Lawyers v lawyer in battle over missing Mandela millions

The report says the money was raised by former President Nelson Mandela from top businessmen, including the Oppenheimer family, for the benefit of his children and grandchildren after his death. Businesses that also donated to the trust include Absa, Nedcor, FirstRand, MTN, Sanlam, Barloworld, Investec and Venfin. They each donated R1m. Businessmen Tokyo Sexwale and Mzi Khumalo also donated R1m each. On one side of the battle are George Bizos and Wim Trengove, who say Mandela’s former lawyer, Ismail Ayob, bought cars and paid hundreds of thousands of rands to his own companies. On the other side is Ayob, who has made claims that Mandela refused to pay taxes and approved the dodgy payments. Bizos, Trengove and Ayob were all trustees of the Nelson Mandela Trust. Ayob was removed from the trust in 2005 after a court battle over the unauthorised sale of Mandela artworks. Bizos and Trengove, who still represent Mandela on the trust, have taken the issue to the Johannesburg High Court. The case will be heard tomorrow (Tuesday). Full Sunday Times report