Maqubela wants her share of estate
● The Asset Forfeiture Unit put up a legal fight over two years ago to prevent Thandi Maqubela from inheriting from her late judge husband’s estate, arguing that “a bloody hand does not inherit”.
But she now stands to benefit handsomely after the Supreme Court of Appeal acquitted her of Patrick Maqubela’s murder last year.
The Sunday Times has reliably learnt Maqubela, who was convicted of forging a will in her late husband’s name, is in the process of claiming her share of his estate.
A close family member who declined to be named said the Master of the High Court in Johannesburg had “instructed the executor of the estate to draw up a new account, telling them that Thandi must inherit”. The family member asked: “Why is the Master of the High Court insisting that a person convicted of fraud and forgery should inherit from the very estate they sought to defraud?”
Western Cape NPA spokesman Eric Ntabazalila said the prosecution did not appeal the SCA’s decision last year overturning Maqubela’s murder conviction. He declined to comment on the issue of the estate as it was subject to litigation in Gauteng.
Attorney Jolinda Vreugde Slager, who represented Maqubela in the appeal, said nothing prevented her from inheriting despite the fraud conviction.
“After the murder conviction was overturned, the AFU application falls away,” said Slager. “Even though she was convicted of fraud, that does not prevent her from inheriting what she would have inherited if there were no forged will.”
Maqubela’s stepson, Duma, said the process of winding up the estate was yet to be concluded. The office of the Master was not available for comment.
Patrick Maqubela was an acting judge in the High Court in Cape Town at the time of his death in 2009. He died intestate and his widow stood to inherit as a surviving spouse. The AFU applied to stop her from benefiting from the estate after she was convicted of murder in 2013. She was also convicted of forging her husband’s signature on a will that made her the main beneficiary of his estate. Judge John Murphy said she had committed the crimes out of greed and sentenced her to 18 years in prison. But the SCA overturned her murder conviction and 15-year sentence, saying the acting judge could have died of natural causes.