JOHANNESBURG (AFP) - South African police are investigating Nelson Mandela's grandson for allegedly pointing a gun at a driver in a road rage spat, a spokesman said on Wednesday.

Mandla Mandela, a traditional chief and member of Parliament, is accused of pulling his gun on another driver after a near-accident on Sunday in the southeastern town of Mthatha.

"It was during one of these road rage quarrels with one of them accusing the other of nearly bumping into (him)," said police spokesman Mzukisi Fatyela.

"Then Mandla went to fetch a firearm from his car and pointed it at the other guy," said Mr Fatyela.

The man laid a charge against the 39-year-old, who is Mandela's oldest grandchild, on Tuesday.

"The charge is that of pointing a firearm. You can't point a firearm at anyone. It's a lethal weapon," said Mr Fatyela.

Mandela has courted controversy in recent months as a bitter family feud played out while his famous grandfather lay in intensive care for a respiratory illness.

In July he was ordered to return the remains of his grandfather's three deceased children, whose graves he had moved without the family's permission.

The chief of Mvezo then launched a televised tirade against his relatives who he accused of trying to grow rich from the Mandela name. He also said his brother had impregnated his wife.

The older Mandela, 95, has been treated at his Johannesburg home since September 1 after nearly three months in hospital in what was described as a critical but stable condition.

Updates about his health have appeared more positive in recent weeks.

Mandela is admired for his lifelong sacrifice in fighting the brutal white-minority apartheid regime, before becoming his country's first black president.