Adopted son denied title deed, share certificate

MBABANE – A son adopted by deceased businessman Armstrong Henwood, says he has been denied a title deed to a farm he owns and a share certificate of the estate of the deceased.

Lloyd Henwood was adopted by Armstrong and he became his son before he passed on, about 16 years ago.

Lloyd said there was a Will that his father left before he died, and it was in the Will that he indicated his desire to have his adopted son inherit one of his farms and at least seven per cent shares of the estate.

Lloyd revealed to the Judicial Commission of Inquiry on the operations of the Master’s Office, that the executor of the estate was Garth Henwood and the co-executor used to be Allister Henwood, but the latter had passed on.

His concern, which compelled him to seek the assistance of the commission on the estate, was that the executor was denying him the title deed of the farm that was left to him by the deceased.

Certificate

He also shared that the executor told him that he did not know the whereabouts of the share certificate; it got lost.

The inventory of the deceased comprises at least 383 cattle, Farm 645 where they used to reside with the deceased and two other farms, which made up the company trading by the name Granite Ranch Pty Ltd.

The deceased also had at least E161 000 cash at Nedbank and assets amounting to over E2.5 million in South Africa as revealed by Lloyd.

The assets in South Africa included Liberty Life Insurance policy and her mother’s estate, amounting to over E100 000.

Lloyd shared that he had been through many Master’s offices, trying to get the executor to give him the title deed to his farm and the share certificate.

Among the concerns forwarded by Lloyd was that his late father left him a bulldozer, which was allegedly contracted at Maloma mine.

He said that despite it being active at the mine, he was not getting any proceeds from it and he engaged officers from the Office of the Master, to help him take it back home.

Lloyd said he wrote a letter to the Master’s Office to express his concern that nothing was being done to wind up the estate between 2008 and 2010. He revealed that after the letter, he and his brother went to Dumisani Magagula, who was the Assistant Master at the time, and he advised him to get rid of his attorney, identified as Thwala and he agreed. He then engaged Attorney Mbuso Simelane.

“Magagula advised me to take the matter further to the court and remove the executors. Khanyisile Masilela, who was the Assistant Master at the time, also advised that I should get rid of the executors, because they had not furnished her with the report on the liquidation and distribution of the estate,” he told the commission.

Proceed

Lloyd said the matter went to court in 2011 but Principal Judge Qinsile Mabuza ruled that the executors should proceed and wind up the estate. He said after the High Court judgment, they approached the Supreme Court in the quest to appeal the judgment.

“Unfortunately, even at the Supreme Court, the ruling came out in favour of the executors as the judge ruled that they should execute their duties as soon as possible,” he said.

Lloyd said in November 2012, Assistant Master Lindelwa Magagula took action on the matter, delegating an official from the Office of the Master to serve the executors with a letter requesting them to give the final distribution before August 2013.

“Things went quiet until Magagula sent another letter to the executors requesting them to present expenditures and wind up the estate, but things went quiet again,” he said.

Lloyd alleged that at the time, the executors were selling the cattle, taking the proceeds and living their normal lives. He said they were stopped from selling the cattle and it was then that there was some activity in the winding up of the estate. However, the argument from Lloyd is that he was told that his share certificates got lost and he was not given the title deed to the farm left to him by the deceased.

“My greatest worry is that should I pass on, what will my children inherit if I do not have these items with me,” he said.