Madiba heir locked up for ducking maintenance hearing

One of Nelson Mandela's family members has been behind bars for 11 days after he failed to appear at a maintenance court hearing.

He will remain in the Johannesburg Correctional Centre, nicknamed Sun City, until his court appearance on Thursday.

He was arrested in Houghton on January 6 for contempt of court, said police spokesman Captain Kay Makhubela.

Sunday World reported the man had been on holiday in Cape Town last month, when he missed a scheduled court appearance.

Police made multiple attempts to contact him and arrested him on his return from holiday.

The mother of his child told the Sunday World that she had turned to the courts to force him to pay maintenance.

She claimed he had received a large inheritance from Madiba, which he spent.

But another Mandela family member said he had been paying the R4,000 maintenance a month for the child and the case should be dropped.