Staff Writer and Sapa
THE executors of Nelson Mandela’s estate will oppose the court bid of ANC MP and his former wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, to get his Qunu, Eastern Cape, home, they said yesterday.
“The executors in the estate of the late Mr Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela have resolved to oppose the claim filed by Mrs Nomzamo Winifred (Winnie) Mandela in the high court, Mthatha,” said Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke.
This followed efforts to resolve the dispute amicably.
“In effect, the claim seeks to undermine or alter the last will and testament of the late Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela.
“The joint attorneys of the executors have been instructed to file the necessary notice of opposition with the registrar of the high court, Mthatha, and to brief counsel to prepare the necessary opposition papers,” Justice Moseneke said.
Madikizela-Mandela’s attorney, Mvuzo Notyesi, told the Cape Times yesterday this development did not come as a surprise. She had in October filed papers in the Mthatha High Court challenging Mandela’s estate, seeking rights to his Qunu home.
“They have a right to oppose the application. They are the respondents, so I don’t see anything wrong with them
opposing the application,” Notyesi said.
He said it was “an incorrect” statement that the executors of the estate had made efforts to resolve the dispute.
“They never tried to make any efforts. It was us who made efforts to resolve the matter.
“We wrote letters to them with suggestions on how to resolve the matter, but they never responded to the proposals we made in those letters.”
Notyesi said that there were no attempts to meet them to work on a solution on the matter, hence Madikizela-Mandela had to approach the court.
It emerged she was left out of his will after his death in December last year.
According to the will, Mandela’s homes in Qunu and Houghton, Johannesburg, would be held in the Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela Family and the Nelson Mandela trusts.
Madikizela-Mandela claimed Mandela may have committed land fraud when he registered a plot of land in Qunu in his own name.
She also claimed AbaThembu King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo gave her the land when Mandela was in prison.
On November 30, the Presidency said President Jacob Zuma had filed a notice to oppose Madikizela-Mandela’s reported application to access government documents relating to Mandela’s Qunu property.