Elders give Mandela family permission to exhume bodies

Nkosikazi Nokwanele Balizulu has granted permission to the Mandela family for the exhumation of the bodies from Mvezo to be reburied in Qunu, City Press reported.

Balizulu, a neighbour of Nelson Mandela's in Qunu, told the newspaper that she had been called by Mandela's daughter Makaziwe who had asked for letters to exhume and rebury. She said she had forwarded the letters to a funeral parlour the family had appointed. 

The burial site in Qunu also includes the remains of Madiba's mother, Nosekeni, and his father Mphakanyiswa. "I agreed that the remains should be brought back. I don't have a problem with that, if anything I had a problem with how they were dug out so disrespectfully," Balizulu said.

The remains of the family members were apparently dug up in 2011 on instruction from Mandela's grandson Mandla Mandela without proper consultation with the rest of the family.

"He just went to the gravesite and dug up the remains. People in the village even refused to be part of the process because it had been done in such an undignified manner," she said. "Tata Madiba has very close ties to Qunu. He wanted his children to be buried in Qunu where he will also be buried. Mandla never consulted anybody or followed the correct traditional processes when he exhumed those bodies. Madiba never said he wanted another gravesite in Mvezo."

Mandla Mandela was widely reported to have stormed out of a family meeting on Tuesday, where the exhumation was allegedly discussed. Bantu Holomisa who attended the meeting, however, said the purpose of the meeting was to brief the elders about Mandela's health. He denied that any funeral talk took place at the meeting. 

"This has not only created tensions in the Mandela family, but it has also displeased Madiba and has invoked the wrath of the ancestors. The family is aware of this, hence the meeting on Tuesday," Balizulu said to the City Press.

The Mandela family had a meeting on Tuesday where the burial site and the exhumation is believed to have been discussed

Following the family meeting, men visited the gravesite which is a stone's throw from Mandela's home allegedly to plead with the ancestors to ease Madiba's pain and suffering. 

Mandela's condition remains critical as he spends his 20th day in hospital in Pretoria.