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Judge: Mandela's $4.1M estate divided among family, staff, ANC

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, Feb. 3 (UPI) -- Family members, staff and the political party he once led will all receive bequests from the estate of Nelson Mandela, a South African judge announced Monday.

In announcing provisions of the will Monday afternoon, Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke estimated the value of Mandela's estate at $4.1 million, the Nelson Mandela Foundation said in a statement.

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The bequests include children and grandchildren from each of Mandela's three wives.

Mandela's widow, Graca Machel, could agree to waive all rights to the Mandela estate, Moseneke said, although under South African law she is entitled to half his property.

Machel has 90 days to decide if she will waive those rights, the justice said.

Regardless of her decision, she will retain ownership of four properties she and Mandela jointly owned in Mozambique, News 24 reported.

Machel also will be allowed to take any artworks or artifacts from a house in Johannesburg that is owned by a family trust.

The Mandela family trust received $134,500, plus royalties from Mandela's writings and other projects.

Several secondary schools and universities Mandela attended each were left about $9,000.

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The African National Congress, of which Mandela was president during the 1990s, also will receive royalties. Moseneke said the money is to be used at the discretion of ANC executives to help spread the party's principles and practices, including reconciliation.

Several staff members received individual bequests of about $4,500.

Mandela asked executors of his estate to consult "from time to time" with Machel and Makaziwe Amuah Mandela and Zenani Mandela Dlamini, two daughters from previous marriages, the foundation. The consultations should involve "important decisions and the needs of the family."

The foundation said the will was written in 2004 and updated in 2005 and 2008.

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