Mandela clan hopes to end spat

A meeting of the Mandela clan is being arranged to end the bickering between Nelson Mandela's offspring.

Two AbaThembu traditional leaders, who yesterday described the family feud as an embarrassment to the clan, will act as mediators.

Prince Sidima Mnqanqeni and Chief Zilimbola Mpahlana want the family to solve its problems away from the glare of the media.

The fight between Mandela's relatives over where the ailing statesman should be buried has made international headlines .

Mandela's eldest living daughter, Makaziwe - and 16 other family members, including his wife, Graça Machel - took his grandson, Mandla, to court to force him to exhume the remains of Madiba's children - Thembekile, Makaziwe and Makgatho (Mandla's father) - so that they could be reburied in Qunu, Eastern Cape.

The court ruled in their favour, and the remains were exhumed on Wednesday last week and buried in Qunu the following day.

Qunu is likely to be Mandela's burial place .

Mnqanqeni said: "I have spoken to a number of influential people in the Dlomo clan in an effort to try to find a lasting solution in the house of Mandela. [This dispute] is also affecting us as AmaDlomo, as a clan."

The split in the family is spilling into the entire AbaThembu nation.

AbaThembu King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo announced at the weekend that he had deposed Mandla as chief of Mvezo.

"Nobody can deny the fact that we are brothers and sisters. We are people of the same blood. Let us not let our misunderstandings spill outside the family structures," said Mnqanqeni.

• President Jacob Zuma yesterday visited Mandela at the hospital in Pretoria at which has been treated for a recurring lung ailment since June 8.

"[He] continues to respond to treatment, and is still in a critical but stable condition," spokesman Mac Maharaj said. - Staff reporter