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Family anguish over the health of Nelson Mandela has been deepened by arguments over his final resting place, prompting a power shift that could see his eldest daughter emerge as the head of South Africa‘s most revered clan.
Makaziwe Mandela, 60, is believed to be in line to assume the title after Mandla, the anti-apartheid hero’s grandson and traditional heir, conceded he had “overplayed” his hand in a dispute involving the exhumation of Mandela’s three dead children.
The development came following a family summit called by Makaziwe last week in Qunu, the village where Mandela grew up and to which he returned in retirement, as her father remained in a critical condition.
Mandela’s eldest granddaughter, Ndileka, last week confirmed the move. “My aunt Maki is the senior member,” she said. “She is the elder in the family. It’s our family and it has always been based on collective decisions.”
Questions over the succession emerged as relatives discussed a painful question about whether to lay Mandela to rest close to his deceased children, a debate that raised the issue of Mandla’s decision two years ago to exhume their bodies.
Mandela has three deceased children: Thembekile, killed in a car accident in 1969; Makgatho, who died of an Aids-related illness in 2005; and a girl also called Makaziwe who died as an infant in 1948. Mandla moved their remains from Qunu to the hamlet of Mvezo, 15 miles away, apparently without consulting the family. Mvezo is where Mandela was born and where Mandla is chief. At the time it was suspected that Mandla, also an African National Congress MP, was paving the way for Mandela himself to be buried in Mvezo, where Mandla has begun constructing a museum and other facilities. But last week, this appeared to be a battle he had lost.
The gathering of Mandela elders and relatives decided that all three children should be re-exhumed and returned to Qunu so that they will lie close to their father when he is eventually buried there. The decision was backed by a court ruling.
Mandla was contrite, according to Bantu Holomisa, a close friend of Mandela who was at the meeting. “There was no argument because Mandla said, ‘I made a mistake.’ He apologised and said he had overplayed it. The elders said, ‘Son, you should consult us’, but they didn’t want a lot of argument. We didn’t want him to feel he was facing a tribunal.”
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