Nelson Mandela's grandson moved three of Mandela's children's graves to his own village, and 16 relatives won a court order to return them to Qunu in 2013

Three of Nelson Mandela's children were buried in the family graveyard at Qunu, his childhood village in the Eastern Cape: his daughter Makaziwe, who died as an infant in 1948; his son Madiba Thembekile, killed in a car accident in 1969; and his eldest son Makgatho, who died in 2005. In 2011 Makgatho's son Mandla Mandela, chief of the Mvezo traditional council, moved their remains to his homestead at Mvezo. He said the move was temporary until Mandela's will settled where Mandela himself would be buried. In June 2013, while Mandela was in hospital, his eldest daughter Makaziwe and 15 other relatives made an urgent application to the Eastern Cape High Court in Mthatha. Judge Lusindiso Pakade ordered Mandla to return the remains to Qunu by 3pm on 3 July 2013, failing which the sheriff would move them, and ruled his counter-application procedurally improper. Mandla argued that as Makgatho's eldest surviving son he was entitled to decide where his father lay, and that customary law did not require Mandela to be buried beside his children. Relatives laid grave-tampering charges against him. On 3 July the sheriff and family members broke through the gates at Mvezo. The remains were tested and on 4 July were reburied at a new site on Mandela's Qunu farm. Mandela died on 5 December 2013 and was buried at Qunu on 15 December.