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Africa

Estates and inheritance cases across Africa.

58 storiesUnited KingdomGermanySpainTurkeyIranSouth AfricaNigeriaUnited Arab EmiratesEthiopiaTunisiaMoroccoGhana

What do the Africa estate cases show?

A gift from a government to a monarch splits into crown property and family property, and the family property passes by private will. Where a family has not written down who decides on its graves, the heir who controls the land can move them until a court says otherwise.

Stories
58
Years
950 BCE to 2023
Main subjects
Egypt and Africa, Oil and natural resources, Modern estates
Legal traditions
Customary law, Royal and church law
Updated
30 October 2026

Every story in Africa, best-known first

Best-known first: cases from 1900 on, then the United States, then Europe, and the people most read about on English Wikipedia each month. Fiction, scripture and legend come last.

  1. 1953The Transvaal bought the largest diamond ever found as a birthday gift for Edward VII, the cutter kept the smaller stones as his fee, and South Africans petition for its returnUK Parliament, Hansard and 3 more
  2. 2013Nelson 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 2013mg.co.za and 4 more
  3. 1997Fela Kuti's brother announced he died of AIDS, he was buried in his own courtyard, and his estate signed with WME 26 years lateripsnews.net and 5 more
  4. 1971Idi Amin seized the Madhvani sugar estate in 1972; the widow came back to one working tractor, and the heirs split again in 2020csmonitor.com and 2 more
  5. 1975Ethiopia's Derg said Haile Selassie died after prostate surgery, and his bones were found under his palace office 16 years laterWikipedia (English) and 1 more
  6. 1997Switzerland released Mobutu Sese Seko's frozen money to his heirs, and his body stays in Rabatswissinfo.ch and 7 more
  7. 2019Robert Mugabe left about $10 million and no will, and a village chief fined his widow five cows and ordered his body dug upAl Jazeera and 2 more
  8. 1944Revolutionaries demolished Reza Shah's mausoleum in 1980 and could not find his body, and a mummified body turned up on the site in 2018Encyclopaedia Britannica and 3 more
  9. 1902Parliament cancelled the Kaiser's 15 Rhodes Scholarships in 1916, and Zimbabwean officials called for Rhodes's body to be removedInternet Archive and 5 more
  10. 1982Swaziland's royal council deposed Queen Regent Dzeliwe in 1983 after Sobhuza II diedd.lib.msu.edu and 6 more
  11. 1998Four governments returned more than $780 million of General Sani Abacha's money to Nigeriajustice.gov and 3 more
  12. 2022Angola's former president died in Barcelona, a daughter fought to bury him in Spain, and a Spanish court sent the body to his widow in Luandavoaafrica.com and 5 more
  13. 2022Angola's president made his daughter head of the state oil company; his successor fired her, and courts froze her assets in four countriesicij.org and 3 more
  14. 1961A Belgian police officer kept Lumumba's tooth after dissolving his body in acid; Belgium returned it in 2022, and the last suspect died before trial in 2026NBC News and 6 more
  15. 1980Britain barred Seretse Khama from his chieftaincy for marrying an Englishwoman, and as Botswana's president he signed his people's mining land over to the state without compensationthuto.org and 3 more
  16. 1913Menelik II's death was kept secret in 1913, and his named heir Lij Iyasu was deposed in 1916 and died a prisonerWikisource (primary text) and 7 more
  17. 1904Germany sent the heads of Herero and Nama prisoners to Berlin for race research, and the Charité returned 20 skulls to Namibia in 2011thenationalnews.com and 2 more
  18. 2023Mohbad's father has kept the singer unburied for nearly three years until a court-ordered DNA test shows whether his grandson is his son's childradionigerialagos.gov.ng and 3 more
  19. 1962Solomon Linda sold "Mbube" for 10 shillings, and his daughters seized Disney's South African trademarks to win a share of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight"wipo.int and 4 more
  20. 1931The British demanded the Asante Golden Stool in 1900 and never obtained itInternet Archive and 5 more
  21. 1885Kitchener had the Mahdi's tomb destroyed in 1898 and his skull taken, and Parliament debated it before the skull was buried at Wadi HalfaUK Parliament, Hansard and 3 more
  22. 2021The Zulu king's widow challenged his will as forged, and his successor's recognition went to South Africa's highest courtmg.co.za and 2 more
  23. 2019Tob Cohen's body was found in the septic tank of his Nairobi home, and his widow is on trial for his murder while his will leaves the estate to his sisterstandardmedia.co.ke and 4 more
  24. 2019Tanzanian tycoon Reginald Mengi's will left his estate to his second wife and their twins, and the High Court threw it outtheeastafrican.co.ke and 2 more
  25. 2019Tunisia's president proposed equal inheritance for daughters and sons, died before parliament voted, and his successor called the debate falseAl Jazeera and 4 more
  26. 2013Mandela's eldest daughter put his ID card, shirts and a Robben Island key up for auction in New York, and the state fought the sale to the Constitutional CourtSmithsonian Magazine and 2 more
  27. 2011The Oppenheimers sold their 40 percent of De Beers for $5.1 billion in 2011, and in 2026 Anglo American offered its 85 percent for about $1 billionjckonline.com and 2 more
