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Winnie Madikizela-Mandela

JOHANNESBURG — The executors of former president Nelson Mandela’s estate will oppose ANC MP Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s court bid to get his Qunu home, they said yesterday.

“The executors in the estate of the late Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela have resolved to oppose the claim filed by Nomzamo Winifred (Winnie) Mandela in the Eastern Cape High Court, Mthatha,” Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke said in a statement.

This followed efforts to resolve the dispute amicably.

“In effect, the claim seeks to undermine or alter the last will and testament of the late Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela.”

To that extent, the executors were obliged to defend the validity of the will and the wishes of Mandela.

“The joint attorneys of the executors have been instructed to file the necessary notice of opposition with the registrar of the High Court, Mthatha, and to brief counsel to prepare the necessary opposition papers,” Moseneke said.

In October, Madikizela-Mandela’s attorney Mvuzo Notyesi told Sapa she filed papers in the High Court in Mthatha challenging Mandela’s estate, seeking the rights to his Qunu home.

Madikizela-Mandela was the former president’s second wife for 38 years.

It emerged she was left out of his will after he died in December last year.

According to the will Mandela’s homes in Qunu and Houghton, Johannesburg, would be held in the Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela Family Trust and the Nelson Mandela Trust.

Madikizela-Mandela claimed Mandela may have committed land fraud when he registered a plot of land in Qunu, Eastern Cape, in his own name.

She claims abaThembu King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo gave her the land when Mandela was imprisoned and that it was rightfully hers. She contends the registration of the house in Mandela’s name was unlawful and should be set aside.

On November 30, the presidency said President Jacob Zuma had filed a notice to oppose Madikizela-Mandela’s reported application to access government documents relating to Mandela’s Qunu property.

“The state attorney filed a notice to oppose the action, pending instructions from the president,” presidency spokesperson Mac Maharaj said at the time. — Sapa.