Madiba house feud turns ugly

A row has broken out over Nelson Mandela's family home in Houghton, Johannesburg, with at least three of his grandchildren preparing court papers to fight a possible sale of the property, which has fallen into disrepair.

A furious Ndaba Mandela told the Sunday Times this week that his aunt Makaziwe, Mandela's oldest daughter, was “trying to take the house away” from him and his brothers Mbuso and Andile.

“Why is Aunt Maki (Makaziwe) trying to take that away from us, orphans? Mbuso, Andile and I are preparing court papers as we want to go to court against the trustees and fight this and indicate the trustees' failure to discharge their fiduciary duties,” Ndaba said.

Mandela's will stipulated that the home, where he died on December 5 2013, be used by the children of his late son Makgatho — Mandla, Mbuso, Ndaba and Andile.

“I bequeath ... the Houghton property to the Nelson Mandela Trust. It must grant, or procure the grant of the right to occupy the Houghton property, free of any consideration, to Mandla Dalibunga Sizwe Mandela.”

“I also wish that he should live in the house together with his siblings during his lifetime and that the trustees of the Nelson Mandela Trust decide for what special purpose the house may be used thereafter in perpetuity.”

Selling the house in its current state wouldn't fetch a lot of money. Even if you want to sell it, renovating it will definitely add some value to the property.

—  Ndileka Mandela

The will also states: “It is my wish that it should also serve as a place of gathering of the Mandela family to maintain its unity long after my death.”

But instead of unifying the family, the house has sparked a feud that has divided members.

Relations soured further earlier this year, when renovations to the home were abruptly halted.

Ndaba said he and Mandela's other granddaughter, Ndileka Mandela, had agreed to an offer by the Collen Mashawana Foundation to renovate the home at no cost.

Renovations, which included patching the pool, fixing water damage in the garage and demolishing damaged walls in the kitchen, were stopped by the trustees just three months into the project. Workers were kicked off the site and the locks were changed.

Ndaba blamed Makaziwe for halting the renovation.

“There are no fights in the Mandela family, the renovations were stopped by one person. It was aunt Maki and the executors of the trust who stopped the renovations. You need to get hold of her and ask her why she did that.

“Nelson Mandela has written in black and white that the house has to be a family house and that should override everything.”

He said that during a meeting six years ago, the majority of the family voted for the house to be sold. However, the situation has changed and the majority of the family now want to keep the house as a family home.

“The meeting happened before Covid, there were about 15 people in that meeting and 10 voted in favour of selling,” Ndaba said. “Why would you not honour the wishes of Madiba's will? I am one of the custodians of the Houghton house, I inherited my father's house in Norwood and I also own an apartment in Cape Town. Now the family are very jealous,” he said, adding that some in the family were finding it hard to accept that he was in control of three properties.

The home on 12th Avenue, where Mandela spent his last years, has been deserted for four years after the three brothers moved out in 2020 after a stand-off with the trustees, who stopped paying the utilities bill which had tripled to R50,000 a month.

Approached for comment, Makaziwe said: “Please go and inform yourself by reading Tata's will. Speak to Wim Trengove and Gcina Malindi who are the trustees.”

Trengove, a senior counsel, told the Sunday Times that the trustees were “yet to decide whether to renovate, keep the house, or sell it and distribute its proceeds”.

“The trustees are not in dispute with anybody ... we will only take this decision after consultation with the entire family,” Trengove said.

He confirmed that at the last consultation with the family, “an overwhelming majority” of family members wanted the house to be sold.

“But that was some time ago and we want to give the whole family another opportunity to voice their opinions on the matter. In the meantime, individual members of the family have no authority to take matters in their own hands,” Trengove said.

Makaziwe was in the news this year after the high court ruled in her favour after the South African Heritage Resources Agency (Sahra), the Robben Island Museum and the sport, arts & culture department tried to stop her US auction of Mandela's personal artefacts, including his green identity book.

Asked what plan he had for the house, Ndaba said: “We have to refurnish the house because Maki stole the furniture, and then decide what to do with it.

“Before we speak of fixing the severed Mandela family ties, let's get the Houghton home fixed first.”

Ndileka told the Sunday Times that 11 family members, including her sister Nandi and Mandla, who is also chief of the Mvezo traditional council, did not want the house to be sold.

She said it did not make sense that the trustees opposed the renovation of the property.

“Selling the house in its current state wouldn't fetch a lot of money. Even if you want to sell it, renovating it will definitely add some value to the property,” she said.

She accused the trustees of being “in cahoots with someone in the family who wants to see the house sold”.

“My grandfather knew each and every one of us very well. That's why he crafted his will like he did. He knew that the people who would protect that house with their blood are Ndaba, Mbuso and Andile because they grew up in that house,” she said.

Ndileka said going to court was an option she was willing to pursue to ensure her grandfather's wishes were respected.

“I am not afraid to go to court. I don't care if [the family's] dirty laundry is hung out in public, as long as the right thing is done.

“There are contestations in the family that my grandfather favoured children from his sons over those from his daughter. I can bet if some of the grandchildren of the two aunts had user rights of that house, they wouldn't want it to be sold.”

Ndileka said the family was extremely divided. “Relations have broken down and Madiba was the only one able to pull us together — and he's gone.

“My family is a hierarchical family. I head the second generation as I'm the eldest ... in terms of ideas we are worlds apart with the first generation and there's this notion that we are children. I am turning 60 next year. For how long am I going to be treated as a child?”

Ndileka said she believed Mandela's will made it unlawful for the house to be sold.

“Trustees are supposed to be neutral but they're being swayed by other family members,” she said.

Beverley Lekoloane, spokesperson of the Collen Mashawana Foundation, said they had partnered with the Mandela family and the Gauteng provincial government to renovate the house “after receiving a request from the Mandela family”.

“The project aimed to restore the home and preserve a vital piece of South Africa’s history and heritage,” Lokoloane said. “Renovations were stopped due to disputes over property ownership between the Mandela family and the trustees of the Mandela estate. Before the halt, significant progress was made.”

She said the scope of their work included removing the damaged ceiling in the outside cottages and replacing it.

Just a block away, Mandela’s other former house on 13th Avenue, which once housed the Nelson Mandela Foundation offices, has been converted into a successful luxury themed hotel which features a room inspired by the famous prisoner’s Robben Island jail cell.

Nelson Mandela Foundation spokesperson Tshepang Motsekuoa said the foundation was not involved in the matter and could not afford to buy the property.

“We have nothing to do with the house, it’s a matter between the trust and the family. With the old one, we did something positive with it,” Motsekuoa said.