‘KEEP YOURS, I’LL KEEP MINE’

MBABANE – Prime Minister Sibusiso Dlamini and his wife Joy are married out of community of property, the Times SUNDAY can exclusively reveal.
While Maziya’s assets are unknown, her husband was worth around E12 million in 2012.

They married under an ante nuptial contract (ANC).  An ante nuptial contract is an agreement entered into by a man and woman intending to marry. It is attested (signed) by a notary and registered in a deeds registry.
The agreement regulates their relationship in marriage, with regard to property and assets. According to information sourced from various sources in the internet, a marriage with an ANC is classified as being an ‘out of community of property’ arrangement.

According to a copy of the Swaziland Government’s Marriage Register form (form number 09798), for information of a marriage, solemnised according to civil rights, the love birds were married with an ANC, under Common Law.
This newspaper has this copy in its possession.
The form was filled and signed by the newlyweds immediately after their wedding inside the hall.
Interviewed shortly after the wedding at the Mavuso Trade Centre main hall, Reverend Cariot Shongwe, the couple’s marriage officer said asked not to go into details of the contract entered into by the couple.
According to a legal expert, well-versed on matrimonial issues, Roman Dutch law stipulates that there are two types of marriage.

These are a marriage ‘in community of property’ and marriage ‘out of community of property.’
The expert who asked not to be identified said by marrying under an ANC meant the couple was married out of community of property.
According to the Online Legal Dictionary, a couple that signs an ante natal contract (ante nuptial contract), retains their respective assets, property and liabilities as acquired before and during the course of the marriage.

However, when a couple does not enter into such a contract, prior to their marriage, they are automatically presumed to be married in community of property. Therefore, property, assets and liabilities belonging to both parties at the time of marriage or acquired any time thereafter, becomes part of their joint estate.
The parties own the assets and liabilities in equal undivided shares and they are joint administrators of the joint estate.
The terms of the PM and Joy’s contract are not yet known.
Therefore, it is not known what exactly they will share or not in their marriage.
Worth noting is that even though they virtually signed for the contract known in Siswati as ‘Kwami kwami; kwakho kwakho,’ nothing prevents either spouse from sharing anything with the other.
Another legal expert who also spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not tasked to speak on behalf of the couple, said it was possible that the marriage, even though it was out of community of property, had elements of a marriage in community of property.

According to the online Legal Dictionary, an ante natal contract is defined as a written contract between two people who are about to marry, setting out the terms of possession of assets, treatment of future earnings, control of the property of each, and potential division if the marriage is later dissolved.
It stipulates the terms and conditions for the exclusion of community of property between them.
These terms and conditions though, may not be illegal, immoral or contrary to public policy.

In an interview, Bishop Stephen Masilela, a marriage officer and President of the Swaziland Conference of Churches, also said a marriage under an ANC was a marriage that was out of community of property whereby each spouse usually retained his or her assets.
He said marriages out of community of property had contracts signed by the couple and filed with government’s Register of Deeds office.

distribution

Masilela said the written agreement governed the marriage in respect of their assets and distribution thereof, in the event of death or separation.
Another legal expert who also asked not to be identified said ante naptual contracts were usually signed before an attorney, who is qualified as a notary public and conveyancer.
He also said the agreement, as it spells out the terms of the marriage, could also incorporate features of a marriage in community of property.

The PM’s assets included money held in banks, livestock, shares in companies which included the Swaziland Empowerment as well as a property portfolio which included blocks of flats and vehicles among things.
According to information the form that was filled by the couple after their wedding, the PM identified his occupation as a chartered accountant while Maziya said she was a librarian.
Maziya listed her date of birth as November 30, 1961.
The PM was born on May 15, 1942.

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