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Bank Seizes $122,000 From Winnie Mandela
A South African bank has seized nearly a million rand (about 122,000 dollars/144,000 euros) from popular leader Winnie Madikizela-Mandela after she failed to repay a loan, Sunday newspapers reported.
Madikizela-Mandela secured a 600,000 rand loan from First National Bank on the basis of a lucrative "diamond-exporting transaction", reports by The Sunday Times and City Press said. But the deal fell through and the bank stripped Madikizela-Mandela of her investments after she failed to repay the loan and lost a court interdict last Friday to stop the bank reclaiming the money.
Madikizela-Mandela, the ex-wife of former president Nelson Mandela, denied in an affidavit that she was indebted to the bank and claimed she was the victim of fraud by an insurance company that had invited her to become a director. First National -- a bank which maintained strong relations with anti-apartheid organisations -- is threatening to take further action against Madikizela-Mandela if she does not repay a further 105,000 rand owed to it by Wednesday.
The bank is closing down all five of her accounts and refuses to do any more business with her, the reports said. Madikizela-Mandela, president of the African National Congress Women's League, has declined to comment.
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