The widow of the late Nelson Mandela

The late South African leader, Nelson Mandela, left behind a legacy and an estate amassing $4.6 million (South African rand) for his loved ones. First off, his family trust received $130,000. That does not even include the royalties attached to the trust. Mandela’s third wife, Graca Machel, was entitled to half of his estate  Mandela’s estate included a house in Johannesburg, a house in East Cape town (in the rural area), and royalties from his book, Long Walk to Freedom (his autobiography). 

HIs Last Will was a whopping 40 pages long. The entire estate was (roughly) valued around 46 million rand, which would be $257,6049.68 dollars (in U.S. currency). The deputy head of South Africa’s Constitutional Court mentioned that at least some of the estate would be split between three trusts; that includes a family trust to provide for his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Mandela’s family trust includes 1.5m rand (roughly $11,2002.16 in U.S. currency), which also includes royalties. Mandela not only gave enough for his family to live comfortably, but also generously dispersed 100,000 rand (roughly 5600.11 in U.S. currency) for bursaries and scholarships. 

Nelson Mandela’s children each received $300,000 loans while he was alive, and if the debt has not been repaid upon his death, the debts will be cancelled out. Some of the staff who worked intimately with Mandela received 50,000 rand (roughly 2800.05 in U.S. currency). Mandela passed away on December 5th, 2013. He bequeathed his house (the one he died in) to the family of his son (also deceased). The family (along with a lot of South Africa) appears comfortable with the amount of money that was bequeathed from his estate. Hopefully, there will be no familial fights in court. We have covered that many times, particularly with wealthy estates. If you would like to read more about the estate of the late Mandela, you can read about it here.