Tando Mabunu-Mandela has successfully interdicted her husband Mandla Mandela from marrying Swazi princess Nodiyeala Makhathini this weekend.
Mabunu-Mandela's lawyer, Wesley Haynes, filed an urgent application at the Mthatha High Court on Thursday to prohibit Mandela from getting married while there was still a divorce process underway.
Haynes told a Sapa correspondent they would require the Mthatha sheriff to serve the order directly on Mandela on Thursday or Friday morning.
"We will further serve to him by email and fax and ensure he gets the order in time," said Haynes.
The order, seen by Sapa's correspondent, indicates that Mandela, grandson of former president Nelson Mandela, is interdicted and restrained from marrying Makhathini on December 23 or at any stage thereafter as long as he is still "married" to Mabunu-Mandela.
Makhathini and Mandela are further interdicted and restrained from conducting and participating in their wedding on December 24
at Mvezo Great Place in Mthatha.
In the application Mandela and wife-to-be Makhathini were ordered to pay the costs of the application.
"I think Mandla should focus rather on getting divorced successfully rather than marrying more wives," said Haynes.
Haynes further indicated that should Mandela not observe the order, they would seek for him to be charged with contempt of court.
Through her lawyer, Mabunu-Mandela said she was happy with the granting of the interdict. Mabunu-Mandela was not present in court, but a friend said she was in Johannesburg and due to fly to the Eastern Cape by Friday, a day before the marriage.
The order comes two days after Mandela's assets were successfully attached by Port Elizabeth-based sheriff Llewellyn Sharp, after Mandela defaulted paying maintenance to Mabunu-Mandela.
The Daily Dispatch reported that a minibus and several head of cattle were attached on Monday.
"While it is correct that, in African tribal law, a husband may take more than one tribal wife, this is of no assistance to (Mandela) because he has married me in terms of civil rights," the The Times quotes Mabunu-Mandela as saying.
Mabunu-Mandela had her husband's 2010 marriage to a woman from Reunion Island declared illegal in May this year on the same grounds.
Mandela's phone went unanswered on Thursday.
The Daily Dispatch has reported that the marriage would go ahead despite the interdict. - AFP