Jostling turns Mandela Christmas party sour

Nelson Mandela’s annual Christmas party was brought to an abrupt end when parents and children began pushing and shoving as gifts were being handed out.

The former South African president’s Children’s Fund announced today that it would hand out the remaining gifts to infants early next year.

Officials ended the party and the gift distribution for children yesterday when they decided it was no longer safe because of the pushing and shoving.

Organisers had catered for 20,000 children at the party south of Durban at Qunu in Eastern Cape Province, but that the number swelled to 76,000 when they let a group waiting outside come in to prevent them from storming the party.

“To manage a crowd of that size was clearly beyond the capacity of the organisers plans,” said Sibongile Mkhabela, the chief executive of the children’s fund. He said no children were injured.

For the first time in 11 years, Mandela was not at the party. The former president has cancelled all public engagements to be with his son, Makagatho Mandela, who is undergoing treatment in a Johannesburg hospital.