Taboo: Winnie Mandela breaks tradition, says ‘Nelson swindled and betrayed me’, accuses Late Mandela of conning her.

       

In my African tradition, it is forbidden and a taboo to talk ill about the dead. It appears Late Nelson Mandela’s Ex-wife, Winnie Mandela has thrown every caution and decency into the wind and went after her late husband, in a way never seen or heard in the past. Please find below, part of the excerpts from the interview she granted to UK Daily mail.

“One Just one year after his death, Nelson Mandela’s controversial ex-wife Winnie is launching a vicious legal battle, saying the former South African president swindled her out of her rightful inheritance – 250 acres of his ancestral homeland that includes his final resting place. Continue...
In a lawsuit that exposes the bitter rancour within the Mandela family and challenges the former South African President’s will, 78-year-old Winnie Madikizela-Mandela claims that the land in Qunu was given to her when they were still married and that he had no right to secretly transfer the homestead into his own name.

Accusing Mandela of ‘land fraud’ and ‘betrayal’, the case will inflame tensions right to the top of the country’s ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC).

Last week, launching her legal bid to have the land returned to her, she claimed the transfer to Mandela was carried out ‘under a cloud of darkness and secrets’ and that, although she expected nothing from his will, she did not expect to be cheated out of what was ‘rightfully’ hers.

With a special cleansing ritual held on the anniversary of Mandela’s death two weeks ago, the customary year-long period of silent mourning came to an end, freeing Winnie to speak out. Expressing for the first time her shock and sadness over the terms of his will, she told The Mail on Sunday that she and her daughters felt ‘betrayed’.

‘I believe they are as shocked as I am to hear of this betrayal,’ she said at her home in Soweto, Johannesburg.

‘I will submit evidence that shows the transfer of ownership was illegal and wrong. I still hope and pray it will not go to court, but if it does it will become very ugly.’

Mrs Madikizela-Mandela is suing, among others, the executors, the legal authorities, the Minister of Land Affairs and Graca Machel, Mandela’s third wife and widow. She is even suing President Jacob Zuma because he tried to block her application to see relevant documents in government archives.

The dispute centres around 250 acres of land in Qunu, including the plot where Mandela is now buried under a black marble headstone.

Winnie, who was divorced in 1996 from the man credited with forging the ‘Rainbow Nation’, claims that the land in Qunu was given to her when they were still married and that he had no right to secretly transfer the homestead into his own name.

Her lawyers say they have unearthed documents that show Mandela approached tribal leaders at the time of his bitter split from Winnie, persuading them to draw up new title deeds in his name”.-Daily mail.