No. He belonged to the AbaThembu branch of the Xhosa people and was born into royalty. read more
Nelson Mandela wasn’t a Khoisan but his family, along with his entire ethnic group, possesses Khoisan ancestry to varying degrees, which ended up defining the whole culture through the profound influence it had on the emerging Xhosa culture. read more
It is even possible to map one’s genetic “ancestry”, as South African President Nelson Mandela did, indicating that he possessed some KhoiSan DNA. The important point is that this evidence should not be used to assert that these differences, or shared bits of “ancient” DNA, support the identification of multiple human “races”. read more
Yesterday's post on leadership reminded me of something I thought every time I saw a picture of Nelson Mandela: that he looked as much Bushman as Bantu. Mandela was born into a Thembu royal family, and the Thembu are a Bantu tribe (almost all African-Americans are of Bantu descent). read more