Court victory for ‘marginalised widows’
Ruling favoured all ‘women stripped of a chance to grieve’
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Well-known publicist Lerato Sengadi took her fight for recognition as HHP’s wife to the South Gauteng High Court on Friday and won.
She successfully argued she and Jabba had entered into a customary union, and called the outcome a victory for “all marginalised women”.
Lerato filed an urgent court application for an interdict to stop HHP’s funeral from taking place yesterday, arguing the decision about the funeral was hers as the deceased’s wife.
Judge Ratha Mokgoatlheng gave the funeral in Mahikeng the green light, but by ruling that Sengadi was indeed married to HHP as per the customary law, he restored her dignity.
Jabba’s father Robert Tsambo had refused to recognise the marriage and excluded her from funeral arrangements.
The Tsambo family claimed Lerato was not Jabba’s wife as she was never “handed over” and that lobolo was not fully paid. Mokgoatlheng ruled that by law Lerato is Jabba’s customary wife. Taking to social media on Friday evening, Lerato poured her heart out about the ruling and what it meant to her.
“Today was bigger than me. Motho [HHP] always saw greatness in me that I sometimes didn’t see in myself.
“He always said I was born to be great and felt almost undeserving of being loved by such greatness, but the feeling was mutual. He has catapulted me to the level of greatness...”
Lerato said the court’s ruling was a victory for all women who had been stripped of their chance to grieve.
“I am not the first that this has happened to, which is why I am fired up and encouraged by the spirits of all the widows who have been marginalised by patriarchal in-laws in moments of grief and stripped of their dignity and the very basic need to grieve...”
She also had strong words for women who “ridiculed” her for standing against her in-laws.
“To all the women who choose to ridicule me for doing what is right, I pray this never happens to you or your daughter or your best friend, but if it does you will remember me and know that you can fight for what is right.