Prince Sulumlomo's estate sold by son

MBABANE – The contested estate of the late Prince Sulumlomo has been sold by his son.

A medical doctor based at Simunye has bought the controversial estate, which is worth E1.8 million.

The estate includes residential flats located in the capital city.

The purchase has shocked the Royal family, as the alleged custodian of the estate, Prince Phinda said he would have to ask for advice from His Majesty King Mswati III on what to do now that the flats have been sold.

Dr. Tyrone Lapidos, the purchaser of the flats declined to state the amount he paid for the flats but confirmed that they now belonged to him.

"I am currently planning to renovate those flats because I have bought them," he said.

The prince’s senior wife, Inkhosikati LaDvuba (Susan) was recently in a court dispute with the prince’s son Mlandvo Dlamini over the controversial estate.

In the dispute, Inkhosikati LaDvuba wanted the nomination of Mlandvo as executor of the estate to be set aside.

"We are shocked that while the estate was still to be distributed, there has been such a development. LaDvuba came to report to me that the flats had been sold. I am the custodian of the estate, which is why I was shocked to learn about the development. The flats belonged to my brother and we had not even finished rounding up the estate.

"I’m preparing to go to His Majesty to inform him about this and will hear from him on the next step. It is he who will say what should happen from now on."

Prince Phinda said for now, he would only assume this is a rumour until he had received full briefing from those involved.

Inkhosikati LaDvuba declined to comment on the issue saying "Yindzala kunami" (It is beyond my discretion to comment). She directed all questions to Prince Phinda.

In court it was also alleged that the estate had over E160 000 at the SwaziBank, which Inkhosikati LaDvuba allegedly had access to.

The allegation had been made by Mlandvo when he applied that the Inkhosikati should be stopped in her tracks.

He alleged that he discovered that the Inkhosikati had withdrawn over E130 000 from the account of his father at SwaziBank.

Dlamini also claimed that the Inkhosikati unilaterally and to the detriment of other beneficiaries of the estate closed the account of the deceased which had a balance of E66 577 .50.

He alleged that she deposited the money into her personal account.

"This money was never accounted for and did not form part of the inventory of the estate and surprisingly was withdrawn by the applicant (Susan)," he states "Further, the applicant has been collecting rentals from tenants residing in the property belonging to the estate and she has also failed to account for the amounts collected at least by depositing the amounts with the Master of the High Court under the deceased’s estate."

The Inkhosikati brought an application at the High Court for an order setting aside the proceedings of the Master of the High Court on November 13, 2008 in respect of the estate of Prince Sulumlomo in which Mlandvo was nominated as executor.

She argues that the meeting was never advertised and the letter advising her of the meeting was never served upon her.

Inkhosikati LaDvuba and her children Celiwe Dlamini, Mcebo Dlamini and Gabby Sipho Dlamini were cited as applicants.

Lomcebo Mamba, who is the other wife of the deceased, is cited as the 10th respondent.

Other respondents are Master of the High Court, Attorney General, Mlandvo Dlamini, Lomaciniso Dlamini, Vusi Dlamini, Thulile Dlamini, Timphilo Dlamini, Bamela Dlamini and Lomyalo Dlamini.

Inkhosikati LaDvuba was represented by Mbuso E. Simelane and Associates while Mabuza Attorneys were defending the respondents.

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