Wife’s ‘bloody hand’ wiped clean by the Master, but the AFU disagrees
on property, a Mercedes-Benz, an Audi and an Isuzu bakkie. He also owed hundreds of thousands to the taxman, money on four credit cards, doctor and cellphone bills, a huge electricity bill, and had a R50 000 loan.
The widow this week secured a directive from the Master of the High Court that the policy should indeed form part of their joint matrimonial estate. The executors of the judge’s estate had previously listed the proceeds of the policy as an asset excluded from the joint estate, which put the convicted murderer at risk of being deprived of her share on the basis of the common law principle that de bloedige hand erft niet (a bloody hand does not inherit).
As a result of the Master’s conclusion, the executor has to amend the liquidation and distribution account so the policy is listed as an asset in the joint estate, allowing Maqubela to lay claim to her share.
But the Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) does not agree. It believes Maqubela caused her husband’s death and they’re using the Prevention of Organised Crime Act, along with their claim that the money represents the proceeds of crime, as ammunition.
If the AFU succeeds, it will be the first time the unit has secured such an order in a murder case. But if it fails, the acting judge’s four children, who stood to benefit to the tune of about R2.7 million each, will receive far less.
The estate is being adminis- tered as intestate (without the existence of a will) and the liquidation and distribution account, which was attached to Maqubela’s affidavit, shows the slain judge’s total liabilities amount to R29.8m.
Once the liabilities are deducted, there is nothing left for distribution until the life policy is added.
Maqubela objected to the liquidation and distribution account on the basis the policy was listed as an asset outside the joint estate.
Maqubela also submitted she was also an intestate heir, and was therefore entitled to an additional child’s portion of the estate. The Master overruled this. Judge Ashton Schippers postponed the application to August for a final order.