Johannesburg - The daughters of Nelson Mandela and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela are pushing ahead with an effort to have their mother's rights to Mandela's Qunu home recognised. Zindzi and Zenani Mandela have approached the Constitutional Court to appeal the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) decision that dismissed their mother's claim to the Qunu home, the Sunday Times reported.
The two believe there is a chance that the highest court in the land will arrive at a different decision than the SCA and the High Court. In Mandela's will, he had left the property in Qunu to the be administered by the Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela Family Trust for the benefit of the Mandela family. The estate is managed by Mandela's wife Graca Machel.
The land in question was donated to Mandela in the early nineties and was under his name and was conferred by the then minister of land affairs. Madikizela-Mandela had fought a long battle to have this decision for the property to be named under Mandela to be changed. She believed that under customary law she had the right to the land.
She claimed that the land had been allocated to her in 1989 and she had realised in 2014 that the land was under Mandela’s name, and that is when she began legal proceedings to have her rights to the land recognised. The High Court in the Eastern Cape dismissed this version. The SCA also dismissed the case earlier this year.
Zindzi and Zenani have now taken over their mother's fight for the home. They also believed that the case sets a precedent for women’s customary rights. Madikizela-Mandela died in April this year. Her marriage to Mandela was finalised in 1996.