Department to withdraw Sandlana executorship
Mrs Sandlana holds her own death certificate
The department of justice says it will recall the approval given by the master of the high court in Pretoria to a prominent bishop to be the executor of his estranged wife’s estate as soon as it is confirmed that the application was fraudulent.
The master of the high court granted Michael Sandlana, the leader of a faction of the International Pentecost Holiness Church, executorship of his wife Magalane Benedicta Sandlana’s estate despite Magalane being alive.
The letter of executorship of Magalane’s estate was given after an application bearing the names and personal details of Sandlana, as well as his purported signature, were submitted as part of winding up her estate.
The application was submitted along with certified copy of Sandlana’s ID, the couple’s marriage certificate, the “death certificate”, inventory of properties, a nomination form, acceptance of trust as executor, an affidavit and ID copy of Magalane. According to the documents, Sandlana was to inherit three properties with a total value of nearly R1.5m.
But Magalane has since opened a case of fraud after she discovered that a death certificate had been issued in her name on April 14.
Stephans Mahlangu, the department’s spokesperson, said estates are registered on an electronic system, which is linked with the department of home affairs to ensure that estates of people registered as deceased with home affairs can be registered with the master of the high court.
“The estate will be removed from the electronic system of the masters. The head of the Pretoria office will be requested to obtain and safeguard the relevant file. The SAPS should inform all relevant banks of this incident to ensure that a hold is put on any accounts, which might have been compromised,” said Mahlangu.
“In this particular estate, all the relevant reporting documents and certified copies were lodged with the master and the home affairs verification did not indicate that the person was not deceased. Hence the registration of this estate and consequent issuing of the letter of executorship proceeded accordingly.”
He said the master of the high court had no reason not to trust the information provided to it by the department of home affairs and that it was regrettable that Magalane’s “death” took place in that department.
“The master will assist and give their full co-operation in any investigation, and should any master’s official be implicated, an internal investigation will also be done,” he said.
Magalane previously told Sowetan that she was compelled to verify whether she was dead by visiting home affairs offices in Johannesburg last week where she was issued with her death certificate.
The certificate indicated that she had “died” from “natural causes”.
Home affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi also told Sowetan they were aware of the matter and that they were investigating it.