Nelson Mandela’s grandchildren are getting ready for the spotlight. The descendants of the former President of South Africa have signed up to star in their own reality TV show.

“The show will be about our lives as young, black women… We’re not wearing ‘I’m a Mandela’ T-shirts,” says granddaughter Swati Dlamini.

Adds her cousin Dorothy Adjoa Amuah, “We are exposing Africa for what it is … with a new middle class of intellectuals … contributing to the economy.”

Dlamini and her older sister Zaziwe Dlamini-Manaway, and Amuah says the show would look at their roles as mothers and career women.

“We’re definitely not the African Kardashians,” says Amuah. The show – which will also feature other cousins, but not their parents and grandparents – is expected to air in 2012.