Cape Argus - The police have obtained 15 statements in their investigation of a grave tampering charge laid against Nelson Mandela’s grandson Mandla Mandela, who is the traditional chief of Mvezo in the Eastern Cape.
The grave tampering charge is going ahead while Nelson Mandela, 94, lies critically ill in a Pretoria hospital.
The docket contains details of Mandla Mandela allegedly tampering with the graves of three of Nelson Mandela’s children.
The docket would be sent to a senior state prosecutor for a decision on Monday, Eastern Cape police spokesman Mzukisi Fatyela told the Cape Argus on Monday night.
“We will hand over the docket tomorrow, to the senior prosecutor, for a decision,” he said.
Fatyela would not say whether Nelson Mandela’s daughter, Makaziwe, or Mandla had been among those interviewed.
About Makaziwe, he said: “I don’t have to reveal that” and about Mandla, he said: “I don’t want to answer”.
Mandla is suspected of exhuming and reburying the remains of Nelson Mandela’s eldest son Madiba Thembekile, who died in a car accident in 1969; Mandla’s father Makgatho Mandela, who died in 2005; and Mandela’s first daughter Makaziwe, who died as an infant in 1948.
The charge of grave tampering was laid at the Bityi police station on Tuesday last week.
Last week, the Mthatha High Court ordered Mandla to return the remains of Mandela’s three relatives.
Mandla’s aunt, Makaziwe, and 15 other relatives, including Nelson Mandela’s wife, Graça Machel, took Mandla to court to compel him to return the remains.
The court heard Nelson Mandela’s wishes were to be buried alongside his three children.
The court was told the Mandela family had been advised to switch off his life support machine.
On Thursday, when Mandla Mandela failed to comply with the court order from Judge Lusindiso Pakade, the sheriff of the court smashed the lock on the gate of Mandla’s homestead, Mvezo Great Place, to access the relatives’ graves.
Their remains were found and reburied in Qunu at Nelson Mandela’s homestead on Thursday afternoon, in line with the court order.
Captain Gwede Tyala, the commander of the Bityi police station, is investigating the charge of grave tampering.
Cape Argus