A pair of boots which former president Nelson Mandela left behind in Dar es Salaam in 1962 was finally returned to him when he became president, Tanzanian president Jakaya Kikwete said on Sunday.
It was another interesting episode in his first visit to Tanzania in 1962,” Kikwete said at Mandela’s state funeral in Qunu, in the Eastern Cape.
“In order to keep the visit discreet, he did not stay in hotels. He stayed at the house of… Cyril Swai.
“On his departure, he left behind his boots in the hope that on his way back he would pick up his boots.
“Unfortunately, he did not pass through Dar es Salaam again because on his arrival back in South Africa, he was arrested and spent the next 27 years in jail.
“Fortunately, the Swai family kept his boots and in 1995, the pair of boots were handed back to him.”
Kikwete said Swai’s widow Vicky was at the funeral service to bid farewell to Mandela. Her husband had died shortly after Mandela took office, he said.
Here is president Kikwete’s full speech.
president Jakaya Murisho Kikwete got a rare invite to join the close family and friends in Qunu village. Among those in attendance is the hier to the UK throne Prince Charles, sir Richard Branson, Rev Jesse Jackson, the Netherlands’ Queen Beatrix, Oprah Winfrey, Jacob Zuma among other special friends.