Nelson Mandela is in a “vegetative state,” and family members were encored to remove him from life support over a week ago, according to court papers.The 94-year-old has been in and out of the hospital for the last several months.
Mandela’s sickness has not stopped the battle between family members that resulted in the remains of the ex-South African president’s two children being moved to another grave site.
From the New York Times:
Nelson Mandela’s eldest grandson on Thursday ended his fight over where to bury the remains of the ailing former president’s three deceased children, but the family’s messy and highly public feud grew more acrimonious.
At a news conference in the village of Mvezo in Eastern Cape province, Mandla Mandela said he would not challenge a court ruling ordering the exhumation of the remains, which he had secretly taken to Mvezo two years ago, allegedly to ensure that his grandfather would be buried there. The 94-year-old anti-apartheid hero has said that he wants to be buried next to his children, but in Qunu, the village where he grew up.
The remains were reburied Thursday at their original site in Qunu following forensic tests to determine the children’s identities and a solemn ceremony that family members and elders of Mandela’s clan attended.
“I was denied the right to be heard,” Mandla Mandela said. “I will not challenge this further; it will serve no purpose.”
But he lashed out at his relatives, accusing them of seeking to claim Mandela’s legacy for ulterior motives.
“This is the very family who has taken their own grandfather to court for his money,” Mandla Mandela said, referring to legal efforts by his aunts to take control of companies set up by Nelson Mandela to manage royalties from the sale of his art.
Officials have not confirmed new reports that Mandela is on life support. The elderly leader has been in the hospital for nearly a month, for a recurring lung infection. His daughters are currently fighting his lawyer for control of the Mandela estate, estimated at over $1 million.
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Photo: WENN
