Three men scaled the wall outside Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s house in Orlando West in Soweto shortly after midnight on Saturday and, threatening to kill the security guard who caught them, demanded to see her, said police.
Madikizela-Mandela, the ex-wife of former president Nelson Mandela, was sleeping in the house at the time.
However, the men did not get anywhere near her, as they were stopped not far from the gates to the property, Soweto police spokesperson Captain Mbazima Shiburi said on Monday.
Police arrived to find the lone security guard arguing with the men, he said.
They told the police that Madikizela-Mandela was well aware that were going to ”visit”.
Contacted by phone, she informed them from inside that she had not been expecting anyone.
The motive for the actions of the men, aged 32, 35 and 40, was not known, Shiburi said.
They were arrested and detained at the Orlando Police Station and were expected to appear in Orlando Magistrate’s Court on Monday, on a charge of trespassing, he said.
Madikizela-Mandela could not immediately be reached for comment. – Sapa