Post date: Jul 04, 2013 5:46:50 PM
Mandla Mandela says his grandfather would be disappointed by a court decision ordering him to exhume the remains of Nelson Mandela's children and return them to Qunu, in a feud that has divided the family.
MVEZO, SOUTH AFRICA (JULY 4, 2013) (REUTERS) - Mandla Mandela said on Thursday (July 4) he was very disappointed by a court decision ordering him to exhume the remains of three of his grandfatherNelson Mandela's children, so they could be reburied at the Mandela home in Qunu.
Two years ago, Mandla removed the bodies from Qunu, where Mandela grew up, and moved them the 20 km to Mvezo, where Mandla has built a visitor centre and a memorial centre dedicated to his grandfather.Mandla said he took the bodies to Mvezo - Nelson Mandela's birthplace - based on his right as chief to decide the final resting place of family members, especially his father Makgatho who died of an AIDS-related illness in 2005.
Last week, a rival faction of the family, led by Mandla's aunt Makaziwe, won a court order for the bodies to be returned to Qunu - an edict carried out late on Wednesday (July 3) after a last-minute legal bid by Mandla failed.
Many of South Africa's 53 million people believe Mandla's removing of the bodies was part of a deliberate plan to ensure Mandela was buried in Mvezo.
Speaking at a specially convened news conference to tell his side of the story, Mandla said his grandfather's final will and testament may determine where he wanted to be buried, not the members of the family who won the exhumation order.
"My grandfather's will remains a secret and remains with the people he has appointed to administer that. I received an instruction from my aunt Makaziwe to remove the remains and bury them in a secret location which was in Qunu where she is preparing a grave site for my grandfather. Because this was not an instruction coming from my grandfather I didn't follow those instructions, I took the remains and temporarily kept them here in Mvezo until we gained knowledge of what my grandfather's desires are or that of his spouse Graca Machel," he said.
Mandla rejected claims by Makaziwe that it was well known Mandela wanted to be buried next to his children. In her affidavit to the high court Makaziwe said "it has always been the desire of Mr Nelson Mandela for his remains to be buried at his family homestead in Qunu".
Mandla said he had been standing with his grandfather when Mandela told a BBC reporter doing a documentary on him that he wanted to be buried next to his parents, currently at another gravesite, also in Qunu.
"When we arrived at the graves which you all know, he then pointed out this is where my father lays. There is where my mother lays. Then they asked him the question, 'So where would you be buried?' He immediately, without hesitance said: 'I want to be laid right here, next to my father.' And that is all that I know about my grandfather's wishes," Mandla Mandela said.
The dispute has drawn swords on both sides of the divide and on Thursday descended into the most bitter moment of years of discord between Mandela's children and grandchildren, with Mandla accusing relatives of adultery and milking the fame of the revered anti-apartheid leader.
"I do not want to hand out our dirty linen as a family in public. But he knows very well that my father impregnated a married woman of which he is the result of that act," he said, referring to his brother Ndaba, who lashed out at Mandla in a local newspaper two days ago.
Mandla also confirmed rumours that his young son, Zanethemba, was in fact the child of an illicit liaison between his brother Mbuso and Mandla's now ex-wife Anais Grimaud.
Speaking calmly and deliberately in front of a bank of cameras, Mandla lashed out at Makaziwe and members of the wider family, accusing them of trying to cash in on the legacy of one of the 20th century's most respected political figures.
"It seems like anyone and everyone can come and say 'I am a Mandela' and demand to be part of a decision making in this family. Individuals have abandoned their own families and heritage and decided to jump on the Mandela wagon," he said.
Workers armed with pick-axes and a court order broke into Mandla's compound on Wednesday to exhume the bodies and they were re-buried on Thursday in Qunu.
Local media reports have suggested the initial moving of the remains by Mandla may have been carried out without the required cultural customs being observed, and police have opened an investigation to determine whether it was done illegally.
The three Mandela children buried in Mvezo are an infant girl who died in 1948, a boy, Thembi, who died in a car crash in 1969, and Makgatho, who died of an AIDS-related illness in 2005. In all, Mandela fathered six children from his three marriages.
The spat over the site of the Mandela family graves has transfixed and appalledSouth Africa's 53 million people as they contemplate the reality that the father of the post-apartheid "Rainbow Nation" will not be with them forever.