E12.5m estate not wound up 23yrs later
MBABANE – A E12.5 million estate has not been wound up in over 23 years, due to division among siblings in a Masuku family.
One of the children of the late Christian Gunka Masuku, who died on August 23, 2001, is said to have taken his siblings to court on a number of occasions. Christian did not leave behind a Will.
Tee Masuku’s sisters, Zee and Lobusuku Masuku, yesterday told the commission that he took over their mother’s home while she was still alive and she had to live in the ‘wilderness’, where she ended up dying aged 94 in 2022.
Tee is alleged to have been staying with his mother-in-law, who, according to Zee and Lobusuku, died in their mother’s house. The sisters appeared before the Judicial Commission of Inquiry, that is investigating allegations of misconduct in the Office of the Master of the High Court.
They told the commission that Tee, who is over 60 years old, still stayed in their mother’s home as if it was his own and it was currently not possible to sell it. Assistant Master of the High Court, Makhosazane Mdluli said the family was divided and the master had tried to assist them to wind up the estate, without success. She even said, had they listened to the master’s advice, the estate would have been wound up in 2013.
When addressing the commission, Zee said she was speaking on behalf of her sisters Gcebile, Lobusuku and Zanele. She said her parents were directors of their company and each held 25 per cent shares. The other shares, according to Zee, were not allocated. She alleged that this was done by Tee, who later claimed it was an oversight, as the shareholding ought to have been 50 per cent each for both parents. This anomaly, said Zee, was corrected.
After Christian’s death, she said they registered everything at the Master’s Office and the estate was approved in 2005.
She argued that they removed the file from Sabelo Masuku because they wanted their mother to be the executrix. The struggle in court, according to Lobusuku, has been the non-distribution of the estate.
At the time, according to Zee, nothing was happening in the estate, except that money was being withdrawn from the bank. She said at the time Tee was the executor and the family agreed that he should be removed.
She told the commission that one day while they were at Sabelo’s office, they discovered that letters of administration were not in their mother’s name. However, she said that was corrected with the Master’s Office. She said the problem began after their mother called a family meeting and told them that the distribution was ready and they should not forget Gcebile. She submitted that Tee was allegedly very rude to them and more problems followed. Lobusuku alleged that Tee was deliberately blocking the distribution of the estate.
“When we were supposed to distribute, it was clear that we were not on the same page,” she said.
Lobusuku further said they learnt that their father’s cattle, which were kept on his farm at Croydon were being slaughtered and they suspected their brother Tee because he frequented the farm during that period. The dip tank attendants are said to have claimed not to know about it.
She emphasised that Tee did not want the distribution to be done. She alleged that there was a lot of collusion at the Master’s Office. She alleged that the estate was approved twice. The Master’s Office disputed this allegation.
“There was a string of litigation. It is about one person who is well-connected with lawyers. There was one case after another. One case could be six different cases,” said Lobusuku.
The litigation included the matter taken to court by Tee after Christian’s house at Trelawney Park in Manzini was sold, purportedly to settle his medical bills incurred at Milpark Hospital in South Africa and other institutions, according to Zee. This, she said, was their mother’s decision. She said the bill was over E500 000. Zee also told the commission that their mother required maintenance.
“Make also needed maintenance. We went to the Master’s Office to request to sell the Trelawney Park house to pay the medical bills. Tee said Lobusuku stole money and bought our mother a house at Nkonyeni,” Zee said. She stated that was another reason Tee took them to court. However, according to Zee, Lobusuku had a bond with Swaziland Building Society.
The other issue, submitted Zee, was that their mother gave Lobusuku the power of attorney, because their parents relied on her. She said they did not have a problem with it, except for Tee, who was allegedly against it.
Judge President Sifiso Nsibande said basically the master approved it and Tee challenged it, the issue ended up in court. She responded to the positive and added that Lawyer Manqoba Ndlangamandla was at some point appointed as a neutral executor by the master but that was
challenged as well.
The sisters said their mother died in January 2022.
“It was painfully. We knew she wouldn’t live forever. She had a home but there was no peace, and she had to come to stay with me. She died in the wilderness. She asked, when are we going back home? But to which home because Tee had taken it? 22 years later he says a new executor must be appointed.”
Tee, according to the sisters, is using the house, but he is allegedly not maintaining it.
Lobusuku said their mother’s house is full of furniture but it does not belong to their mother. She said their mother left the house in 2013 as a result of Tee. She alleged that an assistant general was involved.