Some South Africans thought that Gibson Makanda was a clone of the legendary and veteran anti-apartheid president and leader “Nelson Mandela”. They thought he died while in prison and was replaced by a lookalike “Gibson Makanda.”
In this article by From South‘s Lethabo Ndlovu and content creation agency, Contentify By AM, the man “Gibson Makanda” is demystified.
Gibson Makanda Biography
Gibson Makanda is believed to be a fake Nelson Mandela by some South Africans and is said to have replaced the late president after he died in a protest during the war against Apartheid in South Africa.
Another set of people believed that the original Nelson Mandela died in prison on Robben Island during the 1980s. South Africans think that Gibson Makanda was the clone that replaced Nelson Mandela.
It is believed that Gibson Makanda was the one to negotiate the new era of South Africa from a previous Apartheid form of government to a complete democracy where everyone, irrespective of color and tribe, could contest and participate in elections.
Reasons For This Conspiracy Theory
South Africans claim that the military and paramilitary did not regard human lives, as protesters were chased with tear gasses, guns, and wild dogs.
As a result, some people believed that Nelson Mandela must have been killed during the protest, and the South African government resulted in a clone to ease the protest. Others think that the result of Gibson Makanda replacing Nelson Mandela led to the divorce between Nelson Mandela and his wife, Winnie Mandela, after his release from Robben Island. They claim Winnie found out and quickly divorced him.
Another reason is the prominent celebration of 67 minutes by South Africans on the 18th of June every year. South Africans believe the main reason for this celebration is to show respect to the original Nelson Mandela, who died at 67 in prison at Robben Island.
The latest reason was in 2018, when the “Face App” was released. This app could reveal your appearance when you get old by scanning your current picture. A Twitter user, @Jether_Calypso, used a young picture of Nelson Mandela, and the appearance revealed was different from Nelson Mandela’s actual appearance before his demise.
Response To The Conspiracy Theory
Nelson Mandela’s family released a statement condemning the conspiracy theory. Nelson Mandela’s daughter “Zindzi Mandela,” had an argument online in which she disproved the lie.
Therefore the Gibson Makanda theory relating to Nelson Mandela is very false.
