Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s lawyers have filed their heads of argument in the Mthatha High Court after months of silence‚ and it is expected that a court date will soon be set for the formal hearing of Madikizela-Mandela’s application to have the registration of the late president Nelson Mandela’s Qunu home nullified by the court.
The property is where Mandela is buried. The formal hearing is expected to be towards the end of October.
Madikizela-Mandela shocked the world last year when she filed papers trying to get the Qunu property which Mandela left to his widow Graca Machel and the rest of the Mandela family.
The application came just months after Mandela was buried.
Madikizela-Mandela claimed that the property was hers and had been given to her while Mandela was still in prison.
In her application‚ Madikizela-Mandela attached affidavits from AbaThembu King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo‚ Qunu chief Nokwanele Balizulu‚ customary law experts and some elders from the Madiba clan who are said to have been present when the land was given to Madikizela-Mandela.
The respondents to the case‚ the three co-executors of Mandela’s estate‚ deputy chief justice Dikgaang Moseneke‚ Eastern Cape judge president Themba Sangoni and advocate George Bizos are opposing the matter on grounds that the two Mandelas were divorced and therefore Madikizela-Mandela has no claim to the property.
They also questioned the timing of the application.
In their heads of argument‚ Madikizela-Mandela’s lawyers wrote that there was “overwhelming” evidence that the Qunu site was allocated to her.
“While this is disputed by the executors‚ they do not put up any facts to contradict this but instead contend that the land was allocated to Mr Mandela and not to Mrs Mandela. This contention is advanced without any supporting evidence.”
They want the court to review and set aside the decision by the then minister of land affairs to approve the registration of the Qunu property in Mandela’s name.
Madikizela-Mandela’s lawyer Mvuzo Notyesi could not be reached for comment.
Madikizela-Mandela's lawyers file heads of argument in Qunu case
The property is where Mandela is buried. The formal hearing is expected to be towards the end of October.
Madikizela-Mandela shocked the world last year when she filed papers trying to get the Qunu property which Mandela left to his widow Graca Machel and the rest of the Mandela family.
The application came just months after Mandela was buried.
Madikizela-Mandela claimed that the property was hers and had been given to her while Mandela was still in prison.
In her application‚ Madikizela-Mandela attached affidavits from AbaThembu King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo‚ Qunu chief Nokwanele Balizulu‚ customary law experts and some elders from the Madiba clan who are said to have been present when the land was given to Madikizela-Mandela.
The respondents to the case‚ the three co-executors of Mandela’s estate‚ deputy chief justice Dikgaang Moseneke‚ Eastern Cape judge president Themba Sangoni and advocate George Bizos are opposing the matter on grounds that the two Mandelas were divorced and therefore Madikizela-Mandela has no claim to the property.
They also questioned the timing of the application.
In their heads of argument‚ Madikizela-Mandela’s lawyers wrote that there was “overwhelming” evidence that the Qunu site was allocated to her.
“While this is disputed by the executors‚ they do not put up any facts to contradict this but instead contend that the land was allocated to Mr Mandela and not to Mrs Mandela. This contention is advanced without any supporting evidence.”
They want the court to review and set aside the decision by the then minister of land affairs to approve the registration of the Qunu property in Mandela’s name.
Madikizela-Mandela’s lawyer Mvuzo Notyesi could not be reached for comment.
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