AmaDlomo‚ AbaThembu traditional leadership and the community of Qunu‚ where Nelson Mandela and his extended family are buried‚ say they still highly regard Winnie Madikizela-Mandela as one of the royal wives of AmaDlomo‚ despite her divorce from Madiba.

Senior AmaDlomo traditional leaders‚ including Nkosi Mfundo Mtirara‚ Nkosi Zanomthetho Mtirara and Nkosikazi Nokwanele Balizululu – who are closely related to Madiba – expressed their unwavering support for Madikizela-Mandela during a memorial service at the Methodist Church in Qunu on Thursday.

The service was organised by the ANC and ANC Women's League in the OR Tambo region in conjunction with the Qunu community and their leaders. ''Mam’uNobandla will forever remain the wife of Dalibhunga‚ the wife of AmaDlomo. It is foreign that when a woman is divorced in civil court she is no more regarded as a wife of that family … that clan.

“We all know that Mam'uNobandla. We were never at any point as ooMadiba‚ took a resolution to confirm that divorce and do what is known as ukukhethwa kweenkomo. This happens if a woman is no longer regarded as a wife; her in-laws would select and take home some of the lobola cattle back.

“This never happened in the case of Nobandla‚" said Mtirara.