FOR the second time in three months, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela has failed to get ownership of her ex-husband’s Qunu home.
Yesterday, Judge Ian van der Merwe, Judge President Mampuru Makgoba and Judge President Mmonoa Teffo dismissed her leave to appeal at the Mthatha High Court.
Madikizela-Mandela wanted to appeal a judgment delivered in April. The judgement dismissed her application for ownership of her ex-husband Nelson Mandela’s property, located 20km from Mthatha.
Her lawyer, Advocate Mvuzo Notyesi, said although the judgment was disappointing they wouldn’t give up.
“Our next step is to petition the
Supreme Court of Appeal.”
He said the 79-year-old struggle veteran had been doing well since she was released from hospital after a recent operation.
Judge Van der Merwe said they didn’t believe the case had any reasonable prospects of success at another court.
The judges said Madikizela-Mandela had not given the court a valid reason for waiting 17 years to file a claim for the property.
In April, Madikizela-Mandela lost her case because the court didn’t recognise her claim that she and Nelson Mandela had never divorced according to customary law and, therefore, she was entitled to the Qunu property.
In a 2014 affidavit, Madikizela-Mandela claimed although she and Mandela formally divorced in 1996, she only found out in 2014 that the Qunu property had not been left to her.
