RM Global Health

It should have been a moment of triumph—Nelson Mandela, basking in the cheers as Africa’s first World Cup opened.
Nelson Mandela with his great-granddaughter Zenani, who was killed in a car accident following Thursday's kickoff concert. Instead, South Africa’s beloved anti-apartheid icon stayed at home with his family Friday in northern Johannesburg during the opening ceremony and game, mourning his 13-year-old great-granddaughter Zenani, who died in a car crash on the way home from a tournament-eve concert in Soweto.

The Nelson Mandela Foundation said the tragedy “made it inappropriate” for the former president, who is 91, to attend the opening ceremony in Johannesburg.