‘I did not understand why we had to prolong his life,’ Mandela’s Daughter Tells CNN

In an exclusive interview with CNN, Nelson Mandela’s daughter Maki has talked about her father’s suffering in the final months of his life.

Speaking to CNN’s Robyn Curnow – the only international journalist to broadcast live from Nelson Mandela’s funeral – Maki asserted that while his medical team treated him with dignity and respect, his death came as a relief after the agonising struggle his health had faced.

 “There were times I was telling the doctors I think enough is enough,” she said. “As doctors they had their duty to try everything up to the last moment, but for me as a daughter it was excruciating watching that.”

 Maki also talked about plans for the family to open Mandela’s grave to visitors in a year or so, with plans in place for a visitors’ center and memorial garden, where tourists will be able to walk around the grave and see it from a viewing point.