Mandela case built on a lie
Shocking claim about Nelson Mandela’s health made to sway court’s ruling on graves
THE rush to rebury three of Nelson Mandela’s children at his homestead in Qunu this week was based on a lie to the High Court in Mthatha.
David Smith, an advocate representing Mandela’s daughter Makaziwe and 15 others, falsely told acting Judge Lusindiso Pakade that the Mandela family had been advised to switch off life-support systems because the 94-yearold former president was in “a permanent vegetative state”.
Yesterday, Pakade declined to discuss the process or his ruling with the Sunday Times. Smith did not return repeated calls and messages and Makaziwe told the Sunday Times to stop calling her.
Attorney Wesley Hayes, cited by Smith as the source of the report on Mandela’s perilous state, declined to say who had provided the report that doctors wanted the family to let Mandela die.
This has emerged from various sources, including Mandla Mandela, who opposed the court action for the removal of the bodies from his Mvezo homestead, as well as medical personnel connected to the team caring for the former president at the MediClinic Heart Hospital in Pretoria.
The false claim that Mandela’s doctors would attest in an affidavit that he was in a permanent vegetative state encouraged Pakade to accelerate Makaziwe’s claim against her nephew, Mandla, for control over the bodies of her three siblings.
Pakade ordered the reburial as a matter or urgency. The bodies, first buried near Mthatha, then in the village of Qunu to be nearer to other Mandela relatives and later in Mvezo were exhumed and buried for the fourth time inside the grounds of Mandela’s Qunu homestead.
The Sunday Times has now established, however, that the medical affidavit was never written.
The chairman of the Eastern Cape Bar Council, Gerald Bloem, said Smith’s conduct would be investigated if a for-
A source close to the military, which oversees Mandela’s care, said it was ‘highly improbable’ that the treating physicians would have deposed the affidavit
mal complaint was made to it.
He said it was “disturbing” and “odd” that a status of urgency was sought on the basis of a medical report that was not furnished.
It is understood that Mandla’s lawyers will file a complaint with the council.
Hayes said yesterday he was contacted by the Mandela family last Monday to bring an application to the high court for the return of the remains.
On Thursday, when it became public knowledge that Mandela’s health had taken a turn for the worse, he and Smith decided to bring the application as one of urgency.
Hayes said that he had liaised with the Mandela family, but the certificate of urgency was drafted by Smith.
Hayes said he had also contacted Mandela’s physicians to file supporting affidavits pertaining to the former president’s condition.
It was only after the matter was heard in chambers on Friday last week that they received official confirmation that the doctors had declined to provide an affidavit.
Asked whether the family had specified that Madiba was on life support and that they had been advised to switch off the machines keeping him alive, Hayes said he could not comment.
Mandela’s family agree that he has asked to be buried with his family, including his children Makgatho, Thembekile and Makaziwe, who died before her first birthday. Where they are buried will determine where he is laid to rest when that time comes.
The Sunday Times has tried over several days to get comment from Makaziwe. All she would say was: “I don’t want to give comment to the Sunday Times. I said you guys should stop calling me.”
A source close to the military, which oversees Mandela’s care, said it was “highly improbable” that the treating physicians would have deposed the affidavit.
“The treating physicians are contracted to the military and are subject to the confidentiality clauses of the military. The commander-in-chief of the military is the president,” he said.
He said if a family member had asked a doctor to submit an affidavit, he would have had to first get “written, informed consent” from Mandela to divulge his medical information.
“In terms of ethics, it goes against all doctor-patient confidentiality. The only person who can give permission is the patient himself,” the medical source said.
But Makaziwe’s lawyer, Smith, reported to the court that she had told him the Mandela family was exploring “as a very real possibility” a decision
MANDLA Mandela, who was the target of a court action by his family this week, controls millions in a trust meant to benefit his relatives and rural people.
Now the family of Nelson Mandela’s grandson and the beneficiaries of the multimillion-rand trust want an audit to reveal its assets, bank balance and investments. Mandla is chairman of the Mvezo Development Trust.
The trust generates money from international donors and is a shareholder in a R2-billion media empowerment deal. It was set up by Mandla to develop Mvezo, a remote Eastern Cape village where Nelson Mandela was born.
