Eastern Cape - As Nelson Mandela lay in hospital, the Mthatha High Court on Friday ordered that his grandson Mandla return the remains of family members to Qunu, reports said.
The Mandela family went to the Mthatha High Court on Friday morning to force Mandla Mandela to have the bodies of his father, aunt and uncle exhumed at his homestead in Mvezo – Mandela’s birthplace - and reinterred at Qunu, Mandela’s home village.
Mandla had dug them up and reburied them near his home in Mvezo in 2011, without the knowledge or permission of the family. The two locations are about 30km apart.
A Mandela family lawyer, Wesley Hayes, said the case was being held in camera “due to the sensitivity”, but confirmed there were 16 applicants and the respondents were Mandla Mandela and the Eastern Cape Health MEC Sicelo Gqobana and Premier Noxolo Kiviet. It was not clear why the government officials were included in the case.
The exhumation of the bodies sparked a family feud between Mandla and his aunt Makaziwe, Mandela’s eldest surviving daughter this week.
She called an urgent meeting of the clan to discuss the matter after which Mandla reportedly stormed out.
On Thursday Makaziwe denied this in an SABC interview.
Mandla,
through his spokesman Freddy Pilusa, played down the controversy earlier this week, saying there was no tension between him and his family.
According to The Herald in PE, Mandla Mandela's attorneys have indicated that they will not oppose the court application.
The Star and IOL