents,
Des and Yvonne (81), in Mossel Bay to
drop off her dogs who’ll stay there
while she’s overseas. Her parents have
been married for 58 years and her
brother, Anton (52), and his husband,
Rick Venter (50), have been together
for 20 years.
Zelda was engaged once. But when
she started working for Madiba, her
dedication to him kept her too busy for
marriage and children.
“It’s better that way”, she says with a
smile. “I would’ve had the naughtiest
kids on earth.” S‘It truly
dawned on
me what an
incredible life
I’ve had’
- s
l
e
USppresisidedenttBBililllClClinintotonn.world which is why she found i
uringthe
nknown
ail
.”
ss
ns
as
rk.
ouee-
rk
n.
me
was
bengatthe
Madiba tyou.co.za 8 AUGUST 2019 | (^87)