Leader's will remain unfinalised amidst legal battle

intern

April 23, 2016 5:08 PM

The finalisation of former South African President Nelson Mandela’s will is being delayed over his ex-wife’s legal battle over his Qunu home.

Nelson 'Madiba' Mandela

Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, Mandelas former wife is appealing a Court decision which stipulated that she has no claim on the residence where Nelson Mandela was born and buried.

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She sparked a scandal last year, when she launched a legal challenge against the estate, with her lawyers claiming that her divorce from the former President was fraudulently obtained.

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Mandela’s lawyer Advocate George Bizos, who is also recuperating in hospital after falling this week, said the will which was completed in 2014 cannot be executed because of the legal tangle.

Bizos, who represented the world statesman at his famous Treason Trial in the 1960s, confirmed that Madikizela-Mandela has filed a notice of an application to appeal the ruling, which, according to him, will be opposed by him and his team. He added that once that matter is resolved, the will then be dealt with.

The will which was first written in 2004 and last amended in 2008 excluded Madikizela-Mandela. He left an estate worth about 3 million dollars to his children and grandchildren, staff and the African National Congress (ANC).

Winnie and Mandela's divorce was finalised in 1996. Mandela afterwards remarried former Mozambican First Lady Graca Machel on his 80th birthday, and excluded Madikizela-Mandela from his will.

The world statesman died in 2013.

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