Executors to discuss Winnie’s claim for Qunu
WINNIE Madikizela-Mandela’s concern over the well-being of her late ex-husband’s starving cattle and neglected farm is partly the reason behind her bid for Madiba’s Qunu home.
Another letter stating more reasons – including her concern about the neglected livestock – has been written to the executors of the estate, Judge-President Themba Sangoni, Deputy Judge-President Dikgang Moseneke and Advocate George Bizos.
It followed a letter she wrote on Mandela’s birthday – July 18 – wherein she made a claim against the Qunu home which Madiba left to the Nelson Mandela Foundation for the use of the entire family. The claim will be discussed in a meeting to be attended by all three executors tomorrow.
“The issue has become more urgent because you have livestock that are not being taken care of, forcing the MEC to intervene,” Madikizela-Mandela’s lawyer, Mvuzo Notyesi, said yesterday. “The animals are not in good shape and are starving. It is not right that there isn’t a specific person to oversee the farm.”
Last Friday, the provincial government took feed and state veterinarians to help save the former statesmen’s cattle herd.
According to Madikizela-Mandela, the property belongs to her and her descendants -daughters Zindzi and Zenani Mandela-Dlamini and their children -- as she acquired it in 1989 while still married to Mandela.
However, not everyone in the family supports her bid to claim the farm, which appears to have already divided the family.
Ndileka Mandela, Madiba’s grandchild, said she had accepted the contents of her grandfather’s will “as they stand”.
“Outside of that, I think people should go work for their own living.”
Mandela’s grandson, Mandla, declined to comment.
AbaThembu kingdom royal family spokesman Chief Daludumo Mtirara said the AmaDlomo family would only entertain Madikizela-Mandela’s claim if she had had a son and it came from him. Since she and Mandela only had daughters, Madikizela-Mandela did not have a leg to stand on, he said.
“All we know is we identified that place [the Qunu house] for him [Madiba], not his wife. It was a place we saw befitting of Nkosi Dalibhunga [Mandela’s praise name].
“He had already told us of the problems he had with his wife and the action to follow.
“AmaDlomo recognise Mam’uNosizwe [his third wife Graca] as the one who would make a rightful claim. Mam’uNobandla [Winnie] is not the wife in that home.
“That home is for the entire Mandela family and the heir is Nkosi Zwelivelile [Mandla],” Mtirara said.