Three of Nelson Mandela's granddaughters have signed on to star in an as-yet-unnamed South African reality TV show set to premiere next year.

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The South African Mail & Guardian Online said Swati Dlamini, Dorothy Adjoa Amuah and Zaziwe Dlamini-Manaway announced their unscripted television project Thursday.

"The show will be about our lives as young, black women ... We're not wearing 'I'm a Mandela' T-shirts," Dlamini told reporters in Johannesburg.

"We are exposing Africa for what it is ... with a new middle class of intellectuals ... contributing to the economy," Amuah added. "We're definitely not the African Kardashians."

"They clearly have a great love [for each other]. This may be part storytelling, part reality, except the story we are telling is real ... It's not going to detract from the dignity of Nelson Mandela," the newspaper quoted producer Rick Leed as saying.

The Mail & Guardian said the women's parents and grandparents are not expected to appear on the show.

Nelson Mandela, 93, was president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999 after having served 27 years in prison for his anti-apartheid activities.