Madonna has been accused of 'betraying' the
family of her adopted daughter Mercy - as they
issued a desperate plea to be allowed to see
her.
The grandparents of Mercy James have
accused the star of cutting them out of her life
and failing to meet a promise to keep her close
to her roots. They also attacked 'white
foreigners' for taking children away from Africa.
Saxon Maunde, grandfather of Mercy James
who was adopted by Madonna in 2009, told
MailOnline: 'Nobody has told me a thing about
Mercy being in the country or about her welfare
since she left us.
'She has my blood flowing in her veins. It is
preposterous that I am not made aware of
anything regarding her development.'
The 69-year-old, who ekes out a living selling
pots from a roadside stall, added that Madonna
had, 'broken my heart and hearts of my family
members,' saying that, 'she has shown no
humanity at all towards us.'
Saxon Maunde originally backed Madonna's bid
to adopt his granddaughter because he believed
she would get a good education, and convinced
his reluctant ex-wife to agree the adoption
papers.
But today, as Madonna visits Malawi with Mercy
James, he said he bitterly regrets his decision
and accused Madonna of kidnapping a child of
Africa.
He said: 'White foreigners who decide to take
our children away from Africa have no
understanding of our culture.
'They don't realise that in our African families
each one has a responsibility to the others. If a
half-brother or half-sister does well, they share
their fortunes with all of the others.
'A child like my granddaughter Mercy, if she
succeeds in her career, she is expected to
share that success with all of us. That is how
our extended family system works.'
Because of that system, he believed Mercy was
being given the chance of a lifetime to travel to
America for her schooling and would then return
to help her family in Africa.
'I worked for a household years ago where a
foreign lady took one of the children to be
educated and brought up abroad, and that child
came back as a doctor and improved the lives
of every member of the family. That is what
persuaded me to let Mercy go.
'Now I see that all she meant was that she
would bring her here on holiday, stay in an
expensive lodge for foreigners, and cut us – her
real blood family – out of her life. That cannot
be the right way to do things. No foreigner has
the right to interfere in our culture like this.'
His thoughts were echoed by his ex-wife Lucy
Chekechiwa, also 69, who fears she may never
see her granddaughter again.
'I am now old and sickly,' she said. 'I don't want
to die before seeing my daughter.'
Chekechiwa and Maunde's teenage daughter
died days after Mercy's birth and so the family
placed her at the orphanage because they could
not take care of her.
A tearful Chekechiwa said: 'We planned to take
her back when she reached the age of six when
she could eat solid food. But we were told a
rich lady wanted to adopt her. We resisted at
first but government officials convinced us this
was good for Chifundo's future. We never
thought we will not see our daughter again.
Maunde says he now bitterly regrets signing the
papers that allowed the 56-year-old pop star to
adopt Mercy, whose teenage mother Mwandida,
died days after giving birth.
'By putting a distance between Mercy and me
and members of my family, she is being
extremely unfair.
Culled from Daily Mail UK
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