THE estate of anti-apartheid activist Winnie Madikizela-Mandela is mired in controversy as the late ANC stalwart’s daughter, Zenani Mandela-Dlamini is accused of hoarding assets from other family members.
Battles over possessions often play out after a wealthy individual dies, it would seem that one of the country’s most prominent families is not an exception to this.
According to City Press, Madikizela-Mandela’s grandchildren have said that the ambassador of South Africa to South Korea has allegedly been concealing their grandmother’s possessions, and ignoring them.
Such possessions are believed to include her Soweto house, vehicles, treasured objects, bags and funeral payments. This fight for the estate has been ongoing for years, with the family consulting the courts. Zondwa Mandela, the grandson of the late ‘father of SA’, Nelson Mandela, has since filed an injunction trying to halt the master of the high court’s process of placing Zenani Mandela-Dlamini entirely in charge of the assets.
In his affidavit submitted on January 10, he claimed that, as a result of his mother, Zindziswa Mandela Hlongwane’s death, he and his two siblings were immediate heirs to the Mandela wealth and were entitled to half of it.
He reportedly said that the disagreement began in 2020 when he was made aware of a letter written to the master of the high court by Mandela-Dlamini’s lawyers, seeking that she be designated the only executor.
By reply, his attorneys sent a letter to Mandela-Dlamini’s lawyers the same year, stating his rights as a coexecutor. The siblings are reported to have ordered their lawyers to name the grandson as co-executor of the estate, succeeding their late mother and to protect their interests.
They are also said to have wanted a formal commitment that no assets would be relocated. Mandela-Dlamini’s attorneys supposedly ignored the request and intend to contest the court motion. —IOL