The CIA could be responsible for whatever weird things the media made you believe about Nelson Mandela. The CIA was actually very threatened by Nelson Mandela and up until 2008 Nelson Mandela was on the US Terror Watch List: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-36296551 see that article about him being on the Terror Watch List. Here are some more articles related to the CIA's interest in Nelson Mandela:
https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/south-africa/2018-07-19-us-intelligence-documents-on-nelson-mandela-made-public/
The CIA is involved in so many different ways to affect the media, they even have a say in what goes down in some Hollywood movies. Just see how they like to "meet" with people and "kindly suggest" what goes into the movie:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/why-did-the-cia-meet-with-michael-bay
