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Mandela had earlier been ordered by the Eastern Cape High Court in Mthatha to return the bodies he had moved from Qunu.
ENCA reported that the gates have been forced open by the sheriff of the court. Three hearses are said to have entered the property.
The graves are those of Madiba’s eldest son and Mandla‘s father, Makgatho Mandela, who died in 2005; Mandela’s first daughter Makaziwe Mandela, who died as an infant in 1948; and Mandela’s second son Madiba Thembekile, who died in a car accident in 1969.
In his ruling Judge Lusindiso Pakade ordered the sheriff of the court to exhume the graves at Mandla’s property in Mvezo and move them to the family farm in Qunu for reburial.
Judge Pakade had ordered that the exhumation take place by 15:00 on Wednesday, but the gates at Mandela’s property had to be forced open for officials to gain access.
The original court order was made last week.
EWN’s Mandy Wiener tweeted: “Cringing watching visuals of the sheriff cracking open the gates to Mandla Mandela’s property with a pick. The shame of a nation.”
– News24
Online Reporter