Minister’s daughter, son-in-law in court row
● Domestic warfare has broken out between a cabinet minister’s daughter and her husband, landing them both in court seeking protection orders against each other.
The heated legal spat, which involves allegations of physical, verbal and emotional abuse, is playing out while the estranged couple continue to live together in their luxury Gauteng home, believed to be worth R30m.
She claims in court papers that he is trading in illegal weapons and that he often locks her out of their home when she is “partially or fully naked”.
He claims she is a drunk who “drinks from 8am”, once hit him over the head with a wine bottle while he was holding their child, and drove into their luxury estate’s gates.
The couple may not be identified, in terms of the Domestic Violence Act.
The woman first launched proceedings against her husband last month, seeking a protection order in a magistrate’s court in Gauteng. The application was postponed to allow him time to respond. This week, the pair returned to the court, where the husband submitted his counter-arguments.
In the woman’s application, seen by the Sunday Times, she claims she was “constantly subjected to angry outbursts, verbal and emotional harassment, physical violence … and being locked out and denied access to clean clothes”.
She claims her husband struggles with his anger, “frequently smash[ing] items in the house in a fit of rage”.
The woman also alleged he had been violent towards her on numerous occasions, leaving her with bruises.
“He is armed and extremely dangerous. One of his occupations is trading in illegal weapons, which keeps him out at all hours of the night,” she says, without elaborating.
“Over time he became increasingly controlling and paranoid. He would often verbally abuse me, accusing me of having affairs with any man that I looked at or even spoke to …”
The wife also claims that she pays all the bills and he fails to contribute financially.
In the husband’s responding papers he denies the allegations of abuse, saying it is his wife who has verbally and physically abused him while also psychologically abusing their youngest child.
He claims his wife is using her family’s political name to abuse the court system by making false allegations against him, and says he fears for his life after she threatened to “get rid of him”.
He alleges that for years she called him “useless”, taunting him while drunk and threatening to call the police if he retaliated because she “knows how to work [the] system”.
He claims that in 2017 she crashed into the entrance of their estate in her car, while drunk and with the children in the vehicle.
“She says I must leave quickly and quietly, if I don’t she will get rid of me and reminds me of her family influence,” he said.
Speaking to the Sunday Times, the husband denied all claims of abuse and reiterated that his wife was exploiting her family name and the legal system by making such claims in court. The wife declined to comment, as did her lawyers.
The protection order proceedings are set to continue next month.