Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, 80, is going to court to stop tourists from accessing Nelson Mandela's grave in the Eastern Cape.
The City Press reported that Madikizela-Mandela, who is the divorced second wife of the late statesman, doesn't want the Nelson Mandela Foundation and the Eastern Cape provincial government to open the site to tourists.
Mandela died on December 5, 2013 at the age of 95. He is buried in his home village of Qunu in the Eastern Cape. He was South Africa's first democratically elected president.
The Mandela family home is also in Qunu and has been the subject of a legal fight by Madikizela-Mandela, who was left out of her ex-husband's will but demanded control over the home. The couple were divorced in 1996 and he subsequently married Graca Machel. Madikizela-Mandela lost the original legal battle to control the house in the Mthatha High Court.
Her lawyer, Mvuzo Notyesi, told City Press that Madikizela-Mandela would file an interdict to stop the Foundation and government's plans on the gravesite because she still had a legal claim pending against Mandela's home. Notyesi said they had been granted leave to appeal the Mthatha High Court judgment so were taking the matter to the Supreme Court of Appeal.
Only close family members have been able to visit the grave, said City Press.