Mandela’s ex-wife Winnie wants his Qunu home

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><img alt="Winnie" class="attachment-slider wp-post-image" data-cfsrc="http://thenationonlineng.net/new/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Winnie.jpg" height="239" src="http://thenationonlineng.net/new/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Winnie.jpg" style="border: 0px none; height: auto; list-style: none; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; width: 620px;" width="179" /></span><br /> <div style="border: 0px none; list-style: none; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-size: large;">The ex-wife of South Africa’s first black President, Nelson Mandela, has demanded his village home for her children, potentially triggering the first legal dispute since his death.</span></span></div> <div style="border: 0px none; list-style: none; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-size: large;">Winnie Madikiela-Mandela’s lawyers said she was asserting her “customary rights” by demanding the house, the BBC reports.</span></span></div> <div style="border: 0px none; list-style: none; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-size: large;">Mr. Mandela’s estate was provisionally valued at 46m rand ($4.3m; £2.5m) following his death in December 5 last year.</span></span></div> <div style="border: 0px none; list-style: none; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-size: large;">The thrice-married Mr. Mandela divorced Mrs. Madikizela-Mandela in 1996. </span></span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-size: large;">The couple had two daughters, Zinzi and Zenani.</span></div> <div style="border: 0px none; list-style: none; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-size: large;">Mr. Mandela has one surviving child, Makaziwe, from his first marriage to the late Evelyn Mase.</span></span></div> <div style="border: 0px none; list-style: none; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-size: large;">He was married to Graca Machel, the wife of Mozambique’s late President Samora Machel, at the time of his death.</span></span></div> <div style="border: 0px none; list-style: none; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-size: large;">His large family – which includes grandchildren and great grandchildren – was hit by legal disputes over his wealth and burial site as he battled a recurring lung infection in the months leading to his death at the age of 95.</span></span></div> <div style="border: 0px none; list-style: none; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-size: large;">In his will, the ex-president said: “The Qunu property should be used by my family in perpetuity in order to preserve the unity of the Mandela family.”</span></span></div> <div style="border: 0px none; list-style: none; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-size: large;">The executor of the will, South Africa’s Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke, has not yet commented on the letter sent to him by Mvuzo Notyesi Incorporated, the legal firm representing Mrs. Madikizela-Mandela.</span></span></div> <div style="border: 0px none; list-style: none; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-size: large;">In the letter, seen by the BBC, the lawyers said Mrs. Madikizela-Mandela obtained the house in Qunu while he was in jail for fighting white minority rule.</span></span></div> <div style="border: 0px none; list-style: none; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 1em;"> <span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><span style="font-size: large;">“The view we hold is that the aforesaid property belongs to the generation of Mr. Nelson Mandela and Mrs. Winnie Madikizela-Mandela as their common and parental home,” it said.</span></span></div> <div> <br /></div> </div>

Mandela’s ex-wife Winnie wants his Qunu home

The ex-wife of South Africa’s first black President, Nelson Mandela, has demanded his village home for her children, potentially triggeri...

Read more »