adminDumisani Sibanda Sunday News Correspondent
THE widow of the late Nkulumane Member of Parliament, Thamsanqa Mahlangu, Ms Brenda Zaranyika has made a High Court application to revoke the appointment of Ms Pretty Maphosa as an executor of her husband’s estate and requesting that the Assistant Master of the High Court, a Mr Antonio recuse himself from the matter as the feud over the deceased’s estate rages on.
Mahlangu succumbed to cancer in October 2015. In court papers filed recently, the widow, Ms Zaranyika- who is represented by Mr Dumisani Dube of Mathonsi Ncube Law Chambers cited Ms Pretty Maphosa as the First Respondent and the Deputy Master of the High Court in his official capacity as the Second Respondent.
In the papers she noted that she is the deceased’s surviving spouse having married him customarily on 28 April 2007 and they have a seven-year-old son while Mahlangu had another child, a 17-year-old boy with another woman.
“After the burial of my husband, I requested on numerous occasions for the death certificate or a copy of it from the Registrar of Births and Deaths to no avail,” stated Ms Zaranyika in her founding affidavit in the court application.
“Officials advised that First Respondent (Ms Maphosa) had ordered them through Mr Tobaiwa Mudede (Registrar General) not to issue me with a copy of the death certificate as First Respondent (Ms Maphosa) did not recognise me as the deceased’s wife. I sought legal advice and filed a court application under cover of case number 179/ 16 at Magistrates Court which is still pending.”
She further stated that on 14 January this year she wrote a letter to the Assistant Master of the High Court advising him of her objection to the appointment of Ms Maphosa as the executor of the Estate Late Thamsanqa Mahlangu DRB 1146/`15.
“Surprisingly, on the 8th of February 2016, despite my objections to the appointment of First Respondent (Ms Maphosa) as the Executor, Second Respondent (Assistant Master of the High Court) fraudulently issued First Respondent (Ms Maphosa) with Letters of Administration appointing her as the Executrix Dative of Estate Late Thamsanqa Mahlangu.”
She claimed that Ms Maphosa was not related to her late husband, Mahlangu.
“First Respondent (Ms Maphosa) is not known to me except for the chaos and confusion she caused during my late husband’s funeral from 6 October 2015 to the 10th of October 2015,” she submitted in the court papers. “First Respondent (Ms Maphosa) is also one of the culprits who disrupted the funeral procession and was a key proponent in the attempts to kidnap my late husband’s hearse.
“This was widely documented in various newspapers and media both locally and internationally. Further First Respondent (Ms Maphosa) has no real and substantial interest in the finalisation of the matter except to cause confusion and loot the estate of my late husband and is the same person who directed registry officials not to release the death certificate of my late husband to me resulting in court action under MC 176/16.
“First Respondent (Ms Maphosa) has even threatened to assault me in the presence of police officers to whom she made malicious reports that I was looting the bank accounts of my deceased husband.”
Ms Zaranyika also alleged that Ms Maphosa has been threatening her over the matter.
She said although she has complained to the Assistant Master of the High Court that Ms Maphosa is allegedly not “an independent person and as such cannot professionally administer the estate of my late husband”.
Ms Zaranyika said an “independent” executor should be appointed in the matter and no one would reportedly be prejudiced by removal of Ms Maphosa as executor of the estate.
Ms Zaranyika claimed the two children have been reduced to destitution as the executor of the estate has allegedly neglected to pay for the fees from the estate or provide funds pending finalization of the estate.
“I also ask that the Second Respondent (Assistant Master of the High Court) be ordered to recuse himself in any manner or in any capacity whatsoever in the affairs of the Estate Late Mahlangu DRB 1146/15 and any involvement in which he would otherwise be called upon to attend in his official capacity as the Second Respondent in the normal course of his business, and shall, as and when required delegate such role to an officer most qualified and competent to act in such oversight role. This is because of Second Respondent’s(Assistant Master of the High Court) obvious preference and bias towards First Respondent despite my disapproval which is justifiably so.”
There is also a criminal court case in which Ms Zaranyika is accused of having withdrawn money from Mahlangu’s bank account when he had already died.
Bongani Ndlovu