As Nelson Mandela remained in critical condition in hospital last night, a family feud over where the 94-year-old former president should be buried went to the courts.
Mr eldest daughter, Makaziwe, and 15 other family members have pressed a court application to get Mr Mandela's grandson to return the bodies of three of Mr Mandela's children to their original graves in the eastern rural village of Qunu.
The grandson, Mandla Mandela, acknowledges having reburied the three bodies 13 miles away in the Mvezo village, where he plans to create a Mandela shrine, hotel and soccer stadium.
Mandla Mandela has until today to respond to the court filing, reports said.
The anti-apartheid leader built his retirement home in Qunu and was living there until his repeated hospital stays which started at the end of last year.
Nelson Mandela, pictured, attended the burial of his son at the family plot in Qunu in 2005, and it was widely expected that he would be buried there.
However, his grandson exhumed the bodies of Mr Mandela's three children and moved them to nearby Mvezo, which is the former president's birthplace and the grandson holds authority as chief.
Mr Mandela's ex-wife Winnie Madikizela-Mandela said yesterday there had been an improvement in the former ANC leader's condition.