This is what the Royal House of Mandela coat of arms looks like

The Mandela family has apparently taken their link to the famous name one step further, with what political reporter Andisiwe Makinana said on Twitter on Sunday was their new coat of arms.

It features a lion and a leopard next to traditional weapons and a number of other local African motifs.

The ownership of the family name has been somewhat contested among Nelson Mandela’s family members, with one company using the name to sell everything from wines to coins and T-shirts.

On their website they write that the Mandela name is “one of heritage, strong values and royalty. The Mandelas are the descendants of a royal bloodline that dates back to the 18th century when Thembu Land was part of the royal kingdom of the Eastern Cape. Our legacy can be traced back to King Ngubengcuka, the king of the Thembus; tracing back to a small village in the Eastern Cape, where the great Chief Mphakanyiswa of Mvezo and father to Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela ruled. Our history is steeped in tradition, family values and a strong sense of community. We are proud of our heritage and believe that only when we understand and appreciate where we come from is it possible to achieve a state of enlightenment and progress in our journey through life.”

The current head of the family is chief Mandla Mandela, who is also an ANC MP in parliament.

In the last months of Mandela’s life, feuds broke out among his close associates and family members over using the Mandela name to sell products – at times grabbing such attention that the spats threatened to overshadow reflections on the great man himself.

In financial terms, experts predicted the Mandela brand would shoot through the roof after he died.

Who owns the rights on products bearing the Mandela image or name, however, is somewhat of a grey zone.

The Nelson Mandela Foundation, a charity created by the revered statesman, has 18 registered trademarks “to provide a legal instrument for acting against inappropriate use of Madiba’s name and image”, said Verne Harris, head of the foundation’s Centre of Memory.

South Africa’s Companies and Intellectual Property Registration Office has 130 enterprises listed, including Lattelicious Mandela Square (a Johannesburg coffee shop), Mandela Auto Body Parts, Mandela Clothing, and Mandela Poultry Co-operative Limited.

And then there are the dozens of roads, buildings, bridges, parks, schools and shopping malls, even a city – Nelson Mandela Bay in the Eastern Cape – which carry the famous name.

Branding expert Jeremy Sampson said in 2013 it was impossible to protect a name absolutely, and suggested efforts to do so were “a little slow to begin with”.

“Certain things have been organised and set up that carry his mandate, but other things were set up by members of his family the he or his lawyers have been unable to control,” said Sampson.

“It is a murky world at the moment,” he added.

One key point that is not legally clear is what rights Mandela’s more than 30 children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren have to use the registered name that is also their own.

And what about the ruling ANC with whom his name is intrinsically linked – an association presumably worth a few votes?

Before Mandela’s death, two of the icon’s daughters sought to wrest control from four Mandela confidants of two investment firms created to channel proceeds from the sale of Mandela handprints to his family.

The prints, produced between 2004 and 2005, were reportedly sold to celebrities for over $1.7-million.

The daughters later abandoned their bid.

There was also an argument involving grandson Mandla Mandela, who accused his aunts of trying to gain control of the Mandela millions.

Mandla, in turn, moved the remains of his late father and two other relatives to Mvezo, Mandela’s birthplace and where Mandla is tribal chief, in a bid, his family claimed, to try and force the statesman’s burial there to cash in on the ensuing tourism.

Mandla was forced by a court order to return the remains to Qunu, where Mandela grew up and where he had expressed a wish to be buried.

Qunu, where the statesman was finally laid to rest on Sunday, already has a Mandela museum.

Harris previously said that Mandela wanted to avoid all commercial exploitation of his name.

“The guidelines included things like ‘I don’t want my face on commercial products, I do not want to be associated with tobacco, alcohol’, and so on.”

Yet a Mandela daughter and granddaughter have launched a range of expensive wines, named “House of Mandela”, that they claim honours his memory.

Two other granddaughters were the stars of a television reality show called Being Mandela, and yet others launched the Long Walk to Freedom clothing line after the title of their forefather’s autobiography.

“I think his family has already done a lot of damage to his name,” said Sampson.

“Reputation impacts on the brand, and vice versa.” – Additional reporting by AFP