Nelson Mandela and Graça Machel’s marital home in Johannesburg’s prestigious Houghton Estate is a hangout for drug users and ‘scantily clad women’, reports News24.

Court papers lay bare the details of a family feud over the property, which apparently saw Gauteng High Court Judge Gcina Malindi called a ‘motherfucker’ – among other expletives – by Mandela’s grandson, Ndaba Mandela, last year.

The papers were filed as part of an application to evict Ndaba from the property, and/or interdict him from entering it. A similar order pertaining specifically to the main house is also being sought against Ndaba’s brother, Mbuso Mandela, who was previously charged with rape and hijacking in two separate cases, which were both later withdrawn.

The application was brought by the trustees of the Nelson Mandela Trust, which includes Malindi and Advocate Wim Trengove SC. It is set to be heard next month.

Mandela left his shares in Iterele Investments, the registered owner of the property, to the trust. He, however, expressed his wish for Ndaba and Mbuso – as well as their youngest brother, Andile Mandela – to live there ‘free of any consideration for their lifetime until the trustees of NMT, after consultation with the Mandela and Machel family, decide otherwise.’

He further made the trust responsible for paying ‘assessment rates and other municipal charges and fees’ out of its net income. 

The once-proud residence has since fallen into ruin, with collapsing roofs, faulty wiring, and overgrown lawns documented in a string of reports over recent years.

The Mandela brothers moved out after the trustees stopped paying the escalating municipal bills. Ndaba and Mbuso were back at the property now, the trustees said. Malindi said in the founding affidavit, Mbuso moved back in 2022 and had been staying in a cottage on the property since then.

Ndaba returned last July. Malindi attached to the papers a letter from the trustees to the beneficiaries dated 10 August, informing them of an ‘incident’ at the house on 26 July.

According to the letter, Mbuso got into an argument with his cousin, Tukwini Mandela, who had been charged with overseeing renovations, and wanted his own gate key. 

News24 reports that the police were eventually called to the scene. Tukwini also provided a supporting affidavit in which she described a June altercation between Mbuso and Andile ‘as a result of (Mbuso) allowing troublesome friends and their families to occupy the cottage’, which she said saw Mbuso turn ‘violent’.

She added: ‘In many instances, on attending the property, I would find intoxicated people and scantily clad women in the yard. Items from the house began to go missing over the weekends when the contractors and builders were not working on the property. These items were later found in the cottage.’ Malindi said the renovations had so far cost R2.7m. ‘It would be a travesty to allow (Ndaba and Mbuso) to impede progress through their destructive conduct,’ she said.

She said restricting access to the house ‘during this period of renovations and until a final decision has been taken as to the use of the house’ would ‘be in the interests of preserving the late President Mandela’s legacy.’

Mbuso and Ndaba filed a notice of intention to oppose the action and the application was placed on the opposed roll. They have since changed lawyers and have yet to file their papers. In the interim, the application has been placed on the unopposed roll for 3 March.

Requests for comment from the Mandela family went unanswered.

Full News24 report