South Africa's anti-apartheid legend Nelson Mandela has left an estate valued at over USD 4.13 million for his family, staff, schools and the ruling African National Congress, executors of his will said today.
The announcement came two months after the death of the 95-year-old former president, revered as a global peace icon.
The Mandela family trust will receive USD 130,000, plus royalties. Others to benefit include the governing ANC, personal staff and several schools.
Mandela's third wife, Graca Machel, may waive her claims to the estate, the executors said, although she is entitled to half of it, BBC reported.
Mandela, who became South Africa's first black president after the first all-race polls in 1994, died on December 5 at age 95 after battling a protracted illness.
Mandela left behind an estate that includes an upmarket house in Johannesburg, a modest dwelling in his rural Eastern Cape home province and royalties from book sales, including his autobiography Long Walk to Freedom.
Executor Justice Dikgang Moseneke said he was "not aware of any contest" to the 40-page will. The will was first written in 2004 and last amended in 2008.
Speaking at the Nelson Mandela Foundation here, Moseneke said some of the estate would be split between three trusts set up by Mandela, including a family trust designed to provide for his more than 30 children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Schools the former president attended are due to receive 100,000 rand (1 rand = USD 0.090) each, as are Wits and Fort Hare Universities, for bursaries and scholarships.
The ANC will also receive some royalties, to be used at the discretion of the party's executive committee, to spread information about the principles and policies of the ANC, particularly about reconciliation.
Mandela's children each received USD 300,000 in loans during his lifetime and will have that debt scrapped if it has not been repaid. Close personal staff, including long-time personal aide Zelda la Grange, each get 50,000 rand.
The mood of the Mandela family when the will was read was "charged with emotions but it went well," said the executor, who added they were "well pleased" by his will.
Despite this, there are fears the will could set off another round of squabbling among members of his large and factious family.
Justice Moseneke, who is also deputy head of South Africa's Constitutional Court, said there was a 90-day period in which the will can be contested.
