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The exhumation and reburial of Nelson Mandela's three late children was under way on Wednesday, after the courts stepped into an unseemly family feud that has shocked South Africa.
The gates of grandson Mandla Mandela's homestead in Mvezo village were forced open by men with pickaxes and shovels so three black hearses could gain access. The bones of Mandela's deceased children were set to be returned from Mvezo to Qunu, where Mandela wants to be laid to rest.
The civil war engulfing South Africa's most famous family has been condemned by the governing African National Congress (ANC) at a time when the statesman, known for his spirit of reconciliation, is lying critically ill in hospital. "Mandela vs Mandela" was the front-page headline of South Africa's Times newspaper. TV viewers were treated to the pantomime of the lock on Mandla's gates being smashed as police and journalists looked on.
Mandla moved the bodies of the three children in 2011 from Mandela's home village of Qunu to his birthplace of Mvezo. Sixteen members of Mandela's family – including his wife, Graca Machel, and his eldest daughter, Makaziwe – claim Mandla did so "in the dead of night" without their knowledge or consent.
Mandla, 39, a tribal chief said to be adored by Mandela, had claimed that as the family's eldest male he was authorised to take such action.
But on Wednesday, judge Lusindiso Pakade, sitting in the regional court in Mthatha, ruled against Mandla and said the exhumations should take place by 3pm. The family's legal counsel, Wesley Hayes, said: "We are delighted with the outcome."
Makaziwe, who led the legal challenge, declined to comment after the ruling: "This is a private family matter."
Mandla, who was not present, was ordered to pay the costs of the case. His spokesman, Freddy Pilusa, complained that "court papers were not properly served on him" and he had been "denied the right to respond to the contents of the court application against him".
Pilusa maintained that Mandla was not opposed to moving the remains from Mvezo back to Qunu for reburial. "He will therefore abide by the court decision while at the same time continuing to fight for his right to put on record his side of the story."
Pilusa added that Mandla "has had a lot of allegations and dirt thrown in his direction by all sorts of individuals baying for a few minutes of fame and media attention at his expense."
Mandla has built a cultural centre, backpackers' lodge, entertainment facilities and a community hall in Mvezo. He has been criticised for destroying the ruins of the hut where Mandela was born and building a replica on top. His opponents say he hoped to bury Mandela at the site and turn it into a money-spinning tourist attraction.
In a sign that the gloves are coming off in the family feud, an unnamed Mandela family member has pressed criminal charges against Mandla for tampering with a grave. "A case is opened at the police station and we will now investigate that case," police lieutenant-colonel Mzukisi Fatyela said.
There have also been calls for Mandla to be stripped of his tribal chieftaincy. An article on South Africa's Daily Maverick website described him as "the veritable JR Ewing of the Mandela family".
The ANC demanded an end to the soap opera. Gwede Mantashe, the party's secretary-general, described it as "a worrying factor but the family must look at Mandela and see that Mandela was a unifier. They must reconcile. They must talk to each other and find a solid common goal."
The ANC chaplain, the Rev Vukile Mehana, prayed for unity in the Mandela family during a public service in Johannesburg.
Mandela had six children – four daughters and two sons – with two wives. Of the six, only three daughters remain alive. Mandla Mandela was the first-born grandson.
The graves in dispute include Makgatho Mandela, who died in 2005 and is Mandla Mandela's father; Mandela's first daughter, Makaziwe Mandela, who died as an infant in 1948; and Mandela's second son, Madiba Thembekile Mandela, who died in a car accident in 1969.
Wandile Kuse, a retired professor and expert in family structures in South Africa, said Mandla was trying to assert himself in a patriarchal society where "women kind of play second fiddle". Mandla "seems to regard himself as the sole male surviving heir, and he's playing on that card", Kuse told the Associated Press. "Maybe he's overstepping."
Mandela, 94, remained in critical condition in hospital on Wednesday. He was admitted on 8 June with a recurring lung infection.
• This article was amended on 4 July 2012. The original said the only children of Nelson Mandela still alive were his three eldest daughters; the final reference to Mandla was also changed from Mandela.
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