MANDELA'S WILL: GRACIA THE MOST FAVOURED! NOTHING FOR HIS DAUGHTERS FROM HIS FIRST MARRIAGE

Former president Nelson Mandela left Graça Machel - the woman who made him "bloom like a flower" - the lion's share of his estate: their four Mozambique properties, their cars, jewellery and all the money in their bank accounts.

Although the pair married in community of property, this was Mandela's final act of love towards the woman who was once reluctant to marry him and become his third wife.
The provisional assessment of Mandela's estate amounted to R46-million, with his second wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, not getting a cent.

Also bequeathed nothing were his daughters, Makaziwe (from his first marriage) and Zenani and Zindzi, Madikizela's children, because he had given them about R3.3-million (by today's exchange rate) before he had died.

It is Machel, her children from her first husband, Mozambican president Samora Machel, and Mandela's grandchildren from his late son, Makgatho, who became millionaires with the reading of the will.
Even Machel's six grandchildren will each get R100000.
The contents of the will were revealed yesterday afternoon at the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory offices in Houghton, Johannesburg, by the three appointed executors of the estate, Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke, advocate George Bizos and the judge president of the Eastern Cape, Themba Sangoni.
Moseneke said that "virtually all of the Mandela family and descendants" had been present at the morning reading of the will.



Asked if the family were happy with the contents of the will, Moseneke said: "It is always an occasion that is charged with emotions, because it brings back so much, but it went well. The will was read page by page, and therefore it took longer than we had estimated.''
Makaziwe's children, Dumani, Tukwini, Adjoa Amuah and Kweku Amuah, were left R100000 each.
Makgatho's children, Mbuso and Andile, were left R3.3-million, as were Ndileka and Nandi, the children of Mandela's other deceased son, Madiba Thembekile.
Mandela's grandsons Mandla and Ndaba will receive R3.3-million each, but the money has been placed in the NRM Family Trust and they would have to consult with the trustees for its release.
Attorney Michael Katz, one of the executors of the estate, said late yesterday afternoon: "I am not aware of any proposed contest of the will."
None of the Mandela children or grandchildren could be reached for comment.
The will spells out how Machel will inherit properties including three in Maputo and one in Chilembene.
The Houghton, Johannesburg, home will belong to the Nelson Mandela Trust, although Mandela's grandchildren Ndaba, Mbuso and Andile, are free to live in it. Machel, who has about three months to decide whether she will waive her right to half of Mandela's vast estate, is allowed to take any artefacts or works of art from the home.
Mandela's Cape Town and Qunu, Eastern Cape properties were left to the NRM Family Trust.
It is unclear whether Machel inherits her husband's lifelong presidential pension.
Yesterday's media briefing, led by Moseneke, started nearly an entire hour late and not before the family members were escorted out of the building. Journalists were locked in an auditorium to protect the "mourning" family.
Makaziwe was seen getting into a blue BMW and driving out of the premises minutes before the briefing got under way.
The Daily Telegraph newspaper quoted her as saying, when approached for comment, "People
should leave me alone".
Granddaughter Ndileka was quoted by the same newspaper as saying: "The only reaction you can have is to accept the contents of the will - it is what it is. Everybody should work for their own wealth. Anything you get in a will is a bonus."
Last year there were a series of embarrassing public fights between Madiba's children and grandson Mandla, and between his children and Sangoni and Bizos over the directorships of his companies. The companies were set up to channel the proceeds of sales of Mandela's handprints into the accounts of companies set up for his and his children's benefit. At stake was an estimated R15-million.
The companies were set up by Madiba's former laywer Ismail Ayob. The daughters alleged that Bizos, lawyer Bally Chuene and businessman Tokyo Sexwale had not been appointed to the boards of Harmonieux Investment Holdings and Magnifique Investment Holdings and launched a lawsuit in April, which they dropped six months later.
Makaziwe, Zenani and 14 other members of the Mandela family also took Mandla on over the return of the remains of the former president's children to their original burial place at Qunu. The bodies were finally exhumed from Mvezo, Eastern Cape, and reburied in Qunu by court order.
Madiba and Madikizela-Mandela's grandchildren and great-grandchildren were left R100000 each, but the money for Bambatha, Zondwa, Zwelabo and Zoleka Mandela had to be paid to Machel, who would use her discretion as to how it is paid out.
Mandela instructed that a portion of his royalties go to the ANC.
The party said: "This generosity has been the hallmark of Madiba's life . We view this final contribution as being no different as Tata could have shared these resources among his family, yet his unwavering love for his people and their organisation, the ANC, was paramount, in keeping with the Madiba we have always known in terms of how he spent his life in the struggle and his life."

Bizos said he and his co-executors had felt the reading of the will was a "matter of national importance" and had therefore made it public. "It would not have been very proper for us to give it out individually to one particular newspaper. So after we made the original available to the Master of the Supreme Court, we decided to also make it public because the people of South Africa and the world are entitled to know. It's not a matter of custom, but a matter of what is right under the circumstance."