So close to the heart of Madiba

Nozolile Mtirara has often had one of the hardest tasks in Qunu - breaking the news to Nelson Mandela that another of his childhood friends had died.

Today, the 92-year-old former president has outlived all the friends he once played with in the eroded valleys of Qunu and Mqhekezweni in the Eastern Cape.

Nozolile, 89, this week gave an insight into Mandela's life: his fond recollections of his childhood; the pain and sadness of learning of the death of his childhood friends; his love for sheep's tripe; and how he built her a seven-bedroom home in 2000 as a gesture of gratitude to a woman who looked after the once rundown homestead in Mqhekezweni in which he spent his youth.

Nozolile was married to Mqhekezweni's Chief Justice Zwelidumile Mtirara, who grew up and studied with Mandela at Fort Hare University.

For more than a decade, the two men, who shared a white-washed rondavel containing two beds, a table and an oil lamp in Mqhekezweni, were almost inseparable.

This week, the rondavel - which is to become a National Heritage Site - was plastered and repaired by school children and Nelson Mandela Museum staff as part of the international Mandela Day 67 minutes' programme.

Nozolile, who also assisted on Thursday, described how she and Mandela spend hours at his Tuscan-style home in Qunu reminiscing about his youth.

"He has extremely fond memories of his childhood ... and I suppose that is what has kept him youthful all these years," she said. "He never tires of talking about his youth ... and I never tire of listening."

She said she often had to shout while talking to Mandela, who has lost most of his hearing. "During his last visit (after April this year), he asked me about his old childhood friends ... and, as in many of our previous conversations, I had to tell them that many of them had died. It is not easy to break the news to him."

She said he often kept quiet and listened, as though trying to draw mental images of their faces.

During every visit to Qunu, Mandela instructs a driver or his grandson, Mandla, to fetch Nozolile, a 45km drive that can take more than an hour on deeply rutted gravel roads.

The two, along with most of his family, then enjoy lunch.

"When I visit Mandela in Qunu, there is often a lot of food put out for lunch, drinks, meat and everything. He doesn't eat a lot. He prefers taking a spoon from each dish, as though sampling the food, and he is not passionate about meat. But I have observed that he, along with his family, love tripe."

Mandela left Qunu in 1927 at the age of nine to live in Mqhekezweni with acting paramount chief and head of the Madiba clan, Jongintaba Dalindyebo.

It was there he met and befriended Dalindyebo's son and heir to the crown in Mqhekezweni, Justice.

Years later, Nozolile married Justice and moved into the Great Place, the homestead where Mandela was raised.

"My mother worked for Jongintaba and cooked for Mandela and Justice, who shared a rondavel in the homestead."

When Mandela returned to the village in 1955, he found the homestead deserted.

"When Mandela returned from Johannesburg and found the homestead empty, he visited my family in Lady Frere and asked my parents and relatives whether I could return to look after the homestead. I returned in 1957 and have never left."

While Mandela was serving his 27-year sentence for treason, Nozolile single-handedly looked after the homestead and maintained Mandela's hut.

"I even kept Mandela's high school textbooks until the museum (the Nelson Mandela Museum) took them away," she said.