Madiba's eldest daughter fires salvo at bar council

As the Eastern Cape Bar Council's case against Mandela lawyer David Smith slowly fell apart this weekend, Madiba's eldest daughter, Makaziwe, insisted the council had targeted the wrong person.

"They should have come after me. Advocate Smith was acting on my instructions," she said.

Makaziwe was in Port Elizabeth to show her support for Smith, who is facing disciplinary proceedings after he allegedly misled the Mthatha High Court to bolster an application to have Madiba's children's remains returned to Qunu in Eastern Cape.

The Eastern Cape Bar Council alleges Smith breached protocol when he submitted a certificate of urgency to the court without the applicants' affidavits first being completed.

Smith had represented 15 senior Mandela family members all pitted against grandson Mandla Mandela.

The council also alleged Smith purposely misled the court on June 27 last year when he claimed Madiba was in a permanent vegetative state and the family had been advised to switch off his life support machines.

Prosecutors for the bar, advocates David de la Harpe and Nicola Redpath, did not lead any evidence and said they would no longer rely on Mandla's letter of complaint.

Recommendations will be made next week.