Ex-model presumed dead by court

ONE of the country’s former top models, Thembi Jackman – who was once married to Gibson Kente, SA’s “father of black theatre” – has been declared by the Pretoria High Court to be presumed dead.

The businesswoman was last seen on June 2, 2008 when she left her home in Hazyview, Mpumalanga, to visit a friend, Cynthia Chauke, in Mbombela.

Jackman, born Nomathemba Evelyn Kasi, featured on many magazine covers during her time as a model. She moved to the US in the 1970s, where she pursued a career in the cosmetics industry.

Her son Zola Plata asked the court that she be presumed dead so that her estate could be wound up and her creditors paid.

Plata was born from the marriage between his mother and Layton Plata in 1963. The couple divorced in 1966. Jackman married Kente, the wellknown playwright, in 1969. After they divorced in 1974, she never remarried.

Plata said his mother left her home around lunchtime on the day she disappeared. She was expected to be away for about three days. Plata said he phoned his mother several times to ask whether she had had a safe trip. When she did not answer her phone, he contacted Chauke, who said she had not arrived.

Plata reported his mother missing, but a formal police investigation did not shed light on her disappearance.

He said it was time for the family to find closure by having her declared presumed dead by means of a court order. The order has been granted.