JOHANNESBURG – Two women claiming to be the late former president Nelson Mandela’s children have sought to be acknowledged by his estate.
Michael Katz, an attorney dealing with Mandela’s will, said family representatives of Onica Mothoa and Mpho Pule contacted him, claiming both were fathered by Mandela when he was still married to his first wife, Evelyn Mase.
The amount, which excludes royalties accrued over time, is still to be verified.
Carte Blanche reported on Sunday night that the pair’s lawyers had approached the Master of the High Court to stop the division of funds — as directed by Mandela’s will — from his estate.
Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke told reporters last Monday that the provisional assessment of Mandela’s estate was about R46-million.
“The amount, which excludes royalties accrued over time, is still to be verified,” Moseneke said.
The will was first written in 2004 and last amended in 2008.
Katz said the two women sought to be recognised by Mandela’s estate, and did not seek any money.
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Katz said he would meet with the executors of Mandela’s estate to discuss the matter.
During Carte Blanche’s broadcast, Mothoa and Pule’s relatives claimed they had in the past attempted to reach Mandela so that the former president could acknowledge he was the two women’s father.
No acknowledgement occurred. He had reportedly met one of the women.
A legal spokesman for the women’s families told Carte Blanche that they were considering bringing an application for Mandela’s DNA to be tested to show if the former president was connected to Mothoa and Pule.
The women, originally from Hammanskraal and Bloemfontein, have been in various news reports over the years claiming Mandela was their father.
In the most recent report, it was claimed one of them was refused access to Mandela during his last hospitalisation in Pretoria.
According to the Carte Blanche report, neither woman was allowed into the funeral area when Mandela was buried in Qunu, in the Eastern Cape, on December 15 following his death on December 5.
=-Sapa
