New twist in Madikizela-Mandela estate dispute

The battle over struggle icon Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s estate has taken a new twist, with her daughter Zenani Mandela-Dlamini claiming that her nephew Zondwa Mandela’s letter of co-executorship was obtained unlawfully. In her answering court papers in the ongoing legal battle with her nephews Zondwa and Zwelabo Mandela, Mandela-Dlamini is adamant that she has ‘absolute control’ over her mother’s multimillion-rand estate. City Press reports that Mandela-Dlamini deposed to the much-anticipated papers in response to Zondwa’s application in the Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg) in January seeking to be involved in all decisions about their grandmother’s estate. Zondwa stated in his application that he and his brother, as the heirs of Madikizela-Mandela’s second daughter Zindzi, were rightful co-executors. Zindzi died in July 2020.

City Press has seen Mandela-Dlamini’s affidavit filed at the same court on 12 June 2024, in which she insists that Zondwa’s appointment as co-executor in December 2021 was unlawfully made. She reveals that the initial letters of executorship were granted in April 2018 – to her and her sister Zindzi, before her death. Mandela-Dlamini emphasises that her sister’s death automatically meant that she was left as the sole executor of their mother’s estate, as dictated under SA law. She outlines that the Master of the High Court granted the letter in November 2020, confirming her as the sole executor of her mother’s estate. She adds that the letter appears among other documents in the Master’s file. Madikizela-Mandela died in April 2018 and had appointed her daughters as the executors of her estate in her will.