An enterprising Cape Town hotel is putting Nelson Mandela's favourite food on the menu to coincide with the former president's second volume of memoirs.
This comes amid accusations that Mandela's former doctor, Vejay Ramlakan, tried to cash in on his links with the statesman in his book, Mandela's Last Years, which has since been withdrawn.
The Belmond Mount Nelson's offering includes a copy of Dare not Lingerand a three-course meal inspired by Madiba's favourite food, including oxtail soup and Farida Omar's chicken curry with samoosas and roti. Omar smuggled food to Mandela and his fellow political prisoners in Cape Town's Pollsmoor Prison.
To add spice to the meals, they will be served in a restaurant "adjacent to the room where Mandela enjoyed a meal or two".
For just under R12,000, two guests can share a room at the hotel for two nights, and for an extra R1,250 they can spend an hour with Mandela's former jailer, Christo Brand, or take a guided two-hour "Footsteps to Freedom" walk around central Cape Town.
This week Gabrielle Palmer, the hotel's communications manager, said there was nothing controversial about the package because "Mandela is a national treasure". Palmer said the hotel had seen no need to get the go-ahead from the Nelson Mandela Foundation...