ASSISTANT MASTER BLASTS COLLEAGUE BEFORE PROBE

MBABANE - Assistant Master, Simphiwe Dlamini has made allegations against her colleagues at the office of the Master of the High Court.

Simphiwe appeared before the Judicial Commission of Inquiry yesterday, where she alleged that Assistant Master, Zanele Masondo, told her she was rude, had a bad attitude and was frustrating the winding up of her father, Clement Dlamini’s estate. This was after she raised complaints to Masondo about the distribution of her father’s estate, which she alleged, had irregularities. Clement died in 2021 and his inventory included plots, poultry sheds, a shop, two tractors, three cars and cash in two banks, among other items.

The commission was told that Clement had one wife, Nontsikelelo Zwane, stepmother to Simphiwe, but had previously separated from his first wife. Simphiwe appeared with her aunt, Nelsiwe and brother, Wandile, to give an account of what had happened to her father’s estate. She started by sharing that after her father’s death, Zwane allegedly chased them from their father’s homestead, which is located in Ezulwini. According to Simphiwe, this occurred in less than a month since she had moved out of the homestead to her own place. She testified before the commission that Zwane opened a file at the Master’s Office and a next-of-kin meeting was called.

Rejected

Simphiwe alleged that Zwane was appointed as the executor, but they rejected the appointment. She told the commission that Masondo purportedly gave them 30 days as a family to engage, in order to appoint a new executor.  According to Simphiwe, they got letters before the 30 days had elapsed, to say a new executor had been appointed. “We questioned why the executor was appointed without our knowledge, but our complaint was ignored. I also wrote three letters to the Master’s Office requesting accommodation as I was still serving articles, but they were not approved. I had written the letters because I knew that my father had developed plots at Mahwalala and I could have been accommodated there, but Masondo refused to approve my request,” Simphiwe alleged.

Adding, Simphiwe testified before the commission that a draft liquidation account was produced by the executor, but they raised concerns that some of the properties were allegedly missing in the account. She told the commission that they allegedly wrote numerous letters to Masondo, complaining about the estate, but was told she had a bad attitude, rude and was delaying the process of winding up the estate.

Refused

“We requested bank statements of the account to see if all monies were remitted. The assistant master refused and told us that we will get the statements after the liquidation process.
“In 2022, I wrote a letter requesting that the estate file be moved from Lobamba to Mbabane but that did not happen, instead, Masondo approved the distribution of the estate,” she alleged. Simphiwe went on to mention that the prepared distribution account was allegedly not what they had wanted as their shares and some of the properties were excluded in the estate file.

“We were surprised to find an affidavit for one of our siblings, Bonkhe, saying he consented to giving Zwane all his shares. We questioned the affidavit because we knew that his wish was to further his studies. The Master’s Office continued with the distribution of the estate despite raising our concerns.

Dilapidate

Instead of addressing the concerns Masondo told me that the properties would dilapidate,” she alleged. On another note, she shared with the commission that her brother took over as the executor after the first distribution account. She testified before the commission that her brother’s job was to continue with the distribution of the estate. Furthermore, Simphiwe alleged that her brother shared with her that, the assistant master made it known that she would reject every objection she filed about the estate. She stated that, the bone of contention was that, they wanted the distribution account to include all her father’s properties before they could make any distributions, but they were allegedly ignored.

Meanwhile, Assistant Master, Zanele Masondo told the commission that she was surprised about the allegations levelled against her. Masondo told the commission that they got to learn about the alleged missing properties through Simphiwe, on her objection. According to Masondo, this was after the distribution account had been approved. Masondo testified before the commission that from the first next-of-kin meeting, they were allegedly accused of being biased.

“This was the first time meeting the family about the estate and Simphiwe said they would make sure that they frustrate the winding up of the estate and further ensure that Zwane does not get anything,” Masondo alleged. She told the commission that, she never told Simphiwe about the properties decaying and never gave them any 30-day deadline to discuss on the appointment of the executor. According to Masondo, there was lot of infighting within the Dlamini family and as the assistant master; she took a decision to appoint a neutral executor. “After our first meeting, I saw that there was nothing to discuss about the executor. Nelsiwe was once appointed as an executrix, but there was no cooperation from the family.
The office then decided to appoint a neutral person to distribute the estate,” she said.

Liquidation

She went on to state that the executor did not undertake the process of liquidation without consulting the family, but there were affidavits from the beneficiaries, approving the liquidation.
She explained to the commission that the objections filed by Simphiwe supposedly came after the first liquidation account had been approved. Masondo stated that the matter was then filed at the High Court. Furthermore, Masondo testified before the commission that every process undertaken in the estate was accounted for, through documents and receipts, produced by the executor.

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