Clockwise from left: A hijacked Uber vehicle was recovered at late president Nelson Mandela's home in Houghton on Wednesday, 9 January. A young Mbuso Mandela with his grandfather Nelson Mandela and attending Winnie Mandela's funeral in 2018. Pictures: Michel Bega / The Citizen, Instagram and Gallo Images
The Mandela name trended for all the wrong reasons this week when Mbuso Mandela was arrested in a raid at his late grandfather and iconic statesman Nelson Mandela’s former Houghton home in Johannesburg.
The 33-year-old Mbuso was arrested on Wednesday along with a woman believed to be his girlfriend and three other men after the hijacked vehicle of an Uber driver was found on the premises.
However, only four other suspects were in the dock at the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on Friday.
State prosecutor Tshepo Mahange Ka Mzizi told Magistrate Johan Herman that the state decided not to add the fifth arrested suspect [Mandela’s grandson] due to lack of evidence while police conducted further investigations.
The remaining four stand accused of robbing, kidnapping and assaulting an Uber driver and hijacking his vehicle on Louis Botha Avenue in Oaklands on Wednesday morning, 9 January.
The case has been postponed until 17 February.
According to Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) spokesperson Xolani Fihla, officers acted on information from a vehicle tracking company. They traced the white Toyota Corolla to the dilapidated Houghton home on 12th Avenue.
The officers also found and confiscated an unlicensed firearm during the raid.
Speaking to SowetanLIVE after Mbuso’s arrest, Johannes Cassanga, a caretaker living on the property, claimed that the late president’s grandson “stripped this house of its dignity”.
“I am disgusted by how the grandson has turned the house of the honourable man into a criminal ground. He disrespected his ancestors by committing a crime in the home of the father of our freedom.
“He has stripped this house of its dignity. Despite the house being quiet during the day, the grandson always has his friends over for drinks, or he will go out and come back late,” said Cassandra, who has been working at the house for four years.
In the past, Mbuso made headlines for alleged assault, drug addiction, rape and not paying child support.
Mbuso – whose father was the late Magkatho Mandela – has often been called the “black sheep of the family”.
Mandla Mandela’s claims of affair with ex-wife
A bitter public spat ensued between Mbuso and his half-brother Mandla after the latter accused him of having an affair with his then-wife, Anaias Grimaud.
Mandla made the bombshell claim that his son was the child of the alleged illicit affair between his brother and Grimaud at a press conference in 2012.
His assertions followed earlier accusations by one of the Mandela grandsons, Ndaba, that Mandla was illegitimate.
According to The Los Angeles Times, this was an apparent effort to topple him as chief of Mvezo in the AbaThembu clan as the family battled over the famous Mandela name – and the money it might generate – shortly before Nelson Mandela’s death.
Brother lays case of theft against Mbuso; drug claims
Back in 2015, Mbuso’s older brother Ndaba opened a case of theft against him, claiming that he stole money from him to allegedly purchase drugs.
Sunday World reported that Ndaba alleged in his police report that Mbuso took more than $6 000 (about R114 653) from his room at their Houghton home while he was out of the country on business.
According to IOL, Mbuso was an “outpatient” at a drug rehabilitation centre at the time.
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Child maintenance battle
In 2018, two years after inheriting an eye-watering $3.1 million (about R50.3 million) from his grandfather’s estate, Mbuso claimed he had “no money” to pay child support.
This after his former partner Gugu Keswa dragged him to court for failing to pay child maintenance on several occasions for their then five-year-old daughter.
Rape case
The father of a 15-year-old teenage schoolgirl opened a rape case against Mbuso in 2017.
The legal team of Mandela’s grandson, however, claimed that the sex was consensual, and the charges were later provisionally withdrawn for further investigation.
Unlicensed firearm and drug arrest
In 2022, Mbuso was arrested for the possession of an unlicensed firearm and a substance believed to be drugs.
Ndaba bailed him out, stating in a Twitter (now X) post that he had been in the “wrong company”.
Confession’ of assaulting girlfriend
In the same year, Mbuso confessed in an Instagram post – which has since been deleted – to abusing his girlfriend.
“How’sit guys? My name is Mbuso Mandela, and I’m a woman abuser,” he said.
“I put my girlfriend’s head through the window and the Trellidor. I strangled her. She needs me to admit it, so I’m admitting it in front of everybody. Thank you.”
In a surprise twist, his girlfriend – whose name is unknown – uploaded a video, denying that Mbuso ever laid a hand on her.
“Hi guys. So yesterday Mbuso posted a video that he is a woman abuser and that he abused me, I am doing this video just to show that he did not abuse me. I don’t know why… Well, I do get why he posted that.
“In our angry little fight, I called his bluff and said he would never try and ruin his reputation and that was wrong of me. I admit that completely.”
Wearing what appears to be underwear, the woman said: “As you can see there are no bruises, my face is fine. Not too sure where he had me through a Trellidor because I’m pretty sure, it would be swollen.
“But you would notice, there is a blue mark there that happened maybe Thursday while I was out at Saint. I bumped into a person, got a blue mark and I bruise easily.”
The Citizen previously reported on the acrimonious family feud over Mandela’s family home in Houghton. At least three of his grandchildren were preparing court papers to fight a possible property sale.
Late last year, Ndaba Mandela told the Sunday Times that his aunt Makaziwe, Mandela’s oldest daughter, was “trying to take the house away” from him and his brothers Mbuso and Andile.
The tourist attraction and home of the anti-apartheid icon at the time of his death in 2013 once hosted international celebrities such as supermodel Naomi Campbell and pop star Michael Jackson, with former US president Bill Clinton being a “regular guest”.
It has, however, fallen into a sad state of disrepair.
David Fleminger from the Johannesburg Heritage Foundation told The Citizen that if sold, the house could be worth at least R6 million. Still, its current poor condition affects its value, notwithstanding its heritage and potential business value.
NOW READ: Concerns raised over public funds for Mandela home renovation
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