  28. 2011Mike Campbell won his farm case against Zimbabwe in 2008; he was beaten, his house burned, the tribunal was shut down, and South African courts let the farmers sell Zimbabwe's Cape Town property for costssupremecourtofappeal.org.za and 2 more
  29. 2002South Africa's Constitutional Court made two Khayelitsha girls sole heirs of their father and struck down male primogeniture in 2004collections.concourt.org.za and 4 more
  30. 2001South Africa's Constitutional Court upheld the Valoyi community's choice of Tinyiko Shilubana as its first woman Hosi in 2008collections.concourt.org.za and 4 more
  31. 2001A hedge fund had Argentina's navy training ship held in Ghana for 11 weeks over defaulted bondsmaritime-executive.com and 3 more
  32. 1996Lesotho's military ruler exiled King Moshoeshoe II and put his son on the throne, the son handed it back in 1995, and the father died in a car crash a year latersahistory.org.za and 2 more
  33. 1996A Lesotho chief's eldest daughter sued to inherit his chieftainship, and the courts kept it in the male lineCornell Law School, LII and 2 more
  34. 1995Nigeria hanged Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight Ogoni activists over oil-region protests, buried them without their families, and pardoned them 30 years laterAl Jazeera and 2 more
  35. 1986Kenya's Court of Appeal gave S.M. Otieno's body to his brother and clan over his widow's objection, and he lay unburied for 140 daysrecordoflaw.in and 4 more
  36. 1981Nigeria's Supreme Court upheld Gladys Ukeje's share of her father's Lagos estate and declared the Igbo rule excluding daughters void in 2014journals.unizik.edu.ng and 4 more
  37. 1868Tewodros II shot himself at Maqdala in 1868, Britain auctioned his treasury and took his son, and in 2023 Buckingham Palace refused to return the son's remainsarchive.archaeology.org and 8 more
  38. 1856Sayyid Said died at sea in 1856, his sons split Oman and Zanzibar, and his daughter Salme was refused her inheritanceWikisource (primary text) and 6 more
  39. 1914Nigeria vested ownership of the looted Benin Bronzes in the Oba of Benin in 2023nms.ac.uk and 10 more
  40. 1913Under the 1913 Natives Land Act a farmer named Kgobadi was ordered off his land by sunset, and his baby died on the road and was buried at night in a stolen graveProject Gutenberg and 2 more
  41. 1895The Dukes of Hamilton sold Hamilton Palace's collections in 1882 and 1919, then demolished the palace over mining subsidenceUK Parliament, Hansard and 7 more
  42. 1324Mansa Musa said he took Mali's throne because his predecessor sailed into the Atlantic and never came backcambridge.org and 6 more
  43. 40Cleopatra's grandson Ptolemy inherited Mauretania from his father Juba, and Caligula summoned him to Rome and had him killedUniversity of Chicago, LacusCurtius and 2 more
  44. 1828Dingane and Mhlangana killed their half-brother Shaka in 1828, and their brother Mpande took the Zulu throne with Boer help in 1840Internet Archive and 5 more
  45. 1897Diamond magnate Barney Barnato went overboard from a mail steamer in 1897, a blackmailer shot his nephew Woolf Joel dead the next year, and his son inherited at twojewishencyclopedia.com and 4 more
  46. 1727Moulay Ismail of Morocco died in 1727 with hundreds of sons, and his army made and unmade sultans for thirty yearsjournals.plos.org and 5 more
  47. 1873Livingstone's heart was buried in Zambia, his body was carried 1,000 miles to Westminster Abbey, and his son died in a Confederate prison under a false namewestminster-abbey.org and 8 more
  48. 1821Napoleon's will left 10,000 francs to the man who tried to shoot the Duke of Wellingtonnapoleon.org and 3 more
  49. 70Rome carried the Temple treasures in triumph, the Vandals took them to Carthage, and Procopius says Justinian sent them to Jerusalem because a Jew warned they brought down every palace that held themsourcebooks.web.fordham.edu and 3 more
  50. 54Pliny says six men owned half of Roman Africa when Nero had them killed, and Suetonius says Nero seized the estates of anyone whose will left him too littleperseus.tufts.edu and 3 more
  51. 158Apuleius married a rich widow, her family charged him with winning her by magic, and he read her will aloud in court to show her son was the heirProject Gutenberg and 2 more
  52. 1540Ethiopia's emperors held their brothers and sons on Amba Geshen for life until Ahmad ibn Ibrahim's army took the mountain in 1540Project Gutenberg and 2 more
  53. 96 BCEPtolemy VIII willed Cyrene to Rome in 155 BC, and his son Ptolemy Apion's will handed it over in 96 BCigcyr2.unibo.it and 4 more
  54. 1220Mapungubwe's royal dead were dug up in 1933 and reburied on their hill in 2007, but the gold rhinoceros stayed in a university museumrepository.up.ac.za and 7 more
  55. 1063Al-Bakri wrote that Ghana's king took every gold nugget and his heir was his sister's son, and in 1063 a nephew took the throne over the dead king's Muslim sonbu.edu and 2 more
  56. 814 BCEKing Pygmalion of Tyre killed his sister's husband for his buried gold, and she sailed away with it after dumping sacks of sand into the seatertullian.org and 2 more
  57. 950 BCEThe Kebra Nagast says Menelik I, son of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, took the Ark to Aksum and that only his male line may rule EthiopiaInternet Archive and 8 more
  58. 1224The Sundiata epic says the king wanted his crippled son to rule, the council crowned his half-brother, and the exiled son came back to found Malibu.edu and 2 more