Post date: Jul 03, 2013 3:45:37 PM
A court orders Nelson Mandela's grandson to exhume the bodies of three of the anti-apartheid leader's children and return them to their original graves without further delay.
MTHATHA, SOUTH AFRICA (JULY 3, 2013) (REUTERS) - A judge ordered Nelson Mandela's grandson to exhume the bodies of three of the anti-apartheid leader's children on Wednesday (July 3) and return them to their original graves, the latest twist in a dispute that has divided South Africa's most famous family.
Judge Lusindiso Pakade, sitting in the regional court in Mthatha, 700 km (450 miles) south of Johannesburg, told 39-year-old Mandla Mandela, the chief of the clan and Mandela's official heir, to comply with the order by 3 pm (1300 GMT).With 94-year-old Mandela critically ill in a Pretoria hospital, 16 of his family members applied last week for a court order to force Mandla to return the bodies, which were moved two years ago from the village of Qunu, where Mandela grew up.
Mandla had the remains transferred 20 km (12 miles) to his Eastern Cape village ofMvezo. He has not revealed why he reburied them but Mvezo is where Mandela was born and where many South Africans believe Mandla wants the country's first black president to be buried.
Mandela's eldest daughter, Makaziwe, who led the legal challenge against Mandla, declined to comment to reporters after the ruling. "This is a private family matter," she said.
A lawyer for Mandla told reporters he would contest the ruling "immediately".
The judge rejected all of Mandla's arguments including that he had not been properly served and that the order should be rejected.
The legal team representing Makaziwe and 14 other members of the Mandela family argued that the manner in which Mandla had exhumed the remains of his grandfather's children and moved them to Mvezo was illegal.
Mandela's children, Mandela's daughter Makaziwe and sons Madiba Thembekile and Makgatho Lewanika, were moved from the clan grave in Qunu to a new graveyard at the back of Mandela's home.
It has been widely reported by the South African media that Mandela wanted to be buried next ot his children but it is not clear whether he has specified that this should be in Qunu.