The trust’s beneficiaries have accused Mandla, an ANC MP and chief of Mvezo, of using the trust as his own personal bank account.
The government reports show that state departments, including the departments of health, tourism and rural development, have spent more than R250-million in the past three years to improve infrastructure such as roads, water and electricity in and around Mvezo, which has a population of about 26 000.
International funders, including the US-based Family Health International (FHI), have paid for setting up a mobile clinic.
Siemens, the global electronics company, is sponsoring the construction of a hi-tech school — the Mandela School of Science and Technology.
The trust’s beneficiaries, who spoke to the Sunday Times on condition of anonymity, are questioning how money from the trust is being used.
Details of the trust are so closely guarded that none of the trustees, apart from Mandla, know about its finances.
Even documents lodged at the Competition Commission by the consortium Sekunjalo Independent Media, which is poised to buy out Independent News & Media — the owners of 18 newspaper titles, including The Star, Pretoria News and Cape Times — do not disclose the trust’s interests and members.
Instead, the documents, dated April 30 2013, describe Mandla as the “main trustee”.
Mandla was this week embroiled in a court dispute with his family over the exhumation of the remains of three of Nelson Mandela’s chil- dren from Qunu and the reburial of those remains in Mvezo in 2011 without consulting the rest of the family.
Mandla had prepared part of his homestead, Mvezo Great Place, as a place of pilgrimage for people who would want to visit his ailing grandfather’s grave.
The trust’s beneficiaries accused Mandla, who in June 2009 had been accused of selling the exclusive television rights to his grandfather’s funeral for R3-million to the SABC, of making decisions on behalf of the trust and trustees without proper consultation.
“He is an intimidating man ... and no one in this community — apart from him — knows how much is in the trust’s account, where the money comes from and how it is being spent. No one has the courage to oppose or question his decisions,” said a former trustee, sup- porting a bid for the audit.
“Until recently, the trust had one signatory [Mandla] and five trustees who were clueless about the trust’s finances. Mandla made all the decisions,” he said.
Mandla said in papers that form part of a divorce action against his estranged wife, Tando MabunuMandela, that his assets included
He is an intimidating man . . . no one in this community knows how much is in the trust’s account, where the money comes from and how it is being spent
more than R5-million in two bank accounts.
The papers, submitted in the Mthatha High Court, list physical abuse and adultery among the reasons for the divorce. They also show that R3-million in the accounts was a gift from Nelson Mandela.
Mandla, one of about 266 chiefs in the Eastern Cape, did not respond to questions about the trust soon after telling a press conference that his “grandfather has always been my role model. He’s an inspiration to the work I do today.”
Matthew Mpahlwa, Mandla’s legal representative, referred the Sunday Times to the chief’s spokesman, Freddy Pilusa, who declined to comment on the trust’s finances.
“Matters of the trust are accounted to the community via [its elected] trustees and not to the media,” he said, adding that it had two signatories, one being Mandla.
Asked about assets owned by the trust, Pilusa said: “It only owns a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter.”
The audit is the latest in an increasingly hostile battle between Mandla and his family, whom he has accused of taking his grandfather to court “to get his money”.
Nelson Mandela’s daughters Makaziwe and Zenani launched a case in April. They alleged that Mandela’s aides, including the respected human rights lawyer George Bizos, had no right to be on the boards of two companies, Harmonieux Investment Holdings and Magnifique Investment Holdings, which are used to channel the proceeds of Madiba’s hand prints.
The proceeds are estimated at more than R15-million.
The Sunday Times has estab- lished that apart from a fleet of cars registered to the Mvezo Development Trust, it has also taken ownership of a state-funded development featuring a cultural centre, backpackers’ lodge, a restaurant, administrative offices and an amphitheatre.
The R43-million development, funded by the Department of Tourism, also has traditionally themed rondavels, entertainment facilities, a community hall and a traditional court.
The R8-million museum on the property was funded by the National Lottery Board.
Mandla’s plans for the resort-styled development neighbouring his homestead included building a private cemetery for his grandfather that would feature a giant bronze statue of the man.
The landscaped development is expected to generate millions of rands from tourists for the trust.
Mandla is said to be wealthy in his own right. Comment on this: write to tellus@sundaytimes.co.za or SMS us at 33971
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