Wife versus lover in tussle over Stofile B&B
Former rugby boss’s final wishes at centre of court bid to halt eviction by family members
THE family of the late rugby boss Mike Stofile have demanded that a woman produce a marriage certificate in support of her claim that she may be entitled to part of his estate.
Nosiphiwo Stofile, who the Sunday Times established has two identity numbers, approached the magistrate’s court in Alice in the Eastern Cape after allegedly being evicted from a B&B by Stofile’s family just two days after his funeral.
The former South African Rugby Union deputy president died in September, aged 57, of diabetes-related complications. He owned and ran Mike’s B&B guesthouse, and lived in Port Alfred with Nosiphiwo.
In an application for an interdict to prohibit her eviction, she claims that Stofile’s 22-year-old son, Chulumanco, and others came to the guesthouse and demanded keys to one of his father’s vehicles. They also threw her clothes out of the house, she states in the application.
“I felt embarrassed and I had to collect all my clothes outside the yard and look for a place to stay.”
Nosiphiwo, who says that she is entitled to part of the joint estate, accuses Stofile’s first wife, Busisiwe, and her children of stripping her of various assets on October 5, just two days after he was buried.
“They confiscated the blue Mitsubishi Triton bakkie 2013 model. Chulumanco said they have come to take the bakkie to Ngqele location, because it is their father’s property.”
She claims they told her she had no say in Stofile’s business.
In a responding affidavit, Busisiwe — who separated from Stofile more than 10 years ago, although they never divorced — disputes that Nosiphiwo married Stofile. She demanded a copy of the marriage certificate.
She also said Stofile had registered the guesthouse in his elder brother’s name years earlier.
Busisiwe denies being at the guesthouse during the eviction, but says her children acted on the instructions of their uncle, the Rev Makhenkesi Stofile.
He wanted all of the cars to be delivered to the family home in Ngqele.
No one from the family participated in lobola negotiations
“I have not removed any asset from the applicant or deceased property, nor am I in possession of such,” Busisiwe states.
Chulumanco said this week that the family were worried Nosiphiwo wanted to appropriate his father’s possessions.
“My father had a will and that is with the Master [of the high court], where they are busy collecting information on all his assets,” he said. “Culturally, the family has every right to place all of my father’s possessions in one place where he grew up, so her trying to fight that is quite strange.
“We also do not think she was really married to my father because no one from the family participated in lobola negotiations nor did they meet her family before the funeral.
“My father and I were close and he would have told us about this wedding. Why does she not produce a marriage certificate?” Chulumanco said.
The family initially accepted Nosiphiwo as his father’s girlfriend, he said. But they became suspicious about the relationship after spotting withdrawals from his account that looked dubious to them.
The withdrawals were made while Stofile was in hospital and unable to make transfers himself.
Nosiphiwo said she was not in a position to comment. She also refused to explain why she had two identity numbers.
Her attorney, who identified herself as a Ms Mgwali of Bacela Bukula & Associates in King William’s Town, also refused to comment.