Details of Mandela’s will revealed

Nelson Mandela left portions of his roughly R45 million estate to his wife Graca Machel, family members, staff, schools and the ANC, according to a summary of his will released Monday.

Two months after the death of the 95-year-old South African statesman, lawyers said wife Graca was entitled to half the estate, but may opt to receive only specified assets, including four properties in Mozambique.

Royalties from his books and other projects, as well as his homes in Johannesburg, Qunu and Mthatha were left to a family trust.

The home in Houghton, Johannesburg where Mandela died on December 5 will be used by the family of his deceased son Makgatho.

“It is my wish that it should also serve as a place of gathering of the Mandela family in order to maintain its unity long after my death,” the former statesman wrote.

Mandela’s children each received R3.3 million in loans during his lifetime and will have that debt scrapped if it has not been repaid.

Mandela’s other bequeathments reflected a life in politics and championing education.

Mandela gave around R50 000 each to members of staff, including long-time personal aide Zelda la Grange.

The will also gave around R990 000 each to Wits and Fort Hare Universities, and the same amount to three other schools.

The African National Congress, which Mandela led to victory in the first democratic elections in 1994, will receive a portion of his royalties.

The will was first written in 2004 and last amended in 2008.

Even before his death, Mandela’s children and grandchildren frequently clashed over who leads the family and who should benefit from his investments

Executor Dikgang Moseneke, the deputy head of South Africa’s Constitutional Court, said the reading of the will to the family had been “charged with emotion” but no one had yet contested it.

Mandela’s third wife, Graca Machel, had waived her claims to the estate, Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke said at a news conference where he summarised parts of Mandela’s 40-page will.

Mandela, who died in December at the age of 95, left behind an estate that includes an upscale house in Johannesburg, a modest dwelling in his rural Eastern Cape home province and royalties from book sales, including his autobiography, “Long Walk to Freedom“.

More visibly, his legacy includes a potent political and moral brand that some of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren have already used to market everything from clothing to reality TV.

Some of his grandchildren have started a line of caps and sweatshirts that feature his image under the brand “Long Walk to Freedom“. Two of his US-based granddaughters starred in a reality television show called “Being Mandela“.

Such aggressive marketing — as well as reports of fighting among family members over Mandela’s money — have fuelled the impression in South Africa that some of the family members have exploited their famous relative.