ASSISTANT MASTER ATTACKED IN ESTATE DISPUTE

MANZINI - A legislator and his siblings lost it and attacked the assistant Master of the High Court. The Member of Parliament (MP) for Kukhanyeni Constituency, Vincent Sihlongonyane, and his siblings verbally attacked Makhosazane Mdluli – Manzini Assistant Master of the High Court – such that members of the Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) had to be called to whisk her off to a safe place.

It should be noted that the attack did not get physical but the siblings verbally attacked Mdluli.
The verbal showdown, which involved the banging of office furniture at Mdluli’s office, emanated from a dispute over the property of deceased Sibonangaye Sihlongonyane – the father of the legislator and his siblings.

This incident transpired at the Master’s Offices yesterday at around 10am.
The bone of contention emanated from the assistant master’s inability to produce a power of attorney, legitimising senior attorney at Robinson Bertram, Derrick Jele, to be the rightful executor of the estate

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Audience

Upon arrival at the Master’s Offices, the Sihlongonyane brothers sought audience with Mdluli. This communication was conveyed through Mdluli’s secretary - who informed them that she (Mdluli) was busy, as such, could not be in a position to address them.
The secretary’s response seemingly evoked rage from the Sihlongonyane brothers who defied all odds and slammed open the assistant master’s office door and forced their way through to the office without Mdluli’s consent.

Upon entering Mdluli’s office, an argument ensued and expletives were uttered by the brothers towards the assistant Master of the High Court.
During the exchange of words, Mdluli was at pains in expressing herself to the brothers.

This was because the assistant Master of the High Court failed to adhere to their request of furnishing them (brothers) with a power of attorney that was conferred upon a senior lawyer at Robinson Bertram - confirming him as the legitimate executor of their late father’s estate.
As the argument intensified, Mdluli realised that the situation was seemingly getting out of hand and promptly instructed her secretary to contact the police who reported to the scene in the twinkling of an eye.

Mdluli’s husband also emerged after being informed that his wife was under attack.
Upon their arrival, the police intervened and acted as an intermediary between the livid Sihlongonyane siblings and Mdluli.
The police pleaded with the concerned parties to calm down to which they complied.

Thereafter, the law enforcers requested that the parties should seek a neutral venue where the matter could be deliberating on, given the fact that the drama unfolded within government offices. The Manzini Police Station sufficed to be the ideal venue for the deliberations.
During the course of the discussion at the police station, the Sihlongonyane brothers cited that they were livid over the fact that Mdluli was failing to produce the power of attorney proving that Minah (now deceased), who was a wife to the late Sibonangaye, had appointed Robinson Bertram attorneys to act as legal executors of the estate in her stead while she was still alive.

Document

In her defence, Mdluli mentioned that she could not be in a position to produce the aforementioned document, because one of the Sihlongonyane brothers had roped in members of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), who sent one of their members to request all files pertaining to the Sihlongonyane estate to which she complied and handed them over to the commission.

However, Mdluli cited that upon return, the files had some missing pages and she informed the office of the chief justice about such, who requested the ACC to restore the missing pages.
Indeed, some of the missing pages were restored but not all of them.
Mdluli said the reason why she did not have the power of attorney in her possession, was because it might have disappeared together with the missing pages that were lost when ACC took the files for investigation

Agreement

After much deliberation, a mutual agreement was reached in that the missing pages would have to be sought and thereafter it would be evident whether or not the power of attorney was among the missing pages.

Chief Police Information and Communications Officer Superintendent Phindile Vilakati confirmed that police attended to the incident. She said the police were investigating it.

For now, no case has been opened and none of the parties have been charged.

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