Nelson
Mandela's ex-wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela has launched a legal
challenge against the former South African leader's will insisting she
is entitled to the rural estate where he is buried.
The
77-year-old who divorced the late anti apartheid activist in 1996, is
demanding ownership of Mr Mandela's ancestral home in Qunu in the
Eastern Cape.
Mrs
Madikizela-Mandela claims that she bought the property in 1989, while
her then husband was imprisoned in Robben Island, giving her ownership
rights under traditional law.
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, who has launched a
legal challenge against the former South African leader's will
insisiting she is entitled to the rural estate where he is buried
Mr Mandela, pictured, left nothing to his ex-wife Winnie in his will, it was revealed earlier this year
It
is thought that Mr Mandela left the home to his family trust and third
wife Graca, who he married in 1998, although in the weeks after his
death in December last year, there were reportedly attempts to try and
block her from the property.
It was
later revealed that Mrs Madikizela-Mandela was left nothing from her
former husband's £2.4million estate, which was divided between his
family, the ruling African National Congress party, former staff and
several schools.
His
homes in Johannesburg, Cape Town and Mthatha were also left to the
family trust with instruction on who could live in each property.
Each of his six children and some of his 17 grandchildren almost £180,000.
However,
a letter from lawyer Mvuzo Notyesi said the Qunu house should be given
to Madikizela-Mandela's two daughters, Zindzi and Zenani, and their
children.
Winnie, pictured with her former husband Nelson
Mandela on his release from prison in Cape Town. She claims she bought
the estate in Qunu when he was in prison
Mr Mandela's estate in Qunu in the Eastern Cape
where he is buried. His ex-wife Winnie is launching a legal challenge
claiming she is entitled to the property
'It
is only in this home that the children and grandchildren of Mrs
Madikizela-Mandela can conduct their own customs and tradition,' said
the letter.
'The
children born in a marriage between Mr Nelson Mandela and Mrs Winnie
Madikizela-Mandela shall be the joint custodians of the property, which
devolve amongst their generations and generations,' it continued.
Mrs
Madikizela-Mandela's lawyer said deputy chief justice Dikgang Moseneke,
the will's main executor, had acknowledged receipt of the letter but
gave no further details.
Graca
Mandela waived her right to half of her husband's estate but took over
their four properties in her native Mozambique, which were jointly
owned.
Firebrand
Winnie attracted a great deal of criticism, not least in 1986 for
endorsing the violent practice of ‘necklacing’ – burning opponents alive
using tyres and petrol.
In
1988 she was convicted of kidnapping and being an accessory to assault
in connection with the death of a 14-year-old boy who was accused of
being an informer, but her six-year jail sentence was reduced to a fine
on appeal.
It is thought that Mr Mandela left the home to his family trust and third wife Graca, pictured, who he married in 1998
Makaziwe, Nelson Mandela's oldest living child, left, has been involved in a feud with Mandla, right, his oldest grandchild
Their
divorce was finalised six years after her ex-husband walked free, but
Winnie fought the divorce in court and still uses the Mandela name,
having added it to her maiden name.
The spat is the latest in a string of feuds between different factions of the Mandela family.
In
one of the most damaging episodes, Mandela's oldest male heir - his
grandson Mandla - exhumed the bodies of three of Mandela's children from
Qunu and moved them to the nearby village of Mvezo, where Mandla had
built a visitor centre dedicated to his grandfather.
As
Mr Mandela lay in hospital on life support a year ago, a rival family
faction led by Mandla's aunt, Makaziwe, won a court order for the bodies
to be re-exhumed and returned to Qunu.
Two
weeks after Mandela's death, South African newspapers reported that
Makaziwe had changed the locks on the Qunu house to keep Mandla out and
had written him a letter ordering him to remove his dogs from the
property.
Makaziwe's lawyer did not answer phone calls and Mandla's spokesman declined to comment on the letter.
