Johannesburg: Nelson Mandela’s eldest grandchild has publicly ditched the ruling African National Congress party over its damaging and seemingly endless scandals.

Nelson Mandela led the ANC from 1991 to 1997, carrying the party to an historic election victory at the end of apartheid when he became South Africa’s first black president in 1994.

“I will not be voting for something that does not resonate with me anymore, and does not resonate for what granddad and his comrades fought for,” Ndileka Mandela, 52, told the News24 website at the weekend.

Ms Ndileka said her decision followed scandals including the death of at least 100 psychiatric patients last year in a neglect crisis and a social welfare grants dispute that threatened payments to 17 million of the most vulnerable South Africans.

“It’s one scandal after the next and there’s no accountability. And our people suffer for it,” she said.

“I am highly upset. And this is not a decision that has been made out of anger. I've been thinking about it for a while,” she said.

“It’s so painful, it’s like wrenching my heart out of my soul.”

Her pronouncement made her cousin Mandla Mandela, an ANC lawmaker, to make a public plea for her not to leave the party.