As Nelson Mandela remained in
critical condition in hospital
yesterday, a family feud over
where the 94-year-old former
president should be buried went to
court, according to South Africa’s
national broadcaster.
Mandela’s oldest daughter,
Makaziwe, and 15 other family
members have pressed a court
application to get Mandela’s
grandson to return the bodies of
three of Mandela’s children to their
original graves in the eastern rural
village of Qunu, according to the
SABC.
The grandson, Mandla Mandela,
acknowledges having reburied the
three bodies 20 kilometres away in
the Mvezo village, where he plans to
create a Mandela shrine, hotel and
soccer stadium, according to the
South African Press Association.
Grandson Mandla Mandela has until
today to respond to the court filing,
reports said.
The anti-apartheid leader built his
retirement home in Qunu and was
living there until his repeated
hospitalizations which started at
the end of last year. Nelson
Mandela attended the burial of his
son at the family plot in Qunu in
2005, and it was widely expected
that the leader himself will be
buried there.
But his grandson exhumed the
bodies of Mandela’s three children
and moved them to nearby Mvezo,
which is the former president’s
birthplace and where the grandson
holds authority as chief.
Eldest daughter Makaziwe and
other Mandela family members
want the family bodies returned to
their original graves in Qunu,
according to the reports.
The family court struggle came as
Mandela’s ex-wife said that he had
improved in recent days, but
remained critical.
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela gave
the update yesterday while
speaking to journalists outside
Mandela’s former home in Soweto.
“I’m not a doctor but I can say that
from what he was a few days ago
there is great improvement,” said
Madikizela-Mandela, who is a
member of South Africa’s
Parliament.
Madikizela-Mandela pleaded with
the media to “understand the
sensitivities and the feeling of the
family.”
His daughter Makaziwe Mandela
was among the family members who
arrived at the Pretoria hospital
yesterday. The ministers of health
and defence also visited, the South
African Press Association reported.
Outside the Pretoria hospital
yesterday, a man flying a drone-like
object with a camera attached was
led away by several policemen,
adding to an already heightened
atmosphere where well-wishers
continue to gather to pray for
Mandela.


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